11 Ways to Improve AOV

For many businesses, 2022 was a mixed bag regarding ecommerce revenue and data. Among the unfavorable stories, one bright spot was average order value (AOV). In 2022, AOV increased a whopping 31% for ecommerce websites.

If your business didn’t see this kind of improvement, there are some creative ways to improve AOV that can help you in 2023.

1. Build a Loyalty Program

Loyalty programs are a proven marketing strategy designed to motivate and reward customers for their repeat business and loyalty to a brand; they typically involve offering customers exclusive rewards, benefits, or discounts for their continued patronage.

A loyalty program can increase your AOV in several ways; it can incentivize customers to spend more, encourage customers to return to your website, create cross-selling and upselling opportunities, and provide exclusive access to products and promotions.

2. Display Suggested/Related/Frequently Bought-together Items

This is a clever merchandising strategy that consists of suggesting complementary or related products to customers based on their purchase history or shopping cart contents.

Sometimes, items need or can greatly benefit from another product. For instance, a certain shirt may look great with a particular pair of pants. A specific gadget may need a certain type of battery.

Displaying suggested/related/frequently bought-together items can boost AOV in many ways. It can encourage customers to add complementary products to their cart, improve customer experiences, create cross-selling opportunities, and foster a sense of convenience.

3. Offer Discounts

Provide customers with a price reduction on the products or services they purchase. If you’re a customer, getting a discount on the exact items or services you use frequently will excite you more (and will be taken advantage of more) than an incentive that doesn’t apply to you. Offering discounts can encourage customers to purchase more items, create cross-selling opportunities, increase the urgency to purchase, and reward customer loyalty.

4. Offer Promo Codes for Other KPIs

You can incentivize people by offering promo codes if they take actions related to key performance indicators (KPIs) on your site, such as newsletter signups and referrals.

A newsletter signup helps your company by increasing your email list, and offering customers a promo code gets them a discount, which often leads to additional purchasing. A referral also builds your list, and the customer can benefit from a promo code similarly. You’re creating an action that contributes toward a new success metric outside of AOV but can still influence it.

5. Highlight Reviews and User-generated Content (UGC)

Showing off reviews and UGC is showcasing customer feedback and content about products or services on your business’s website or social media channels; this can include customer reviews, ratings, comments, photos, and videos.

Putting an emphasis on reviews and user-generated content can enhance AOV in a number of ways. Reviews and UGC can provide recommendations and suggestions for additional products or accessories, encouraging customers to purchase more items (cross-selling) or higher-priced items (upselling). They can also encourage customers to add more positively reviewed or recommended items to their carts, build overall trust and confidence in your site via social proof, create a sense of community, and provide recommendations for other visitors to follow.

6. Display Trending and Best-seller Products

Showing trending and best-selling items means showcasing the most popular and in-demand products on your ecommerce website; this can include a dedicated section on the homepage, a separate page for best-sellers, or product recommendations throughout the site.

Doing this can improve AOV in several different ways. It can encourage customers to purchase higher-priced items, promote upselling and cross-selling, create a sense of urgency to buy, and provide social proof of quality and value.

7. Establish a Free Shipping Threshold

Creating a free shipping threshold is setting a minimum purchase amount that customers need to attain in order to qualify for free shipping on their order. This threshold can vary depending on the business, but it’s typically set at a level that encourages customers to add more items to their cart in order to qualify for your free shipping offer.

Instituting a free shipping threshold can drive higher AOV in a few ways. It can encourage customers to add more items to their shopping carts, incentivize larger purchases, reduce cart abandonment, and improve the customer experience your site delivers.

8. Show Savings Throughout the Checkout Process

Illustrating savings throughout the checkout process means displaying the amount of money a customer saves as they proceed through the steps of checking out and submitting their order. This includes showing the original price of an item, the discount being applied, and the final price that the customer will pay.

Exhibiting savings throughout the checkout process can help improve AOV in a number of different ways. It can encourage customers to add more items to their cart, incentivize larger purchases, and be a tool that promotes upselling and cross-selling.

9. Provide Financing Options

Supplying financing options means offering customers the ability to purchase products using a payment or installment plan. This could include offering customers the ability to pay over time with no interest or providing a financing option through a third-party provider. Compared to the previous year, Buy Now/Pay Later (BNPL) programs saw a 78% increase in usage during Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2022.

Giving customers financing options can expand AOV in a bunch of ways. It can encourage larger purchases, make products more affordable, increase repeat purchases, and expand your customer base.

10. Create a Personal Shopper Bot

Constructing a personal shopper bot involves designing and developing a chatbot that can interact with customers and provide personalized product recommendations. The personal shopper bot can use machine-learning algorithms and natural-language processing (NLP) techniques to better understand customers’ preferences and suggest products that match their needs.

Utilizing a personal shopper bot can improve AOV in various ways. It can provide personalized recommendations, be a tool for upselling and cross-selling, facilitate product discovery, and encourage repeat purchasing.

11. Bundle Items into Tiered Packs

Assembling items in grouped packs (such as a “starter pack,” a “pro pack,” etc.) translates to offering products that are complementary or related to each other as a package deal at a discounted price.

Putting items into organized packs can promote AOV in a few different ways. It can encourage customers to buy more, promote higher-end products, improve product margins, and create a sense of value when people shop at your website.

There Are Many Ways to Improve AOV

To summarize, there are myriad creative ideas and lesser-known tactics you can employ if you’re wondering how to increase AOV in 2023, including building a loyalty program, displaying suggested/related/frequently bought-together items, offering discounts, offering promo codes for other KPIs, highlighting reviews and UGC, displaying trending and best-selling products, establishing a free shipping threshold, showing savings throughout the checkout process, creating a personal shopper bot, and bundling items into tiered packs.

Which of these steps you take — if any — is up to you. In the meantime, you can take advantage of a free consultation with the digital marketing experts at Hawke Media about other ways to bring positive changes to your website’s ecommerce revenue and data numbers.