How to increase you average order value

04/09/2018 | Share:

Many people’s main focus when growing their ecommerce business is to focus their energy on increasing the number of conversions they receive. However, a strategy that is often overlooked is optimising your website to increase the average order value.

In this blog, we look at some small changes you can make to your website to encourage your customers to spend more on your website.

Offer Free Shipping

Setting an order value that qualifies a customer for free shipping is a great way to encourage them to add more items to their basket.

Adding a banner on both the homepage and header of each page will constantly remind the customer that if they spend a certain amount they will receive free shipping. You could consider creating a pop up that appears once they add something to their basket, telling them that they are £xxx away from qualifying for the offer.

Adding a countdown or a deadline to the offer also adds a sense of urgency for the customer, which will encourage them to instinctively add additional items to their basket to receive free shipping.

Recommended Products and Cross-Selling

A great way to tempt your customers into spending more on your website is to recommend products and cross-sell.

Recommending products based on previous search history or showing similar, more expensive variations of the product they are currently viewing are tried and tested ways of increasing average order value. We already know the customer has an interest in the products, so the likelihood of them potentially purchasing more products or a more expensive product is high.

You should also consider cross-selling. Suggesting products that work well with the product they are viewing or have added to their basket is a clever way of encouraging the customers to buy more products. For example, if someone is looking at a dress, show them the shoes and the bag that the model is wearing. You could even make it seasonal. Show them a jacket that would match or a pair of sunglasses?

Both of these techniques can be used on the product page and the checkout page. Just make sure that if they are on the checkout page, you can add them to basket without having to leave the checkout as this could end up losing you conversions.

Product Bundling

Similar to cross-selling, bundling products together is a clever way of convincing your customer that they should buy more items. By grouping a couple of products together and giving the customer a discount if they purchase the bundle, your customers will feel satisfied that not only have they got all the accessories they need, but that they also have a good deal.

If you sell camping equipment and someone is looking at a tent, include the option to buy it in a bundle deal: the tent, a sleeping bag and a camping stove with a saving of £15. Again this is a great technique to use on both the product page and on the checkout page, but as mentioned
before, make sure the customer doesn’t have to leave the checkout process in order to add the new items.

A few strategically placed offers and products can be the difference of a 1 product sale and a 3 product sale. These are simple strategies that will help to grow both your business and your revenue.