10 AOV Boosting Strategies

Wanting to get 10 AOV Boosting Strategies? After 6 years and thousands of A/B tests, we’ve compiled a list of our Top 10 go-to strategies for boosting AOV.

The results of these tests have added 6-7 figures a year in additional revenue for numerous Ecommerce brands. As much as these have an amazing track record, as always, I highly recommend a/b testing these strategies first rather than just implementing them, as there’s never a guarantee they will work as a plug-and-play solution for your store.

Written by Connor Shelefontiuk, Co-founder @moreconversions.com

Figuring out which of the AOV strategies I talk about down below to use for your brand can be a long, complicated & costly process, especially if you haven’t already been a/b testing anything.

Every brand is unique & there is no single solution that will work for all of them.

We’ve tested all of these strategies numerous times across multiple enterprise e-commerce brands, so we have a large sample size of what works for what type of brands, & what will hurt you more than help you.

If you’d like a custom AOV strategy that’s tailored your brand & the unique needs that come with it, book a call below & I’ll personally walk you through a plan to help you increase your AOV as quickly, easily & profitably as possible, free of charge.

Book a call with Connor >>> https://calendly.com/connor-shelefontiuk/

Strategy #1 – Post Purchase Upsells

Post-purchase upsells are by far our favourite go-to strategy when strategizing how to boost AOV for a brand & have brought us the biggest results out of all of these strategies by far.

Outside of the incredible results themselves, the main reason why we love post-purchase upsells so much is because they are non-invasive & can’t negatively impact the pre-purchase experience like other AOV boosting strategies can, as they are only displayed AFTER the customer has already made their initial purchase.

We have 3 main methods for post-purchase upsells that we use depending on the type of brand or product that we’re working with.

Method 1: Upselling the same product at a discount. This method works great when you’re selling a product that people might want more than one of. Example: Upselling another plain t-shirt at a discount for those people that like to stack up on their tees.

Method 2: Upselling a different product at a discount. This method works great if you have a second product that compliments or works with the product your customer just purchased. Example: Upselling an adjustable bench after a customer purchases your adjustable dumbbells for working out at home.

Method 3: Upselling a service. This method works great if you’re selling a product that an additional service would make sense for. Example: Upselling priority shipping for a product purchased as a birthday gift to guarantee it arrives on time for the birthday.

To make post-purchase upsells work great for your store, you have to make sure the offer makes sense and adds more value. I’ve found that it’s very easy to look like a low-quality brand to your customers if you’re just upselling to make more money. If it doesn’t bring added value to our customers, we don’t do it.

Our go-to app for post-purchase upsells on Shopify is Rebuy. We don’t a/b test having post-purchase upsells VS not having them as they do not impact the pre-purchase experience. We do however a/b test every post-purchase upsell rigorously.

Strategy #2 – PDP Bundling

Product page bundling is another strong strategy that we consistently use when the situation is right. As with most strategies, the key to make bundling work well is that it has to make sense for the customer & it has to add value for them.

The concept around bundling is simple: Offer to bundle two or more products that compliment eachother or go well together with a discount to incentivize the decision.

Example: Let’s say your hero product is a high-quality pair of leather shoes, but you also separately sell a shoe-care kit that keeps them in the best possible shape after every use. This is an instance where bundling these two products would actually make sense, if they’re spending hundreds of dollars on a pair of shoes, they get a lot of value out of a care kit that keeps the shoes in great condition.

Bonus: Add a digital guide or E-Book into the bundle that teaches your customer how to properly care for their shoes over a long period of time to increase the perceived value of the bundle at no additional cost to you.

When offering a bundle on the PDP we generally like to place it just underneath the CTA so it’s not too invasive but still visible & easy to interact with. The button functionality itself will add the entire bundle to the cart & auto apply the discount.

We a/b test this by hardcoding the bundle onto the PDP & measuring results with Google Optimize/GA. We DO NOT use bundling apps for this as they cause a large increase in page load speed & are generally not UI/UX friendly.

Here’s a great visual example:

Strategy #3 – Quantity Breaks / Discount Ladders

Quantity Breaks, also known as Discount Ladders, is another one of our go-to strategies that we use on products where ordering more than one of them makes sense. The best results I’ve seen from this strategy has been on consumables.

