By increasing your average order value (AOV), you can get more value from your clients, instead of attracting new ones, which implies making more money from each transaction.
In other words, you can expand your company without skyrocketing your marketing, advertising and other expenses.
That’s why it’s important to calculate the amount of sales that you’re going to make in a period of time.
So let’s dive in by defining what’s the average order value.
What’s The Average Order Value (AOV)?
Average order value (AOV) is the average amount of money your customer spends when placing an order on your ecommerce store.
This is a key performance indicator of a great value, so if you own an ecommerce, you should calculate it.
How To Calculate Your Average Order Value
Let’s say that your store has a total revenue of $1,000 split between 50 orders, your average order value is $20.
By dividing your total revenue by the number of orders placed in your ecommerce store, we get the average order value.
Here’s the formula:
Why Is The Average Order Value Important
As we said, the average order value is a crucial KPI to understand your customer behavior. Together with the products most purchased, you can apply many strategical tactics to increase your revenue.
So, the benefits of increasing your average order value are:
- Increasing sales revenue
- Quickly recovering the cost to acquire customers
- Raising the lifetime value of your customers
- Efficiency when it comes to acquisition costs
6 Successful Tactics for Increasing Your Average Order Value (AOV)
1 – Experiment with Free Shipping Threshold
If you spend some amount of money, some companies offer a 10% off gift card. Others, free shipping.
Where do we put the threshold?
Above the average order value.
So if the average order value is $20, we can set free shipping with a cart of $35.
2 – Leverage Upselling & Bumps
Upselling and using Bumps are successful tactics that you should test.
By doing so, you are offering someone to upgrade their purchase to a more expensive version, a larger package, or a subscription.
Remember: A bump happens before the customer clicks “Buy Now”. It is placed on the sales page.
For instance, if a visitor is willing to buy a smartphone, you could upsell them on a smartphone with a larger screen or with more capacity.
Content Related: 7 Ecommerce Marketing Strategies That Work
3 – Bundle Products or Create Packages
Another successful tactic is to create packages with items that aim to have an overall experience. This is very common in the cosmetic industry.
The idea is to create product bundles or packages that are less expensive than buying the same items separately.
In fact, you are raising the perceived value of a customer’s purchase.
4 – Start a Customer Loyalty Program
According to smallbizgenius, 75% of customers prefer companies that offer rewards.
Consider implementing a rewards or loyalty program if your store sells consumable products that customers must repurchase.
How is a customer loyalty program going to increase customer lifetime value?
This is a customer retention strategy that will assist you in building relationships with your customers and increasing customer lifetime value. And hence, the average order value.
Creativisocial Tip: It’s important that you constantly figure out your customers’ needs, so it evolves together with your loyalty program.
5 – Offer Limited Time Promotions
Timers and deadlines work very well because urgency activates our need. If executed properly, it is a powerful sales tool that can help raise your average order value.
Let’s say you’ve been eyeing that pair of sneakers for the last month, yet you can’t justify spending $200 on them. Surprisingly, you receive an email announcing a 40% off flash sale for 24 hours.
Would you buy them?
We bet you would. And, probably, some add-ons.
6 – Launch a subscription box
Customers usually get a discount when they purchase a subscription box. This is not like any other bundle or package. Here the customer purchase doesn’t buy a one-off purchase but a recurrent one that will be shipped at regular intervals.
This strategical tactic not only increases the customer lifetime value but also the average order value.
Conclusion
The average order value is a powerful key performance indicator, that any ecommerce owner should take into account.
Incorporating tactics such as upselling, bundling, free shipping, subscription box, customer loyalty program, and limited time promotions will deliver better results.
Don’t forget, though, that your ultimately goal should be to keep customers happy.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you need help. We will be happy to guide you.