1. Offer a free shipping threshold to increase average order value
Ready to increase the ROI on your store with the same amount of effort?
One of the best ways to grow your eCommerce store is to get website visitors to spend a lot of money. Even better to get them to spend a lot of money at one time.
Increasing your Average order value is going to lead to higher margins and give you more space to spend on paid advertising.
In this post we share our top 10 ways on how to bump up the AOV of your eCommerce business.
With over 60% of online eCommerce stores now offering free shipping customers have come to expect from all stores. Nobody like’s to see a price displayed for a product, only to discover that at the checkout the total delivery fee is more than the product itself.
This would explain why 58% of customers said that the reason they abandoned checkout was that the total amount was more than they expected.
This is one of the key reasons we recommend free shipping as a method to increase conversions. By adding a free shipping threshold on this offer you will encourage customers to spend more.
The Natural Health Market offers free shipping with a £15 threshold. They display this offer in the navigation menu throughout the site. We’d also recommend adding the offer to all product descriptions as an extra selling point.
2. Offer product discounts to increase average order value
Offering product discounts might seem a little counterintuitive to increase average order but it flat out works. When offering a discount make sure you add a minimum spend to get the discount. An example, get £15 off when you spend a minimum of £100.
Some brands also offer amount based discounts. For example get £5 off when you spend £50, get £10 off when you spend £75 and get £15 off when you spend £100.
You can use the Product discount app from Bold to easily implement this on your Shopify store.
3. Offer bundle deals to increase average order value
This is a technique you’d have seen widely used in high street stores. For example, The Body Shop is always offering buy two and get the third free on moisturizers or body creams.
If you use bundle deals ensure that the 3rd product is covered by the other 2 and there is still sufficient profit. You will often see brands offering the cheapest item for free to tackle this.
According to Inc, there are a number of benefits to bundling. First, It can increase the customer experience. Second, it can make decision-making easier for customers.
4. Offer a gift card to increase average order value
Offering gift cards are a great way to increase your stores’ average order value. Even if the gift card is just a small one. For example, if most of the products in your store are priced above £30 you could offer a £5 discount off their next purchase.
You must make sure the customer is aware, this gift card cannot be used for shipping or on the existing transaction.
Keep in mind that even if you don’t give a free small gift card, gift cards still help increase average order value as most will spend much more than their card provides them.
5. Cross-sell and upsell products to increase average order value
Cross-sell is where you recommend an item that’s very different to the one they are about to purchase. For Example, if your customer is buying a dress you might recommend they also buy a pair of shoes that compliments the dress.
Many online fashion stores will show a model wearing a complete outfit and will group those items together in a recommend items collection. Because the customer sees these items working together they are more likely to buy them. This is no different to dressing up mannequins in high street stores.
An upsell is when you encourage buyers to purchase more expensive items or additional items to increase AOV. For example, If you’re selling a set of Golf Clubs, you’re probably going to upsell them an expensive bag and a towel. Before then cross-selling them a set of golf balls, water poofs and an umbrella (Essential if they live in the UK 🙂
Another effective way to upsell products is to sell them more of the same product. If you run a vitamins store and the customer is buying 30 Vitamin C capsules. It would be simple to suggest they buy 60 or a 3 months supply 90 capsules. You can incentivize the upsell using a discount offer. Get an extra 5% off when you buy a 3 month supply.
6. Offer time-sensitive deals to increase average order value
Time-sensitive deals are a great way to help increase average order value. For example, you might have a 24-hour deal where someone gets a special discount if they order a specific number of items in the next 24hrs.
The urgency behind the offer will help to boost conversions. Time-sensitive deals are a quick way to boost sales especially if sales are down for the weak or your products are out of season.
You can add limited-time offers with the Sales Countdown Timer app. The app will also allow you to specify exact dates.
7. Show customer savings on bulk buy orders to increase average order value
Your customers love saving money. However, they can find themselves feeling guilty when ordering in bulk.
If they feel they might be overspending they could abandon their cart or ask for a partial refund, lowering the AOV.
To overcome the feelings of guilt, show customers the big savings they are making with the extra items they are buying. They’re more likely to think they’ve won a deal when seeing the clear savings they’re making onscreen.
This can help increase average order value.
8. Creating a game or a contest to increase average order value
The fast-food industry is the best at creating games or contests to increase average order value.
For example, McDonald’s encourages customers to play the Monopoly Game where if you spend more you’ll earn extra properties on the board.
If also encourages customers to buy more often so they can finish the game and win a prize.
Hidden behind each competition sticker there could be a chance to win a free cheeseburger or even a car. Read more about McDonald’s Monopoly Game marketing from Business Insider.
In eCommerce, you can also run contests where customers have a chance to win prizes when they buy often. We recommend not only giving away prizes that the customer will want but also offer prizes that boost your brands’ awareness.
Viral Sweep is a great app that allows you to offer contests and sweepstakes.
9. Dangle a Freebie
Giving away something for free is a great way to increase average order value. For example, Buy one get one free.
Big brands use this conditional purchasing to get someone to buy when they may not have bought the item in the first place. You can also off a free gift when someone buys a particular product. If you have a new product you’ve launched and you’d like to boost sales, find a gift that complements the item and give it away for free.
Leatherman pocket knives, for example, could offer a free case for their Leatherman knife. This will have already been included in the price but the perception to the customer is they getting something for free.
Offering something for free might just encourage shoppers to add a little extra to their baskets.
10. Loyalty Rewards Programs
Loyalty rewards programs are a really effective way of not just increasing average order value but will increase how often customers buy.
This type of program won’t be a good fit for all stores. For example, a store that sells kitchen tiles. Once a customer buys kitchen tiles they probably won’t need to purchase another set for another 5-10+ years. This would only work if your customer is a trade customer.
But a store that sells protein supplements, clothing, beauty products or pet products are a perfect fit for loyalty programs.
Here is an example from Monster Supplements where customers can use the points from this purchase to save on their next order.
Most of these tactics are relatively simple to implement and they can dramatically increase your average order value.
Once you’ve implemented these strategies you’re in a very strong position to scale or even run paid Facebook advertising.
As a Facebook Ads Agency for eCommerce stores, Heavy Head Social offers free strategy sessions to brands who wish to scale their paid advertising efforts.
We regularly work with a range of 6 figure stores who wish to outsource or scale they’re Facebook advertising. If that’s something you’re interested in learning more about, you can schedule your FREE Strategy Session Here.
On the call, one of our Ad account specialists will review your account and identify where the specific opportunities are for growth.
