If you’re like most retailers, increasing your average order value is high on your to-do list. But the problem is that many strategies aimed at boosting AOV are complex, confusing, or require a lot of resources to implement.
So, today we will cover the biggest bang for your buck strategies that'll give you results without taking up all your time and attention.
We'll cover four simple strategies every merchant can implement to start seeing results immediately. These strategies are like the Pareto principle of AOV – they're the 20% input, giving you 80% of the output.
So, grab a cup of coffee, get a notepad, and increase your average order value today.
What is Average Order Value?
The average order value (often abbreviated as AOV) is the mean (or average) amount customers spend per order in your store.
To calculate your average order value, divide your total revenue by the number of orders for a given period.
For example, let's say that in April, your sales were $10,000, and you had 250 orders. $10,000 divided by 250 = $40, so September's monthly AOV was $40.
What's Better About a Bigger Average Order Value?
Regardless of what type of store you're running or where you're starting, increasing your average order value has several benefits:
- More good orders: If your cost per acquisition stays the same (i.e., you spend the same on marketing), and customers spend more on your store, you'll profit more per order.
- Outspend competitors: Promoting your Shopify store is competitive and acquisition costs keep rising. In the auction-based advertising environment, he who spends most acquires the most customers. More good orders allow you to re-invest more into marketing and corner a larger market share.
- Take more risks: With a more significant profit margin, you can take more calculated risks than your competition without risking sending your business under. You'll also find it easier to navigate unfavorable market conditions and keep the lights on.
How to Increase Your Average Order Value in 30 Minutes
Now that we know your average order value and why it's essential, let's dive into four simple ways to increase it on your online store.
Each of these strategies is easy to implement. Plus, the tactics build off each other. So as you add each one to your store, you should see even better results as you go.
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Create a Free Shipping Threshold
Introducing a free shipping threshold is one of the best ways to encourage shoppers to spend more money.
A free shipping threshold is when you offer customers free shipping for spending a specific amount of money. The idea is that since customers don't like paying for shipping, they're encouraged to spend more to avoid paying it.
Here's an example from one of the best Shopify stores out there, Tattly:
When customers add a product to their cart, the card drawer pops out, letting them know they're just $15 away from free shipping. The progress bar is an excellent visual cue that helps motivate customers to add more products.
Getting a nice effect like this will require some custom code – and we won't get that done in 30 minutes. But here's a solution that'll get you the majority of the results for Free.
- Determine your threshold: The best way to do this is to add 30% to your mode order value (i.e., the most frequently occurring order value in your order data)
- Set up your rates in your store's backend: Configure your free shipping threshold by applying free delivery to orders that reach your desired value.
- Install the Shopify app Hextom Free Shipping Bar: This simple Shopify app allows you to display site-wide banners without affecting site speed or implementing code.
And you're done! Store visitors will now see your new free shipping threshold and get tempted to add more products to their cart.
You can also consider adding a cart upsell app – to make it easy for shoppers to quickly add additional products to their cart without interrupting the checkout flow. Here's an example from the deodorant brand Native:
📝Do it now: Calculate your mode order value. Add 30% to it – this is your threshold. Set up free shipping for orders above this value. Promote your free shipping offer to site visitors using a free banner app.
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Create Product Bundles
Bundling similar or complementary products together is a foolproof way to encourage customers to spend more money.
For example, let's say you need some t-shirts from H&M. In the t-shirt category, H&M features bundles of products to increase order value.
Without the bundles, I might have bought two t-shirts for €12 – but it's just as easy (and I save on the price per tee) to opt for the 5-pack costing €27.99 – a nice bump in average order value for H&M.
T-shirts are one of the best products to sell on Shopify and lend themselves to bundling. But even if you're not running a clothing store, you can still group items and incentivize customers to spend more.
Can you bundle various complementary products together that enhance the customer experience? For example, GoPro offers shoppers memory cards, extra batteries, carry cases, and grips so they can get started immediately.
Another helpful way to use bundling is to bundle slow-moving items with faster-moving ones. For example, you can even throw less popular articles into a cost-price bundle. This will help you eliminate dead stock and maintain your inventory management.
📝Do it now: Use a bundling app to help quickly create product bundles from your inventory. Offer a small discount to encourage customers to choose the bundle and boost your AOV.
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Add One Click Upsells
The simplest way to boost your AOV is by adding one-click upsells. One-click upsells offers that customers see immediately after checkout.
The beauty of one-click upsells is that they are frictionless. As the name suggests, converting shoppers to a higher order value takes one click. Customers don't have to re-enter their payment details. Because of this, these offers can convert up to 15% of your purchases into two sales.
For best results, you'll want to personalize your one-click upsell offers. You can create custom offers based on cart contents and shopping history.
However, I am aware that the title of this post promised to boost your AOV ‘in 30 minutes' – so if you want to get started, use Shopify App ReConvert's default post-purchase funnel, which you can set up in 10 minutes tops.
ReConvert automatically generates offers and shows them to customers based on the parameters you set (i.e., the maximum discount you want to offer). Once you start seeing results with the primary funnel, we can optimize it later.
📝Do it now: Install ReConvert. Use quick activation to add one-click upsells to your store in just a few minutes.
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Add Thank You Page Offers
Most retailers spend considerable resources on optimizing their customer acquisition funnel – and rightly so.
But it's shocking how many retailers cease their optimization efforts the moment they've made a sale. Because here's the thing: your thank you page is just like any other page in your marketing funnel and deserves the same attention you give to your ads and product pages.
Think about it: when a customer lands on your thank you page, they're as qualified as a shopper can get. It's the perfect opportunity to introduce complementary cross-sell offers and tempt them to a higher order value.
Ecom giant Amazon understands this – and attributes a large proportion of its revenue to product recommendations like these:
What's more, data from ReConvert indicates that customers come back to view the thank you page 2.2 times per order on average for order updates – so if you're using the standard thank you page, that's a lot of impressions and money left on the table.
📝Do it now: Activate ReConvert's ‘conversion monster' thank you page template. It'll instantly add a high-converting, native-looking thank you page with offers to your store.
Go Forth & Generate a Bigger Average Order Value
Increasing your average order value doesn't have to be complicated. You'll see significant results just by implementing the four simple strategies in this post:
- Adding a free shipping threshold (30% above your mode order value)
- Creating complementary product bundles & offering a small discount
- Adding one-click upsells that show immediately after checkout
- Creating a thank you page with product recommendations
So if you're looking for more oversized, better orders, add these tactics to your eCommerce store and start reaping the rewards of more sales and a beefier bottom line!
