Now onto the juicy stuff. What can you do to get your customers to buy more and increase your AOV? No matter what you do, remember that it’s about making the customer happy, not just pushing them to buy more without careful consideration of their needs.
Upselling and Cross-Selling
Imagine you’re a customer browsing for their first guitar. Getting accessories like a nice pick and case might sweeten the purchase even further as they’re items that will enhance their experience with the guitar. The pick allows for alternative ways of playing and the case will protect their guitar and ensure it stays in good shape.
Always present your customers with complementary or upgraded purchases. Sometimes they don’t know what they want until they see it. Don’t just show them the most expensive or most popular items, though. Recommend items that improve their experience with the initial product and aren’t too expensive (e.g. if a customer buys mascara for $50, don’t suggest a blush that costs $40).
Free Gifts
Who doesn’t like free stuff? Reward your customers for spending over a certain amount to delight them and keep them coming back for more. Knowing that they’ll get a free item might just be the encouragement your customers need to add more to their cart. Make sure to offer something that people actually want, otherwise, they won’t bother, even if it’s free.
Bundles
Bundles are a surefire way to increase your AOV. Offer savings when your customers buy certain products together. Present how much they save in an obvious and visually appealing way. Take it even further by encouraging them to save even more by spending more on bigger bundles.
Referral and Loyalty Programs
Build referral and loyalty programs to reward customers for recommending your brand to their personal network and making repeat purchases. The customers do the promoting for you and in return, they get discounts and free items. It’s a win-win situation! Both programs promote customer satisfaction and growth, encouraging them to buy more and buy more often. This is especially valuable for consumable products–aka products that your customers have to keep buying, such as vitamins or makeup.
Minimum Spend Discounts
One of the most effective and easiest ways to increase AOV is offering discounts for minimum spend amounts. For example, $10 off on a minimum purchase of $100. You can even offer higher savings on larger purchases, like $40 off on a $300 purchase.
Don’t forget to offer free shipping for a minimum spend, too! While it's an inevitable part of shopping online, people hate paying for shipping. Your customers will be more than happy to buy a few more things if it means shipping is free.
Gift Card Purchases
Want your customers to buy more and make repeat purchases? Offer a free gift card when they spend a minimum amount of their purchase. For example, if they spend $60, offer them a free $10 gift card. This will motivate them to shop at your store again. The amount of the gift card you offer them will depend on your price point. Make sure the gift card doesn't give them something for free, otherwise, you'll lose profit.
Gift cards are a great way to improve AOV. For example, if your retail price is $30 or more, you can offer a free $5 gift card to your customers. So they can use it on their next purchase. This will motivate them to purchase again.
Exit Intent and Cart Recovery
This is the hail mary, the last ditch effort to keep a customer on your website and make a purchase when they’re about to close the browser window. By installing mouse tracking software onto your website, it can detect when a user is about to exit your store. You can use exit intent pop-ups to offer an attractive incentive so that the customer will either complete their purchase or add more to their cart. You could offer them a discount, a limited-time offer or free shipping, or show them some popular or complementary items to with their current purchase.
A/B Testing
Once you’re aware of the many methods of increasing AOV, how do you know which ones work best? This is where A/B testing comes in handy. Let’s say you want to encourage customers to buy more by offering them something if they reach a minimum spend amount. You can create two pop-ups that appear in your customers’ carts as they’re about to check out: one that says they’ll save $10 if they spend $100+, and a second one that says they’ll get a free gift if they spend $100+. With A/B testing, you’ll know which offer is the most effective one.
Gamification
By gamifying the checkout process, you’ll create a more fun and engaging overall shopping experience for your customers. Here are some ways you can implement gamification:
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progress bar to show your customers where they are in the checkout process
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timer or countdown to indicate a limited period of time for the customer to add more items to their cart at a discount
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tiered rewards system
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spin-to-win wheel
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mystery discount or gift if the customer spends a certain amount
The best time to think about increasing your AOV was yesterday; the second best time is right now. With so many moving parts to AOV strategy, you might not be sure what tactics to implement and how to implement them. We’ve partnered up with many ecommerce businesses to help bolster their bottom line and grow their customer base. If you want similar results, contact our ecommerce experts for a free consultation.
Looking for more marketing strategies to take advantage of the holiday season and ensure your 2023 is profitable? Download our free marketing guide today!