The concept is simple: Reward the customer with a discount for ordering more than one unit of your product. Example: Buy 1 LB of coffee for $25, 2 LBs for $45 or 3 LBs for $60.

There are a few ways you can do this on a PDP but the method we’ve seen the best results with so far has been by adding a 2nd call to action button directly underneath the first button that clearly displays what they’re getting. The button itself will automatically add 2 of the same product to cart & automatically apply the discount.

If we want to add a 2nd option, we’ll add it as a 3rd CTA underneath the 2nd one.

We a/b test this by hardcoding the button onto the page & measuring results with Google Optimize/GA.

Here’s a great visual example:

Strategy #4 – Free Shipping Thresholds

Free Shipping Thresholds have turned into a strategy that we apply on 99% of the brands we work with, unless of course they aren’t charging a shipping fee.

We have two methods that we implement depending on the product/brand we’re working with.

Method 1: Free shipping threshold slightly above the cost of the hero product. This method works well if you’re dealing with a store that has a single hero product that gets all of the attention. Example: If the hero product is being sold at $50, we’ll set the free shipping threshold at $60-75 to incentivize an additional purchase that pushes the cart above the threshold.

Method 2: Free shipping threshold slightly above the current AOV. This method works well if you’re dealing with a store that has multiple products that get attention & are commonly ordered together. If the AOV is $50 we’ll set the free shipping threshold to $60-75 to incentivize an additional purchase that pushes the cart above the threshold.

We like to display the free shipping threshold in the announcement bar at the top of every page. We’ve a/b tested this countless times against many different announcement bars & displaying the free shipping threshold here wins 90% of the time.

We also display the free shipping threshold as a dynamic bar in cart that shows the shopper how close they are to receiving free shipping on their order.

Our go-to app for a/b testing free shipping thresholds is Shipscout. We use this in combination with Google Optimize/GA to measure results.

Here’s a great visual example:

Strategy #5 – In Cart Dynamic Reward Gamification

In Cart Dynamic Reward Gamification is a strategy that we very rarely see used but is an incredibly powerful way to increase your AOV. The strategy itself is simply an expansion of the free shipping threshold that offers additional rewards/perks as the customers’ cart grows in value.

Example: At $50 cart size the customer unlocks free shipping, at $100 cart size the customer unlocks free expedited shipping, at $150 cart size the customer unlocks a free mystery gift etc.

All of these reward tiers are displayed dynamically in the cart as a bar that progresses towards unlocking rewards as the value of the cart continues to grow.

As with most things, for this strategy to work well the thresholds have to MAKE SENSE. If they don’t add value to the customer, there’s absolutely no reason for them to take advantage of it.

To a/b test this we hard code the dynamic bar into the cart & measure results with Google Optimize/GA.

Here’s a great visual example:

Strategy #6 – PDP/Cart/Checkout Upsells

PDP/Cart/Checkout upsells are an incredibly fast way to increase your AOV & profitability if done correctly. They’re also a great way to completely kill your conversion rate if done incorrectly.

I’ve found that the key to making these upsells work is by creating an offer that’s an absolute no brainer for your customer, that makes sense to them because it adds immense value to their order.

When considering adding an upsell to your PDP, Cart or Checkout, ask yourself the following question: Does it make sense for the customer to add this product to their cart with the product they’re currently considering purchasing?

If the answer is no, don’t do it, it will most likely hurt your conversion rate & it’s unlikely that many people will take the upsell anyway.

Here’s an example of a great upsell that has worked incredibly well for us in the past: Upselling a digital product with a physical product.

If you’re selling at-home workout equipment, why not upsell a digital guide on how to get the most usage out of your product that comes with a 90 day workout plan to help your customer get into shape? You only have to make the guide once, it costs you nothing to deliver/fulfill, there are no extra COGS & it brings massive value to your customer by helping them attain the results they’re looking for with your product.

To a/b test this we hardcode the upsell onto the PDP or into the Cart/Checkout & use Google Optimize/GA to measure results.

