Many businesses focus their efforts on gaining more customers or getting customers to repeat purchases. One metric that’s often overlooked is average order value (AOV), which is the average amount of money a customer spends on your website in a single transaction. When you increase your AOV, you can make more revenue and profit for your business. We have some great tips to help you increase AOV.

Free shipping

A common tactic is to offer free shipping when customers spend a certain amount on products from your online store. Setting this level above your current AOV can encourage customers to buy additional products so they can get free shipping. When using this tactic, you also need to consider the cost of shipping and how providing it to your customers for free will impact your bottom line. The increase in order value needs to be worth it to offset the free shipping cost for your business. 

Sell products as a bundle 

If you sell individual items that have a low value, you could offer multiple products at a discount. Customers will feel like they’re getting more value when buying a bundle rather than individual items. For example, if you sell beauty products, you could bundle together products that suit the same skin type. Customers can then easily purchase all of your product range in one bundle. 

Offer related products

During the checkout process, you can present customers with recommended or related products that they might be interested in buying. Make it easy for the customer to add these additional products to their basket without exiting the checkout process. This strategy is called cross-selling; it’s a proven way to get a customer to add more products to their basket. For the best results, use the information you have to present relevant products your customers would be interested in purchasing.

Upselling

Upselling is when you try to convince customers to buy the better version of the item or service they’re interested in purchasing. For example, if a customer is buying a sim-only contract at £10 a month and with this sim, they get 12GB of data, you might present them with the more premium sim that has £20GB of data for just £15. Doing this at the right moment can increase your average order value. You must also be careful that you don’t put customers off the product altogether; simply show them what else they can have if they spend a little extra.

Gift wrapping

If you sell products that are suitable for gifting, you could add a gift-wrapping service to your website. Customers will be happy to pay extra to receive items that have been professionally gift wraps. Make sure you have a selection of large and small boxes suitable for your product sizes; this will prevent wastage which is essential to minimise when providing a gift wrapping service. You can also use gift boxes for customers who purchase a selection of items. Add this option to your website during the checkout process, but be careful not to distract customers from their checkout journey.

Rewards programme 

Another way to increase the amount of money a customer spends at your store is to create a rewards programme. When customers spend money, they get rewards or points they can use to get money off their next purchase. Customers are more likely to revisit and choose your business if they are part of your reward programme. In addition, they might spend more money in a single transaction, knowing they will be rewarded for that spend. When setting up a rewards programme, take the time to speak to customers about what would interest them; the best programmes are ones that customers will find appealing. 

Average order value is a key metric that businesses should focus on as part of their growth strategy. A 10% increase in average order value can equate to a huge bump in profits without the business needing to spend more money driving traffic to the website. If you’re running an online business, make sure you keep an eye on your average order value; if you see it starting to drop or you think you could improve it try one of the tactics listed above.