Are you actively tracking your eCommerce sales and marketing metrics? Does it seem that your Average Order Value may and should be higher that it is right now?
Though a low AOV isn’t a sign that your online store isn’t growing, it shows that you are still leaving money on the table.
To help you increase Average Order Value online, we share this blog post today with you. It’s different from other similar posts because
- We have interviewed online store owners so you learn their experience-based tips at first hand,
- We have explored tens of online stores to bring examples on how this or that tactic is used in real life,
- We will share some little-known tactics that you will hardly find on any other blog (e.g. N3 or N5).
Sounds promising? Keep reading!
How to increase Average Order Value for your eCommerce: 10 ways to get ahead of competition
1. Offer additional services
The most popular services online stores offer for a few extra dollars are gift boxes and gift wrapping.
See an example from Carter’s below. Though including a gift message is free, ordering a gift box costs $5.
2. Give a chance to enter a contest
Jessica Rose, Chief Executive Officer at Copper H2O shares her online store experience with our readers. She says one of the most unique and effective ways to increase AOV is to create a contest which a customer automatically enters into if their order value passes a certain threshold.
For example, the prize can be a package of free products, a gift certificate to shop on your online store, etc.
Many customers will be willing to increase their order value a bit to enter the contest and possibly get the prize.
3. Give the chance to win a discount
Uniqlo has applied a very interesting tactic to their website. They invite their visitors to a small game and the chance will determine how much discount they will receive. You apply a similar tactic and mention that the discount will be available for orders exceeding a certain amount.
This tactic has a few strong sides. First, as people love games and contest, they are very likely to participate. Second, since they won the discount, they are more likely to use it as it’s something they have achieved through an effort.
4. Enable “Buy today, pay later” option through third-party services
Though online shopping a favorite occupation for millions of consumers, they might be missing your deals because of not having enough money in their credit cards.
So you can give them the opportunity to buy now and pay later. If you are based in the United Kingdom, you are probably aware of Klarna. It’s a service that allows buyers to pay for products in 4 installments.
Buy today, pay later option can be available even for 10£+ orders but it’s up to you to increase that threshold. The example below is from River Island:
5. Encourage buyers to support a cause
Some online stores might be involved in charity and allocate X percent of your order value to a certain cause.
Pretty Little Thing says that if you buy masks, 100% of the funds will be donated to charity. You can come up with a similar announcement but donate, for example, 0.5% to a particular charity foundation.
6. Try cross-selling and up-selling your customers
John Frigo, Digital Marketing Lead at Best Price Nutrition says that they are using special Shopify app to suggest an upsell item at the cart.
They also hit people up with an offer following placing their order for an additional 20% off if they add anything to their order.
Mr. Frigo says they have seen an increase of 13% in AOV by utilizing both of these methods.
William Chin, a Web Consultant says that if the user is about to checkout, it’s much easier to convince them to buy extra products, especially if they’re at discount.
When it comes up-selling here’s what to do about it. Say someone is viewing a product worth $9. To encourage him/her to spend more, you can show similar products in the “You may also like” section that are more expensive than $9.
7. Ship products for free for orders above a certain amount
Many brands offer free shipping regardless of order value size. For example, if you are an H&M club member, all deliveries are free and it encourages customers shop there.
However, not all brands are ready to cover shipping costs themselves. And maybe you are one of the online stores who can do it if the order size is above a certain amount.
Note that the free shipping threshold price isn’t always the same. On Victoria’s Secret website, sometimes free shipping is available for $50+ orders, sometimes for $75+, and sometimes for $100+.
You can test some versions and see which amount converts better and brings the most revenue. Below is an example from Express who offer free shipping on orders $50+:
8. Increase the free shipping threshold
William Chin says that if you raise your free shipping threshold 15-20%, it will entice users to buy until they obtain free shipping.
For example, if your AoV is $50, try raising your free shipping to orders $60 and above.
However, you’ll want to make sure that you have a good understanding of your customer personas. The more price sensitive your audience is, the more difficult it will be to lock down a specific threshold.
9. Offer growing discounts
Geraldine Baatjes, an eCommerce entrepreneur at Caffeinated Face shares one of her favorite ways to increase average order value. It’s by offering discount incentives when customers purchase more than one at a time. This strategy works really well on lower valued items such as coffee mugs that she sells.
The discounts range from 5% for buying an extra one, or up to 15% for buying three or more.
The reason it works well is because, generally customers who buy things like mugs/socks/shirts are always looking to purchase more than one. That’s because they may be bulk buying to replace a few old shirts or replacing a set of mugs.
The other reason it has a positive effect on your AOV is because it has a psychological impact on the customer. Buyers believe that by purchasing more than one, they’re saving a minimum of 5% and also cutting the shipping cost.
10. Sell products in bundles
One great way you can increase Average Order Value is by offering pre-combined products.
For example, if you visit Kohl’s website you will notice that the online store is mostly offering sets of 2-4 products. And that’s many baby clothing online stores do. This tactic makes the price look smaller as buyers pay it to get multiple products.
Helping you increase your online store AOV
We shared tactics that are easy-to-follow and you can implement them totally on your own. However, there are also tactics that require using third-party tools and additional marketing knowledge.
If you are busy dealing with suppliers, shipping orders, etc let us bring new life to your online store. We will do a free audit of your marketing channels, analyze your offers, your audience and make personalized recommendations.
