How to Increase AOV on Shopify: Everything You Should Know

5 ways to boost your checkout with customization.

by

Jaap Vergote

|

June 9, 2021

So you have a well run Shopify store. It’s churning out sales and you’re looking how to get more. You spend a lot of resources getting people to visit your shop. Then you’ve A/B tested all kinds of solutions to get people to get to check out. Now that customers have made it there, you want to make sure they complete their purchase!


If your conversion rate is over 3.8%, your shop is in the top 20 percentile. If conversion is over 5.3%, you’re in the top 5%. The average conversion rate is about 3% and varies by industry.


Your conversion rate is the single most important number after revenue and profit. It determines the effectiveness of your shop.


So, how can you improve it?


For every Shopify plan, your checkout (not the cart) exists out of three steps. Information, Shipping and Payment.


For every step, we’ve highlighted a solution to increase AOV


Upload a logo


Make sure people are enticed to make it all the way through checkout. A logo makes the checkout more personalized. The potential customer made it to the checkout. That means they like your brand. Highlight it! The logo will be visible in all steps of the checkout.


A progress bar


‍You can add a visual progress bar at the top of the page. The bar shows the 3 short steps to complete the purchase. It helps people see that they are very close to completing their purchase. The visualized progress avoids customers dropping off in the final steps.


It’s human psychology. If you’re that close, you want to complete it! Nobody likes to quit when the progress bar shows ‘97% complete’.


A 1-click upsell widget


Think about a supermarket. When you’re checking out, you’re surrounded by small items you can purchase for a couple of dollars. That checkout real estate is precious and supermarkets know that.


In e-commerce, your checkout real estate is the final page before completing a purchase. We’ve built a smart recommendation widget that allows upselling right on that page. With 1 click, the customer can add a recommended product to their cart. This boosts AOV and brings in extra revenue.


A checkout timer


Motivating people to complete the checkout comes down to human psychology. Creating urgency with a timer works! People will feel urged to complete the steps before the time runs out.


Card badges


Customers have numerous preferences on how to pay for a purchase. Displaying the payment method badges helps instill trust. Trust that you’ll accept their preferred payment method.


This article walks through how to add the badges using the Shopify settings.

BOGO Offers

What’s better than getting one product? Getting the second at a discount - just for buying one!

Buy one, get one (BOGO) offers can be a great way to encourage customers to spend more. Depending on the product, you may offer a second of the same product for a discount or the customer’s choice of a similar product at the same discount, allowing them to build their own “bundles”.

However, “buy one, get one free” is more of a conversion rate strategy than a way to increase average order values because they don’t pay for the additional product, so stick to discounts.

Increased Quality

Do you want an iPhone from 5 years ago, or the latest model?

Upselling your products by offering upgrades to things like storage space, newer models, more features, improved performance, and others is one way to increase AOV. You can accomplish this through effective on-page optimization and sales strategy, or by creating upsell offers that provide meaningful upgrades at a discount that’s good enough to convince customers to upgrade.

Upgraded Quantity

“Less is more” doesn’t apply to customer purchases - everyone wants more for their money.

When you sell food, drinks, office supplies, or any other consumable product that customers may run out of, increasing the quantity of your products through an upsell can help you secure more money upfront instead of hoping they return later to buy again. This strategy is especially effective when you include metrics like cost per unit to help demonstrate the increased value you’re offering.

Complementary Products

Does “you may also like…” sound familiar? If so, you’ve seen complementary product recommendations.

Cross-sells revolve around offering products that make sense alongside the primary product being purchased. You may offer chargers for electronics, cases for a phone, matching clothing, another item in the set, or any other separate product.

By increasing the number of products your customers buy, you’ll raise your average order value and provide a more complete buying experience to raise customer satisfaction.

Discounted Bundles

You’re the expert of your business, so you know what your customers need.

