Chandler Olson
May 16, 2022
If you want to make more money, you have to spend more money on ads so you can acquire new customers.
But what if you could make more money without the ad spend? Sound too good to be true? It isn’t! It’s simply a matter of encouraging people who are already buying from you to spend more.
Let’s dig into Average Order Value (AOV) and look at 6 strategies for increasing this metric. Thus, you’ll earn more without spending more on ads!
Has this ever happened to you when shopping online? You’ve chosen the items you want and when looking at your cart you realize that the total amount is just under the minimum order amount to qualify for free shipping.
Would you rather spend the money on shipping or find something else to buy to get free shipping and enjoy an extra item?
It’s a no-brainer, right? Most people will look for something else to buy to meet the minimum. After all, they have to spend the money anyway, they might as well get something for it.
Bottom line: offer free shipping over a certain dollar amount. Base this amount on the average price of items in your Shopify store. If you’re already making a few sales, choose an amount somewhat higher than your current AOV.
Someone comes to your eCommerce store and they want to buy a product. But what if you have a different version of the product? A better one with more features and a higher price tag?
You already know they are interested enough in the simpler version to buy it. This is the perfect opportunity to remind them or let them know about the more expensive version.
However, you never want to interrupt someone who is about to hand you money. An annoying popup ad showcasing the more expensive product could be enough to frustrate the customer and you end up losing them.
That’s why an app like In Cart Upsell is gold. This app casually slips information about your more expensive product seamlessly into the webpage your customer is already viewing. If the customer takes the bait, you’ve effortlessly earned a little extra money on that sale.
Cross-selling is another fabulous technique for getting a customer to buy more items. However, like upselling, it is important to keep it low-key and seamless.
Annoying popups jumping out at shoppers can scare them away. But helpful recommendations that relate to the product they want to buy are much more welcome in the customer’s view, and thus more effective.
For example, customers buying shoes will appreciate a recommendation for socks that compliment them. They might be annoyed, however, by a recommendation for a completely unrelated item (like a random tote bag). It looks tacky and feels like you’re just trying to get more money out of them. You are, of course, but you don’t want it to be so glaringly obvious.
Again, In Cart Upsell makes this a seamless process. Using AI technology, the app figures out what your customer is most likely to buy next and gently slips in the recommendation.
Down selling sounds like something you would want to avoid but consider this. What if your customer is considering an item but, deciding the item is too expensive, they click away? Then they get a gentle suggestion offering a similar item with fewer features at a lower price point.
If the price was the issue, they are primed and ready to buy the item but they didn’t want to spend quite that much. With this tactic, you make a smaller sale — but hey, a smaller sale is better than no sale!
Discount codes are a fantastic way to encourage people to buy more. Customers love it when they feel like they are getting special treatment.
And while blanket discount codes are great, targeted ones are even better! This is what makes customers feel like you’re rolling out the red carpet.
While targeted offers might sound complicated, In Cart Upsell makes the process super simple. You can create the offers based on the customer’s location, cart content, number of items in the cart, and more.
You can also reserve these offers for special customers, such as those on your email list, returning customers, or wholesale clients.
How do you know your upsell offers are as good as they could be? What if you could test them to find out?
Again, In Cart Upsell takes care of all the heavy lifting. Design two versions of your upsell and activate both. Then, forget about it.
The app will analyze how each version of upsells is performing. It will automatically optimize the upsell offer that does the best. It doesn’t require any extra effort on your part (other than creating the second offer). Yet you can rest easy knowing your upsell offer is working as well as it can.
Bundles are a great way to boost your sales and generate more revenue from each visitor to your store. You can create bundles and sell them as single products, or offer bundles as optional add-ons on your product pages. When setting up bundles in your e-commerce store, it's important to make sure the products you bundle together give value to the customer.
Check your existing sales history and create bundles of products that are commonly purchased together - your sales will skyrocket! You can use PickyStory to create upsell and cross-sell bundles that can be displayed on your pages or as popups. You can add optional discounts to your bundles, and inventory is automatically tracked for each individual product in the bundle.
There is a huge potential for Shopify store owners to make a decent living from the comfort of their homes. However, eCommerce isn’t as easy as some people make it out to be. To get the result you want, you’ve got to be willing to put in the work.
Thankfully, apps like In Cart Upsell make the process a lot simpler. Plus, an AI-based app like this is more effective than you. It can customize upsells and cross-sells according to what that individual customer is more likely to buy. It does this based on evidence, not the random guess you would have to make!