Boost Your Website’s Revenue by Enticing Customers to Buy More - It’s easier than you might think!
by Carrie Hinkel on April 4th, 2008
One of the least inexpensive and easiest ways to boost your store’s revenue is to increase the average order size or, in other words, entice your current customers to buy more. Think about it, your current customers already like what you sell; if they’re on your website to buy one thing, chances are they might be interested in a similar item too. Here are some quick and easy ways to get your customers to spend more money on your website:
Cross Sell - Most of the big retail website employ this option - you’ll see it at the bottom of the individual item pages as well as on the checkout page. The premise here is that you try to get customers to add more items to their cart by showing them similar items to what they are looking at or have already placed in their cart. Most times you’ll see a cross sell intro like "Customers who purchased X also purchased these items", or "Similar items you might be interested in", etc. The items used for cross-sell items should be related to the main item. For instance, if a customer placed a bag of dog treats in their cart, use other dog-related items for your cross sell, like other dog treats or toys.
Upsell - This technique works beautifully with items that need refills or batteries, or ones that can use a warranty, however, it can be used with most any products or services. An upsell is an item that goes with the product or service the customer is interested in. For instance, for an electronic toy that takes batteries, use batteries as an upsell item. For a vacuum, offer vacuum bags and perhaps an extended warranty as well. If your selling an item, like socks, that doesn’t need anything additional, then offer a discount for a multiple purchase: "Buy 3 pairs and get the 4th pair free".
Email marketing - Another way to entice your customers to buy more is to get them to visit your website more frequently. And, one of the best ways to do that is by keeping your website in their minds by emailing them specials, coupons or newsletters. Websites like JCrew.com and Babystyle.com use their email lists to significantly boost website traffic and sales - and you can too! Once you get the hang of email marketing you can continue to grow your list and send out special emails weekly, monthly or quarterly (FYI, both J.Crew and Babystyle tend to use their email lists on a weekly basis - even more around major shopping holidays).
Think of the each of the items that you sell in your store and what other items can be used as cross-sell or upsell items. You might find that now is a good opportunity to expand your product line with more items that compliment your existing products. Even web hosting sites like Yahoo! are offering free cross-sell applications in order to help websites increase their revenue. Once you get the hang of it you’ll see the true power of marketing and how simple ideas can really add up to big profits!