Bundles are a form of cross-selling that allows you to put the idea of buying multiple products into customers’ minds. Whether you create pre-built bundles with all the essentials a customer may need or allow users to make their own bundles, you can increase the number of products you sell to help grow your AOV.

Highlighted Higher-Priced Options

Sometimes getting customers to spend more is as simple as your website design.

When you offer products or services in multiple tiers, you have a straightforward method of upselling. By using web copy that highlights the benefits of your higher-tier offerings and design that draws customers to consider them over the basic products, you can increase the chances of customers spending more.

Discounted Annual Subscriptions

While subscriptions are a great way to potentially generate some ongoing revenue for your store, they don’t guarantee it.

If your store sells memberships or subscriptions, you can use annual plans to increase your average order value. By making the annual plan pay-ahead and offering a discount, you’re more likely to get customers to commit to paying upfront without needing to worry about them coming back to renew at a later date.

Free Shipping Minimums

Customers have come to expect free shipping - but they’re usually willing to earn it.

Depending on your average product cost and order values, free shipping may not be a viable option for your business. But because charging for shipping can be a major turn-off for customers, offering the option to get free shipping for spending a certain amount can help encourage customers to spend that extra cost on a product instead of shipping. Free shipping is especially valuable if your shipping costs are low to begin with, as the additional amount they spend is likely going to exceed your costs.

Free Gift Minimums

Who doesn’t like free stuff?

Similar to free shipping, a free gift for spending a certain amount of money is a low-risk strategy for convincing customers to spend more money. It won’t always work - especially if the customer is far away from the minimum amount - but if they’re close, there’s a good chance that they’ll consider your offer as a discounted product.

Loyalty rewards

Loyalty rewards are an effective customer engagement strategy alongside improving AOV. You’ll be able to collect their information to be used for marketing campaigns when they register, helping you to increase your advertising reach.

When you create a loyalty program, you also encourage customers to spend more to earn points or increase in rank so that future purchases may be discounted or special perks will be provided. It also increases the chances that they’ll return to buy again, improving your customer lifetime values as well as average order value.

Protection plans and warranties

Some customers like to have the peace of mind that their purchase is going to last. If you sell products that undergo wear-and-tear or have a higher risk of malfunctions, like electronics, insurance can help.

While usually a fraction of the original purchase price, protection plans, and warranties are a simple way to add more to customer orders. You’ll need to be certain that your prices make up for the amount that the warranties cost you over a product’s lifetime, however, so it may be harder to implement warranties quickly.

Post-purchase offers

Most people think that the sales process is over after customers place their orders. However, after capturing the payment information initially, you have the opportunity to convert one-click upsells or cross-sells.

A post-purchase offer can include any of the strategies we’ve already recommended. You’ll want to create offers that instill urgency so that customers are more likely to upgrade their purchase with a cross-sell or upsell offer by taking advantage of the prior payment authorization. All it takes is one click!

Why You Should Focus on Prioritizing Average Order Value

why to increase average order value

Average order value is an important metric to consider for your business. It helps to inform your marketing, spending, and pricing strategies so that you can maximize profitability and grow your business over time.

When the amount of money your customers spend increases, that means that you can spend more on advertising to reach more customers. As your business grows, you’ll have more opportunities for referrals, an improved market share, and more organic income that you don’t have to pay for with pay-per-click advertising.

Growing your average order value is also straightforward - you just need to know how to build your store, products, upsells, and cross-sells for conversions.

Using UpsellPlus to Increase AOV for your Shopify Store

how to increase average order value

The upselling and cross-selling strategies we’ve included above can be easily implemented with the right app for Shopify. Fortunately, UpsellPlus and our partners can help you achieve them - and more - to help you begin increasing your AOV.

With custom offer builders and AI-assisted product recommendations, you’ll be able to implement any BOGO or cross-sell deal. Use logic to ensure your offers always make sense, A/B testing to find what works best, and advanced reports to help you refine your strategy for better results.

Get started today with a free 7-day trial.

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