Once you’ve done all the hard work of getting a customer to your eCommerce store, getting the most value from that customer is the next step in building a successful online business. But how should you go about doing it?
Increasing average order value
It’s a trick that the brick and mortar stores have been playing on us for years; a little free sample table here, a promotion stand there, special offers, loyalty cards, and even when you think you’ve avoided all their tricks, there are the tempting little treats placed right in front of the checkout.
When selling online, stores sometimes struggle to replicate this, but there are a number of ways to help boost the value of a customer’s basket.
1. Free or fast shipping
There’s no denying that Amazon Prime is one of the best examples of this method. Free shipping with a quick delivery time is a great way to entice customers, even though many of us are fully aware that these items are often being sold much cheaper elsewhere. As long as you’ve factored in the cost of sending the item, free shipping is a popular choice to boost sales.
One of the best ways to use shipping to increase your average basket value is to offer free shipping when a certain amount is spent. Placing this target threshold just above your normal order value is a good way to make it more appealing. For example, if your average order is around £20, set your offer to ‘Free shipping when you spend over £25’. This way, the customer only has to spend another £5 to qualify.
2. Upgrades and upsells
If you have a number of similar products on your website, consider upselling the customer by offering a comparison of upgraded products before checkout, but make it clear what the benefits of this upgraded product are. Popular online store tools like ‘customers also viewed’ or ‘similar products’ are a good way to highlight these, but they don’t always make clear the benefits over the currently viewed product.
3. Cross-selling
It’s often rare that we buy a product entirely in isolation. When we buy a new phone, we get a new case. When we buy a gift, we get wrapping paper or a card. When we buy a car, we need insurance.
Think about what your customers might need to complement their chosen product and offer it to them before they even have to think about it.
4. Package deals
Similar in a way to cross-selling, there are probably a number of your products that complement each other or work together to create a package. Building these into a package is another great way to increase your average order value by offering them the convenience of having to source multiple items separately.
These are just a few examples of how to get more from each basket, but if you want to know more about how we can help you increase your online sales, watch our video or get in touch with our team.
