OUR THINKING

What is AOV?

Average Order Value is the average amount a customer spends on your eComm website in a single transaction.
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Why does AOV matter?

Knowing what your AOV is and implementing ways to increase it, can raise your revenue whilst the actual number of customers, traffic to your site and conversion rate all remain the same. This means, that without having to spend more money on paid advertising, more effort on generating traffic to your site, or increasing retention or re-purchase rate, your profit goes up!

Like how that sounds? Then check out these five ways to increase your AOV…

Idea #1 — Upsell

Suggest an alternative product to a customer shopping on your site, which is of a higher price (and where the same or better profit margin applies).

Example: This can happen at the point of selection and also often happens during the checkout process and may be a large size alternative of the item or added features.

Tip: Remember that the product should provide the same or better value to the customer.

Bonus: If your eCommerce site is built on the Shopify platform, you can add apps in the site to add the up-sell feature to your site

Shopify app: Selleasy by LogBase

Idea #2 — Cross Sell

Offer an additional product based on the one your customer has already chosen.

Example: Matching or complementary product such as a matching accessory.

Tip: Base it on peer behaviour, eg. ‘Customers like you also bought…’

Shopify App: Selleasy by LogBase

Idea #3 — Bundling

Put together a number of products that can be bought as a ‘set’ or ‘bundle’. These are usually offered at an overall lower cost than if the products were bought individually. The customer saves money and they get to try new products at a lower risk.

Example: A multi-pack of the same product (a pure bundle) or a complementary group of products such as a beauty travel kit (a mixed bundle).

Tip: Product bundles can be great for customers buying gifts or new shoppers on your site who are not familiar with your whole product range. It can also help you sell less popular products that often are not bought on their own.

Shopify App: Upsell & Bundle Products by Assortion

Idea #4 — Volume Discount

This usually works on a sliding scale — the more a customer buys, the less each individual item costs. Or, when a customer spends a certain amount, they unlock a discount.

Example: Free shipping on orders over $X or a discount on orders cover a certain price threshold. 

Tip: Make this obvious up front to drive customers to the relevant product page or before the checkout to help them consider revisiting the store to add more items to the shopping cart before they complete their purchase.

Shopify App: Bundle Bear — Volume Discounts by Conversion Bear

Idea #5 — Post-purchase Discount

Give the customer a gift or discount against future purchases on your eComm site.

Example: A discount for future purchases or redeem a free gift within a certain period of time. 

Tip: Include this offer in the purchase confirmation — email, web page, SMS — to make sure the customer doesn’t miss out! And give it a time limit to encourage customers back to your site quickly.

Bonus: Use apps from the Shopify store such as countdown timers to promote your time-sensitive offers.

Shopify App: Countdown Timer Ultimate by KILATECH

Recap — So why do we love increasing AOV?

1. Low/no marketing costs
2. Helps to sell more of the low popularity products
3. Increases sales during quieter periods
   

It can be tough getting started. A lack of access to funding continues to constrain women-led small businesses*.

Here are some places where you can start to look if you need to raise funds to help grow yours.
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Revenue based funding

Finance offered based on the projected income of your business. This is where you pay back the loan by dedicating a percentage of your gross profits to reducing the outstanding loan balance. That means your repayments and loan term will fluctuate depending on how much profit you make; and you are not required to provide assets as collateral like with a bank loan.

Examples: Outfund, Shopify, Square Loans
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Equity based funding

Funding in exchange for part ownership of your business. In this instance you raise capital and have no debt repayments. The investors wait for a return on their investment whilst there’s more cashflow to grow the business.

Examples: Blackbird Ventures, Springboard Enterprises, Scale Investors‍

Brands who’ve done it this way: Kin Fertility

Crowdsourced funding

Also called equity-based crowdfunding, this is where start-ups raise funds usually from a large number of investors each investing a small amount. In exchange they get shares in the company.

