How much is your average order?
Posted by Angela Sanchez on January 22nd, 2008In the direct marketing world there are three variables that you, the marketer, can affect; number of customers receiving the message, conversion rate of readers to buyers, and an increased average order price on orders.
Here are a few suggestions from our team on how to increase your average order price:
1. Incentivize your customers to purchase more (volume). Set a minimum of bottles that need to be purchased in order to qualify for special deals. For example, a volume discount (off shipping) for purchases of 6 bottles or more. *Please note that it is always better to incentivize by discounting shipping or tax instead of discounting the product itself. Discounting your wine conditions your clients to purchase only when you discount. This devalues your product.
2. Guide your customers to spend more. Don’t underestimate your customers’ need or desire to spend money. Use call outs on your website to direct your consumers to your higher end wines. Don’t forget, up-sell is the best sale.
3. Make purchasing easy. Make it easy for your customers to purchase (three clicks or less), provide lots of attractive options (bundles and gift packs), and suggest additional products (specials and new releases), the more they will spend.
We encourage you to take the time to evaluate what your average purchase price is and set goals to increase your average. Remember that small increases to your average will greatly increase your bottom line.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I would love the option to not have our customers create a login and password. This is the single biggest complaint we get and I have with our site.
If they buy from us we will still capture all there information. With all the identity theft going around these days many folks do not like having there credit card information stored on file.
As well as the fact that in my 10+ years experience in direct to consumer wine sales wine customers average a purchase every 4-6months from a single producer. This is far to long for people to remember they have a login and password let alone what that info actually is.
If you have people that are buying things weekly to monthly then I do see the benefit of stored information. Though I don’t believe that is the case with most wine consumers. They may buy wine weekly or monthly online but not from the same winery.
February 6th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Joe - thank you for your input. You’re right - among consumers who do not make many purchases online, there is a real reluctance to give information that may be stored. However, with consumers who do much of their shopping online, creating an account is the norm.
Our new platform, with a release date sometime in the third quarter of this year, will include the option to create an account, or not. However, we find the collection of customer data a valuable tool - especially when segmenting your list for targeted email campaigns (where we see a 10% or higher conversion rate) and when customers want to place a quick online order - without entering all of that information again. Making life easier for the customer is key.
At Inertia we believe in giving your customers good reasons to buy your wine every month - not just 4 or 6 times a year. With a club repurchase plan in place and monthly targeted email campaigns customers become conditioned to purchase more frequently. One of my favorite lines from a friend in the restaurant business is, “Don’t underestimate your customers need or desire to spend money”.
I say, give them every opportunity.