Earning new customers is a difficult proposition for any online business because the competition from other websites is going to be extremely intense regardless of the field in which you do business. As an online business owner, you’re also at least partially dependent on factors you can’t control. You may find it hard to get traffic through keyword bidding, for instance, because there may be other business owners who are willing to spend more than you on your most important keywords. If you rely on organic traffic from Google, an algorithm update could result in a sudden decrease in traffic that sends your business into a tailspin.
You want to increase your business’s profitability in any way possible, so you can keep your operation growing and thriving long into the future. The way to do that is by controlling the things you can control, and one of those things is the value of the average order placed on your site.
The idea that you have any control over how much people spend when shopping on your site might seem pretty implausible on the surface. How could you possibly convince customers to spend more or buy things that they weren’t planning to buy? If you think about your experiences as a consumer, though, you actually spend more than you intend to on a regular basis. You experience attempts to influence your behavior every time you shop at the supermarket or visit a major online retailer like Amazon, and you can actually take a few pages out of those companies’ playbooks to accomplish the same goal.
Here’s how to increase your e-commerce site’s average order values and earn the most possible money without doing a single thing to increase your customer base.
Lower Your Product and Fulfillment Costs
One way to increase your average order values is by raising your prices. That’s often impractical for an e-commerce company, though, because there will always be a competitor that’s happy to undercut you. If you can find a way to reduce your costs, however, you’ll automatically earn more from each sale without doing anything to change your customers’ behavior. Here are some of the easiest ways to cut your costs.
- You can find a better wholesaler. Whether you’re looking for the best wholesale vape supplier or something else, there are plenty of distributors competing with one another in every industry. Also, don’t be afraid to negotiate for a better pricing structure with your existing wholesaler – especially if you’re willing to order in higher quantities.
- Save money on your shipping supplies by buying them in greater bulk. If you’re already buying in bulk, see if you can find another packaging strategy that’s more economical.
- Investigate other shipping carriers to see if you can find a more affordable alternative to your current carrier.
Offer Upsells and Cross-Sells
One of the most effective ways to encourage customers to buy more is by offering products that they didn’t know they wanted. Essentially, this is the e-commerce version of the age-old question, “Would you like fries with that?” E-commerce offers an almost endless variety of ways to offer upsells and cross-sells, and all that you need to do is look at a major online retailer like Amazon to see some of those strategies in practice. If you’re using a high-end e-commerce platform, you may be able to implement upsell and cross-sell offers automatically – and if you’re using a free or low-cost platform, there are still ways to implement them manually without too much work. Here are two strategies that might work for you.
- If you sell products that have important accessories like storage cases or replacement parts, discuss those accessories and link to them in your product descriptions. For example, some of the useful accessories for a digital camera might include a travel bag, a tripod, a telephoto lens and a memory card. You could also create a bundle that allows customers to buy a product and all of its accessories together at a small discount.
- Creating product bundles is a great way to get customers to try new products that they might not have purchased otherwise, and it can also help you to clear out old products that aren’t strong sellers. This is fairly easy to do manually because you can simply add the bundle to your e-commerce platform as if it were a new product. Don’t forget to take some pictures showing the products together and write an appealing description explaining why people should buy the bundle.
- If you sell products that have multiple tiers or levels, it’s always a good idea to let people know why they should consider buying the product that’s the next level up from the one they’re currently viewing. It’s well known that Apple, for instance, charges enormous premiums for upper-level computers and phones that offer more RAM and/or storage. That’s a huge profit center for them because it’s generally not possible to upgrade Apple products after you buy them. There are similar upsell opportunities in almost every industry. All that you need to do is identify those opportunities and present a compelling case for why people should buy them.
Improve Your Website’s Product Discovery Features
Product discovery is your local supermarket’s specialty. How many times have you stopped to look at a product on the endcap when walking from one aisle to the next? Endcaps are among the most visible areas in any market, and some food companies actually pay grocers for placement in those premium spots. You can actually do the same thing with your e-commerce site; all that you need to do is put the products that you want your customers to see in the places where you know they’re already looking. Here are a few practical examples.
- Add banners to your home page highlighting your latest product additions.
- Create a “New Products” category that encourages customers to browse your new releases.
- Pin hot products to the tops of commonly viewed category pages.
- Implement an intelligent sitewide search function that automatically corrects spelling errors and suggests related products to help customers find what they’re looking for. Your e-commerce platform may have a plugin that you can install to do this automatically.
Also Read: Fashion E-Commerce Trends: Navigating Through Innovation and Consumer Preferences