Examples: Birchal, Equitise‍

Brands who’ve done it this way: BrewDog, Seabin, Coinstash

Venture capital

This is a form of private equity based funding we mentioned earlier. Venture capitalists usually invest in companies at different points in their growth journey. Usually starting at Series A when they may have a lower valuation all the way through to Series D where they may be raising hundreds of millions.

Examples: Blackbird Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital‍

Brands who’ve done it this way: Modibodi

Government grants

If you’re doing business in Australia, you can use the government grants and program finder to look for support from across government.

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*Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman’s (ASBFEO) office.

The product demo

A picture paints a thousand words. A video tells a thousand stories.
Think about what makes your product different from competitors. And what makes customers love it so much. Get inspiration from what people write in their testimonials. Take a simple video of yourself using the product and add captions that clearly explain the benefits and how your products help solve your customers’ problems. No fancy lighting needed, but find good natural light and remember faces sell. Don’t be afraid to show yours!

The founder story

You are your best own influencer.
You know what drove you to start the business so share your story. Make it personal to connect on an emotional level. Emotion will win over logic almost every time. Try this hero story arc in your script: what life was like before, the crisis point, the light bulb moment, your new purpose, the happy ending - what life is like now!

The testimonial

Testimonials can be quotes, videos, images, star ratings.
‍From your website to Google My Business, Facebook, Productreview.com.au. Or you can even use quotes from any gift guides you’ve been in. Remember for image or written quotes you can cut out parts of quotes and use ellipses to join two part sentences together. Testimonials build trust with potential customers because the recommendation comes from people like them, written in their language.

Respond to social media post comments to both protect and build your brand? Of course your do! It’s a total no brainer.

But what about when you run ads and people make comments on those ads? In many cases, companies outsource advertising to a third party and so their founders or marketing team are completely unaware of the conversations that are happening on these ads that they’re paying for.

What to do

Get live links to your ads so you can watch for comments and…

• Actually respond!
• Acknowledge and be kind
• Listen to feedback. If enough people are saying negative things, maybe they’re onto something. It might be time to head back to the drawing board.
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What not to do

Here’s what you shouldn’t do when you’re responding to ad comments…

• Don’t template all responses. It’s easy for people to see this as disingenuous.
• Don’t get caught up in a convo with a troll. Not worth your energy.
  

Let’s get technical

Here’s how to respond to comments.

1. Go to Ads Manager
2. At the ad level, tick the box next to your chosen ad, then click Edit under the ad name to open the side panel
3. Select above your ad preview on the right
4. In the drop-down menu, under See Post, select FB or Insta post with comments

The human brain is programmed for stories. We think in stories, remember in stories and love to tell stories.

This might sound familiar:

1. The main character
2. The main character faces a challenge
3. The main character faces a challenge and pools their resources to overcome obstacles
4. The main character overcomes the challenge and a new normal is created

Your story is the series of events that occurred which led you to create your business. Let’s assume you are the main character and start from there:

1. Your personal challenge — the conflict or difficulty you faced
2. Overcoming obstacles — hustling to conquer adversity
3. The change — how overcoming your own personal challenge has changed the status quo

Now let’s look at that from a brand storytelling perspective:

1. Your purpose — who you are (the personal challenge)
2. Your mission — what you care about (the need and change you want to see)
3. Your promise — what problem you’ve solved (i.e. what you sell)

With all the chat about algorithms, optimising content and AI-driven content creation; we think it’s time to get back to the fundamentals of human communication—the story.

Tell yours today—these make GREAT ad creative ;)

Say no to that opportunity.

You know. The one that doesn’t quite fit what you do.

The one that if you do it, there’ll be more money today but less time to work on the things that matter for the future.

The one you feel awkward saying no to. Yes, that one too.

The one that might fill capacity but not hearts.

The one that brings only the possibility of a pathway to your ideal work tomorrow, but not today.

It might be awkward, but say no.

It might be even more awkward when you’ve already said yes.

But still. Say no.

❤️

Lessons from a fellow business owner