How to Increase AOV for your Shopify Store

Since there’s more competition these days for Shopify stores and Meta ads aren't working as well as they used to, increasing AOV is one of the most important goals for long-term success. But increasing AOV isn’t as simple as raising your prices. If you raise your prices too high, you’ll likely reduce the chances of making a sale.

How to Raise the Average Order Value of Your Shopify Store

There are many tried and true ways to raise the AOV of your store. Here are the ways we suggest.

Give away free shipping, discounts, or gift cards

This is one of the easiest ways to raise your store's average order value. Buyers don't always want to pay for shipping. Amazon also used this method before they had Amazon Prime, which gave free shipping on orders over $25. You can also offer gift cards or discounts.

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Because of this, people will be more likely to come to your store and buy something. Also, the average order value goes up as the number of clients goes up.

Leverage product bundles

Your average order value can be affected by whether or not you offer product bundles. You can put together products that are similar to give people more for their money. For example, if a customer comes in to buy a shirt, you can show them the product bundle that also has pants.

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With this method, you can find the best products to sell together. Test out different product bundle campaigns to see which one gets the best conversion rates for your Shopify store, then use the best one.

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Because product bundles come as a set, and often at a discount, a customer who wants to buy one product may be tempted to buy other things they wouldn't have bought otherwise.

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Along the same lines, it's a good idea to suggest products to customers to make a personalized bundle. Instead of giving a customer a pre-packaged group of similar items that they can buy together, they could be given a short list of suggestions from which to choose if they want to buy them together at a discount.

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For example, if a customer wants to buy a razor, they might also get a discount on a pair of replacement razors and a travel bag to keep them safe.

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The customer wouldn't have to buy these two extra things, but they could if they wanted to at a cheaper price.

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When it comes to product bundles, put the discounts front and center. Customers are more likely to buy a product bundle if they know how much money they will save by buying the items together instead of separately.

Make use of Upselling and Cross-Selling

Upselling and cross-selling have been around as long as the question "Do you want fries with that?" Bundling, upselling, and cross-selling are all ways to get customers to buy things that go with or are better than what they were already going to buy.

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And, like any other method, it might not work as well if you use it too often. Don't try to sell too much. Instead, suggest things like a friend would. No one likes to feel like they're being pushed to buy something. Your upsell should seem sincere and helpful, like a suggestion from a friend.

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Instead of just recommending other popular items from your business, choose accessories or extras that go well with the item the user already has in their cart. A mouse for a laptop or batteries for a remote control are two examples.

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Offer low-cost add-ons to increase the chance that someone will buy. If someone wants to buy $50-$100 worth of products, it's hard to get them to buy another $100 worth of products, but it's much easier to get them to buy a $20 product that goes well with what they already bought.

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Try out upsells after someone buys something. If your brand is worried about affecting conversion rates when bundling complementary products, offering upsells on cheaper products is a low-risk way to test it. By looking at what people buy together, you can figure out what they tend to buy together. Then, make a pre-order bundle for the same thing.

Show expected delivery dates on product pages

Every customer likes being able to choose the date and time they want their orders delivered. But in reality, not everyone gives you that choice, and most people don't have that choice when they shop.

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With apps like FenixCommerce, you can show your customers when they can expect their orders to arrive before they buy. This can help you make more sales.

Make use of branded tracking pages

Brands are starting to use their own tracking pages instead of sending customers to FedEx or UPS's tracking pages. Customers can check on their orders on your website instead of on the website of a shipping company.

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This is a great way to increase AOV because branded tracking pages can be used to give each customer suggestions for products that are best for them.

Offer sign-up discounts

First-time offers are a great way to get people to buy from you for the first time if you're planning a marketing campaign to bring in new customers. You could try the following;

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• Offer a unique perk to people who are buying for the first time.
• Offer a discount to people who buy from you again if they sign up for your email list.

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There are a lot of offers to sign up for email lists. If you do a lot of shopping online, you'll see them everywhere. You can also have promotions where people don't have to sign up for emails. These are great ways to get customers who don't like making commitments to do business with you.

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These are some of the most popular:

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• A percentage-based or dollar-based discount on the first purchase.
• Over a certain minimum price, a percentage or dollar amount off the first purchase
• When you place your first order, shipping is on the house.
• You'll get a free gift with your first purchase.
• Items that cross-sell and up-sell should stand out.

Set up a loyalty program

By starting a customer loyalty program, you can build a strong relationship with your customers and raise the average order value in your Shopify store. As part of the loyalty program, customers who come back again and again are rewarded.

Customer service can drive sales

Giving customers an easy way to get in touch with you can also help you sell more and make more money. Live chats are a great way to not only solve customer problems but also suggest products and sell more.

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A discount that only lasts for a short time is a post-purchase timed discount or a free gift for a short time. This offer can be put on the page that confirms a transaction or in an email receipt that is automatically sent to the customer.

Add a free shipping bar to your site

Free shipping is something everyone likes. Customers have come to expect it these days (thanks, Amazon Prime).

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So, retailers offer free shipping to increase the average order value on their websites. As people add things to their shopping carts, the bar changes in real time. In a world where people like free shipping, this little widget is an easy way to get shoppers to add more items to their carts.

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Think about how many times you've added extra items to your cart just to get free shipping. I don't know about you, but I've done it so many times I can't keep track. There is work that can be shipped for free. If you haven't already, it's time to put this to the test.

How Cross-Store Selling grows your Shopify store

Want to know the open secret to growing your Shopify store? It’s Cross-Store Selling. With Cross-Store Selling, your brand can sell products from other stores and vice versa.

Sell your products on other brands’ websites

With Carro, we have a directory of the biggest brands for you to partner with. This means they’ll sell and market your products to their customers. But if you can’t decide which brands are the best fit, we have a tailored recommendation service where we introduce you to brands so you can begin working together.

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The best part is you don’t have to pay for products like you would with traditional wholesaling. This allows you to choose different SKUs to see what complements your existing product catalog.

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"Take my word for it, if you install Carro, you are going to see what I’ve seen. Which is a dramatic increase to average order value, especially on orders that contain Carro products, which for us is over 80% increase to AOV." 

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Ryan Pamplin, Founder & CEO of Blendjet

Virtual inventory makes fulfillment easy

Brand partnerships are not like wholesaling. With Carro, you don’t have to buy products from your partners. Instead, orders are automatically sent to your partner brands so they can handle fulfillment themselves. 

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“Before we joined Carro, we had put our company on the market. We thought we needed capital to expand our traditional wholesaling. Now, we’re able to meet our goals without having any cash come out of pocket. We’re tripling and quadrupling the numbers of units that we move because we have access to so much more inventory.”

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Amy Richardson-Golia, June & January

Find new bundling & upsell opportunities to increase AOV

Perhaps the most exciting reason to leverage Cross-Store Selling is that it’s the best way to grow your Shopify store in the long run. By working collaboratively with other brands, your brand will set itself up for success. Your Shopify store will become THE destination for your niche. 

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One of the best reasons to shop on Amazon is convenience. Being able to buy everything you need in one place is a powerful motivator. Wouldn’t you love it if your Shopify store was the go-to place for your customers’ needs?

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"In addition to a nice contribution to the bottom line, it was also one of the most highly-engaged social posts for the year." 

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David Krimper, Director of Shopify, Manduka

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To learn more about how Carro can help your Shopify store grow, check us out on the Shopify App Store.

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