Rebuy is also a great option for an app that works with Shopify.

Strategy #7 – PDP/Cart/Checkout Order Bumps

While order bumps are very similar to upsells in strategy, the way they are displayed visually & interacted with physically are completely different, & the offers you push with them are generally different.

I personally prefer order bumps over upsells as they are significantly less invasive & way more fun to interact with for a customer. Rather than a large CTA button, an order bump is a small lever or checkbox that a customer can interact with to add something to their order.

There are 2 main methods that we like to use order bumps for that are dependant on the brand/product we’re working with.

Method 1: Subscription bumps. If you’re selling a product that would work well for an ongoing subscription, a small lever or checkbox is a seamless way of allowing your customer to turn their order into a subscription. You can place these on the PDP or in the Cart/Checkout.

Here’s a great visual example of a subscription order bump in cart:

Method 2: Service bumps. Service bumps are a great way of increasing your AOV/Net Margin by offering an additional service that generally costs you nothing extra to fulfill. Great examples of service bumps are: Priority processing, Insured/Assured shipping, priority shipping etc. You can place these on the PDP or in the Cart/Checkout.

Here’s a great visual example of a service bump in checkout:

To a/b test these, we hardcode the bump onto the PDP or into the cart/checkout & use Google Optimize/GA to measure results.

Strategy #8 – Paid Warranties

Paid warranties are an incredible way to increase your AOV & your net margin at the same time as there are no additional costs associated with offering the warranty itself, outside of the warranty actually being claimed.

I’ve found that paid warranties tend to work best when selling higher-ticket products as consumers get significantly more value out of protecting themselves when the product cost is higher.

When offering a paid warranty we aim to price the warranty right around the combined COGS & S&H, that way when someone claims it, it doesn’t cost us anything extra. Everyone who pays for the warranty & doesn’t claim it in the future ends up becoming an additional net margin for us

If you already offer a free duration-based warranty, try upselling an extended warranty.

To test this we hardcode the offer onto whatever page we’re testing & use Google Optimize/GA to measure the results. We like to a/b test this on the PDP, in the cart/checkout, or post-purchase.

Here’s a great visual example:

Strategy #9 – Increasing Product Price

Increasing your product price can be a quick & easy way to increase your AOV & your net margin. If customers are already paying $49.00 for your product, it’s very likely that you can increase your price to $49.95 without any major negative impact on your conversion rate.

When a/b testing an increase in product prices, we like to increase the price in very small increments, usually no more than $0.50-$5.00 at a time depending on how expensive the product is.

While it may not seem like a lot, an extra $0.95 per order really starts to add up if you’re selling 10,000+ units per month as there are no additional costs incurred by you for this increase in price. $0.95 per order could add $9,500 in net margin to you every single month from this one small change.

When a/b testing a product price increase we measure the success or failure based on an increase or decrease in revenue per session. If revenue per session increases, it’s a win & if it decreases, it’s a loss.

To run an a/b test on pricing, we use a URL redirect test with Google Optimize/GA.

Strategy #10 – Increasing S&H

Similar to increasing product prices, increasing your S&H cost is a quick & simple way to increase your AOV & net margin. Customers are used to paying shipping & handling already so increasing the cost by a few dollars generally won’t negatively impact your conversion rate.

When a/b testing an increase in S&H, we like to increase the price in very small increments, generally no more than $0.50-$1.00 at a time.

While it may not seem like a lot, if you’re selling 10,000+ orders per month, that could be an additional $5,000-$10,000 in net margin added from this one change as there are no additional costs for you that come from this increase.

When a/b testing an increase in S&H we measure success or failure based on an increase or decrease in revenue per session. If revenue per session increases, it’s a win & if it decreases, it’s a loss.

Our go-to app for testing shipping prices is Shipscout.

Conclusion

I sincerely hope that I was able to provide you with some value in this document. If you liked it, please shoot me a follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/C_Shelefontiuk

As always, these strategies are by no means plug & play solutions that are going to work for everyone. Just because they’ve worked for us in the past, doesn’t mean they will work for you. If you are going to implement any of them, I highly recommend running them as an a/b test so you can accurately measure the impact they have on your results overall.