Last week we shared some tips on getting your first sale after launching your online store. Congratulations on getting your online store known and getting sales! It’s a good feeling to see your products consistently getting sales but after a few months, it seems like your customers are just purchasing the same things and the amount is not going up but remaining stagnant. This is not going to help with gaining revenue for your business.
So, how do you turn that flat plateau to an uphill of a revenue? You want to increase the average sales of your online store to see the profit you can make through the digital sales. How do you do that? Where do you begin?
First of all, what is an Average Order Value? It’s what the average amount of money spent by each of your customer per transaction/checkout. Here’s how you calculate your Average Order Value:
Total revenue/number of orders = average order value
Discount, discount, discount
Did this catch your attention? It sure will when a customer is visiting your online store and they see this slapped right in front of them. But of course, there is a catch. Don’t just give them a discount for no reason, make them earn it.
Set a minimum amount for customers to spend in order to get a discount. If your Average Order Value is RM120 per checkout or transaction, increase it by giving them a discount only if they spend RM180 and above. This will always entice shoppers to shop for more.
That way, in order to enjoy the discount, your customers will now add more items to their cart just to enjoy the discount on their purchase. Make sure that this discount promotion is placed obvious enough on your website. It is best to have it displayed on the banner of your main page. Not to forget, add a discount/voucher code bar on your check out page to indicate that your online store does offer discounts.
Recommend Products on Your Site
When a customer is on your website, there’s a big chance that they are already thinking of purchasing something. It’s just like going to the grocery store with a list in your hand, knowing ahead what you want to buy and where to buy them. Imagine and assume that your customers do not have a list in their mind, take the opportunity to recommend other products for them to consider.
It’s just like the grocery store example. When you go to the grocery store on a weekend, you will see some small booths set up in front of some aisles, and there will be someone handing you some food samples. You usually stop and try them, and then consider buying them because you are charmed by the recommendations and you think to yourself, “Hmm maybe I’d like to try this product too.”
“Know thyself. Know the customer. Innovate.” – Beth Comstock
This is the same as online shopping! Provide product recommendations to your already shopping customers and they are likely to click on your recommended products and buying them. Place the recommended products on the same page of the product page, it can be at the bottom of the product page or on the side of the page to be more visible.
Use attractive phrases such as “You might also like…” or “Popular Items in Our Store” or “Customers Also Like”and so on. These will make your online store very well-received and popular amongst online shoppers.
Complement Related Products
Similar to the method above, instead of just suggesting random items in your store, recommend some items that will go hand-in-hand with the item that they are viewing. For example, if your online store sells clothing, and the customer is on the product page of a pair of jeans, you may recommend a belt or a jacket to go with it, or shoes to accessorize.
This is a cross-selling and upselling method that can help push your other items to be sold. You can take the opportunity to suggest items that are slow-moving or not so popular in your online store. Perhaps throw in an additional discount for pairing the items and purchasing them in one transaction.
Sell in Bundles or Packages
This is perhaps the easiest way to get customers to purchase items in a higher amount.
Offer a bundled package of a few items from your online store at a lower price. This will appeal to customers who are already in the midst of purchasing a couple of related items and customers who can’t resist a great deal.
A bundled package of a few items can be items of the same or items that complement well together. For example, if you are an online clothing store, you can bundle up a few of the same basic T-shirts of either the same color or different colors. If you sell a single T-shirt for the price of RM25, you can bundle them up to five T-shirts at the price of RM110 instead. That way, your customers will see it as a great deal and discount. Now, instead of just selling one individual T-shirt, you sell five instead.
For items that are different but complementing, you can go with things that will be bought together. For example, if you are an online grocery shopping website, you bundle up the essentials of cooking a pasta meal. Which means, suggesting to your customer a bundle of a box of pasta, a jar of bolognese sauce, a bottle of parmesan cheese and a pack of meatballs. Not only you get to sell more items in one transaction, but you are also actually helping your customers with their shopping.
Start a Loyalty Program
Don’t underestimate the power of returning customers. With returning customers, they are bound to bring more sales to your business.
Show your loyal customers how much you appreciate them by starting a loyalty program and membership programs.
Give them free membership that cost nothing and they will be more than excited to join. Get them to keep their membership by sustaining an amount of purchase annually. Reward them with membership tiers to have them feel privilege. For example, Sephora offers three different types of membership tiers in their loyalty program. There is the Sephora White, Sephora Black, and Sephora Gold. The Sephora Gold is the highest of all three tiers, which can be earned if you spend RM4,500 a year to be qualified. Of course, we such big spending, the rewards offered are also worthy and make you feel like a privileged member.
“Build relationships, not links.”– Scott Wyden Kivowitz
You can also introduce a point system where members can collect points from their purchases. In exchange for the points, your customers can get discounts or gifts. The Body Shop offers an RM15 voucher for every 150 points collected. As an active and regular customer of The Body Shop, I am often very excited to get my RM15 voucher because it shows that I am a constant buyer and it made me feel established. This also encourages me to want to use the voucher to buy more items from them. I’m not complaining though, because these are the items I would use regularly and routinely.
Also, you can get your customers aka your online store members now, to refer a new friend to shop at your online store. Reward them with a small token of gift or a credit in their account for their next purchase. This helps with bringing in more new sales to your online store.
Remarketing Campaign
Ever just visited a website and browse through their products then decide to just not buy them. Then magically when you are browsing on the internet and you see that exact item popping up on your screen. It’s like as though it is calling out to you, luring you to click on it and complete the transaction.
This is the remarketing campaign, which is used by a lot of brands to reconnect with the people who have visited their website but did not complete a transaction. This allows you to strategically place your ads in front of the audiences while they browse on their search engine. This method enables you to increase your brand awareness and remind the visitors that they might want to change their mind and click on the checkout button to complete their purchase.
It might seem like a desperate move that is somewhat haunting you as these ads keep popping up on your browser, however, it is proven that the remarketing campaign works and have gathered more sales to online stores. Online stores like ZALORA and Lazada heavily use the remarketing campaign and it actually does its job. Ever more often, they sometimes do provide a discount code specially for you to use just so you would be convinced to finally check out.
Sometimes, a customer just needs a little push and reminder to make that purchase. If spending a little money on remarketing campaigns will help increase your average order value, why not?
If you are unsure of how to start with remarketing campaigns, don’t worry! At Weave Asia, we have experts who can advise you on digital advertising and we can answer all your questions regarding digital advertising. We are here to help your online business grow and expand. For more information, email us at hello@weave.asia or give us a call at +60 088-718 418 on weekdays during office hours.
