2014-10-01

Average Order Value, or AOV, is essential to growing revenue for your business. It’s also a powerful weapon in your ecommerce arsenal. To get the maximum benefit, it’s great to focus on increasing both AOV and traffic to your business at the same time. However, if you’re budget is tight, there are a few tactics you can use to increase AOV and take a break on paying for advertising.

Watch this week’s 1-minute #SellMore video as we share things you can do right now to increase your Average Order Value.

Learn about the upcoming Bigcommerce Analytics and new #BetterBackend here.

4 tips to increase Average Order Value and boost revenue

<p dir=”ltr” style=”line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 72pt;”><span style=”font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: #222222; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Making just a few changes on your online store can improve your average order value quite a great deal. You’ll be able to outsmart search engines, increase cash flow and even reduce the amount you are spending on marketing.</span></p>

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<p dir=”ltr” style=”line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 72pt;”><span style=”font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Check out the full blog post on average order value!</span></p>

<p dir=”ltr” style=”line-height: 1; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 72pt;”><span style=”font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Have questions? Tweet @Bigcommerce, we’re here to help! #sellmore</span></p>

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How do I use AOV?

AOV can give you insight into 3 areas: how much you spend to acquire new customers, your return on investment with your marketing efforts, and your overall profit margins of your business.

What are the benefits of increasing AOV?

Outsmart search engines. Let’s be real,search engines are a necessary evil–but they continuously change “the rules” with their frequent algorithm updates. It’s wise to make sure you’re making the most of what shoppers are coming to your store just in case they feel like throwing a hitch in your giddy buck.

Quick way to increase cash flow. We all know that starting a business means a fair bit of spend upfront. Improving AOV is a great way to get healthy cash flow back into your store without having to spend a lot of money.

Reduce marketing spend. Acquiring traffic usually has a cost attached to it. Increasing your AOV could be as simple as installing a simple plugin for your shopping cart or just making some free changes to your shopping experience.

How do I calculate AOV?

AOV = Sum of Revenue Generated / Number of Orders Taken

Yep, it’s that simple. Once you know this number, you’ll want to subtract your business costs to get a more accurate picture of how you can use this dollar amount.

How can I improve my AOV:

1. Bundle related merchandise. Let’s say shoppers are coming to your site looking for a an itsy-bitsy, teeny, weeny, yellow, polka dot bikini. Want to increase their spend? Bundle it with a bottle of suntan lotion or sunglasses. This small change can make a big impact.

Take a look at purchasing trends of your customers and look for products that are commonly bought together. Try bundling these product or other products that are naturally related.

2. Implement a free shipping threshold. How frequently have you seen offers such as “free shipping when you spend over $49.99” when shopping online? It’s like a game against the total for online shoppers. They will keep throwing products into their cart until they reach the point where they gain free shipping. Win for your customers, and for you!

Not only does this tactic work wonders for AOV, it keeps business owners from struggling to offer free shipping on all purchases.

3. Don’t forget the upsell. I know many people feel dirty when thinking of the idea of upsell, but don’t underestimate the power of even the smallest effort here. A miniscule fee for gift wrapping or a tiny suggested item add-on can equal great profit margins. If you’re comfortable, you can go big with it by adding suggested items or running large marketing promotions.

4. Launch some SMART loyalty programs. Segment marketing campaigns into low, medium and high AOV. This will help you identify your “best” customers and offer them what is needed to get them to come back and buy even more. You could start a cash back or discount program, or even a referral program which are particularly fruitful and fun.

Tune in next week for our next #SellMore video for tips just like this!

Want to ask a question of suggest a topic for a future #SellMore video? Tweet @Bigcommerce or comment below to let us know!



The post 4 tips to increase Average Order Value and boost revenue [VIDEO] appeared first on The Bigcommerce Blog.

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