Brick-and-mortar shops have many tips to make customers buy unintended goods in their list, leading to the rise of their Average Order Value (AOV).
With the lack of face-to-face interaction, online store owners need other methods to boost AOV. In this article, we’ll dig deep into what AOV is and how to increase it for your Shopify store.
The Definition Of AOV
AOV (Average Order Value) is the average value of each order in your online store. It is one of the most essential metrics to measure whether your business is profitable or not.
AOV is calculated by the following formula:
Take a toy store for example. After a particular time, if it has the total revenue of $10,000 with 500 orders, then its e-commerce AOV = 10,000 / 500 = $20.
Therefore, when buyers spend more money each time they order, your store will get a higher AOV.
The Importance Of AOV
We all know that the primary goal of every company is increasing sales, but that’s not enough for profitability optimization - there are many variable expenses that we need to take into account. Increasing AOV, in this case, will maximize the profits for you. If you can gain the most revenue possible in an order from a specific customer, you are doing the right thing to profitability.
AOV is necessary when you need to make the following business decisions:
- The marketing budget and whether the strategies you’re using are working or not
- How to set the product price reasonably
- Strategies to boost AOV and whether it’s effective or not
Tips To Boost AOV For Shopify Store
Tip 1: Upselling/ Cross-Selling
We have agreed that we need to increase the number of money that customers order, so your mission is to sell as many items as possible at one time. An efficient way to do that is upselling or cross-selling.
To put it simply, upselling is when you sell a more expensive item to your customers. For example, you own a mobile phone store and one customer is looking for an iPhone 6. In this case, you can entice them to buy an iPhone 6S by showing recommendations on the checkout process.
Cross-selling is when you sell products related to what customers are looking for. Turning to the example below with a customer buying iPhone 6. If you successfully persuade them to purchase screen protectors, earplugs, or phone cases, then you are cross-selling.
Tip 2: Loyalty Programs
Many businesses are giving customers points for spending dollars on their products. It’s a good way to increase AOV. When customers understand they are getting points, they will add more items to their shopping carts.
Tip 3: Gift Cards
Similar to loyalty programs, gift cards encourage customers to spend more for each order to get a voucher or gift card. For example, when your AOV value is $25, you could give a gift card of $5 for customers buying $40 on an order.
Tip 4: Bundles Or Package
A bundle is a combo of related products at a discount price. For example, you are selling Barbie toys at these prices:
- Barbie figure = $10
- Barbie dress = $7
- Barbie shoes = $6
The total order is now reaching $23. However, you can offer a combo at a lower price, like $18 for example. Your AOV is now higher and your customers get their discount - a win-win situation!
Tip 5: Free Shipping
Everyone likes free shipping, no matter how modest the fee is. You can use this tactic to danger customers by setting a particular dollar threshold, and when customers reach that amount of money, they will be qualified for free shipping.
For example, your AOV is currently $30. If you want it to reach $39 (increasing the AOV by 30%), you should offer free shipping for orders of $40 and above.
Tip 6: Time-Sensitive Sales
Time-sensitive sales create a feeling that people are missing out on some good deals, and this urgency will boost your AOV dramatically. Some outstanding examples of time-sensitive sales are Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
