Pull These 3 “Growth Levers” To Increase E-Commerce Revenue By 73%!
There are only three ways to grow an e-commerce store. We call them “growth levers” and this guide gives you three easy hacks to pull each one…
Did you know there are only 3 ways to grow an online store?
Most people think growing an online store is complicated. In fact, there are only three ways to get more business:
1. Increase the number of customers
2. Increase average order value
3. Increase average order frequency
Think of these as levers you can pull to grow your sales. You can pull any of these levers, but if you combine all three you’ll grow exponentially. Boost each one by 20% and your revenue will grow by almost 73%!
While there are many ways to “pull” each lever, today, we’re going to focus on one quick win that can boost results in each of the three areas.
I always think it sensible to pick the lowest hanging fruit first, and there are no extra points for more complicated solutions!
Let’s get going.
Growth lever #1 — Increase number of customers
There are hundreds or maybe even thousands of ways to increase the number of customers in an e-commerce business, but one of the easiest ways to do it is to cut down on abandoned checkouts.
On average, one in three checkouts are abandoned. This represents an easy opportunity to increase sales, given how close the customer is to purchasing.
If you are not properly recovering abandoned checkouts (and no, a one-off automated email isn’t enough) you are leaving money on the table, but there are easy improvements here if you know how.
What To Consider
- How quickly to chase shoppers abandoning checkout and how many message to send?
- Which channels will you follow-up on (email, web, ads, etc)?
- Which messaging approach? Humourous? Faux-apologetic? Direct and to the point?
- What’s the incentive for shoppers to return and what is the best way to present this incentive?
- If using promo codes, what offer will you use, when will the codes expire, and at what point will you send them? Also, how will you protect against misuse (people catching on and gaming the system for a discount when they would have paid full price) and how will you preserve profit margins?
- Should returning customers be treated differently to first-time shoppers?
- Should you use different offers for different people, or different carts?
- Any products or shopper types to exclude from the process?
- What tools will you use to automate this?
- How will you measure results and split test new ideas? How will you identify which parts can be improved?
How To Implement (the easy way)
We’re currently working on a new post which will be the Ultimate Guide To Reducing Abandoned Checkouts. This will provide a step-by-step gameplan with everything you need to know to reduce abandoned checkouts by at least 20%.
In the meantime, if you are looking to shortcut your success, we built Pathfinder, an AI marketing employee to handle all of this for you. Pathfinder works for free initially, connects to Shopify and Magento stores, and takes care of all of the above automatically.
- Create a free Pathfinder account here.
- Connect your Shopify or Magento store.
- Turn on the Pathfinder skill “Reduce abandoned checkouts”.
Growth lever #2 — Increase average order value
Increasing order value has a lot to do with effective upselling.
If you can catch customers at the point of purchase and guide them towards complimentary products, you can encourage them to spend more.
The best brands became masters of upselling because they understand that once a consumer is in “buying mode” it is much easier to have them to add something else to their cart than to have them make a fresh order later.
For best results, you want to automate this, and personalise it, and do it in a way that isn’t pushy.
What To Consider
- What are your entry level products that hook in new buyers? What higher-ticket products exist which are complimentary?
- Decide your upsell funnel — which items lead to other purchases and how are your products related? Any opportunity to upsell into a subscription version of a product?
- How will you upsell? What channels will you use and how and when will you follow-up? Will you use a brand-led or personal syle and will you incentivise with an offer?
- How many upsells will you create? How will you prioritise them to make sure a shopper won’t end up in multiple campaigns?
- Will you include fallback products if the upsell has already been purchased? Will you include a catch-all upsell if a personalised recommendation is not available?
- What tools will you use to automate this?
- How will you measure results and optimise for maximum ROI?
How To Implement (the easy way)
We’re currently working on a new post which will be the Ultimate Guide To Upselling E-Commerce Customers. This will provide a step-by-step gameplan with everything you need to know to increase average order value by at least 20%.
In the meantime, if you are looking to shortcut your success, we built Pathfinder, an AI marketing employee to handle all of this for you. Pathfinder works for free initially, connects to Shopify and Magento stores, and takes care of all of the above automatically.
- Create a free account here.
- Connect your Shopify or Magento store.
- Turn on the Pathfinder skill “Upsell customers after a purchase”
Growth lever #3 — Increase average order frequency
Many people think marketing is about generating new customers, but that’s only half of it. Arguably the quicket, easiest and cheapest way to increase sales is to reactivate past customers who have gone cold.
True, this isn’t “sexy” marketing. Keeping customers coming back not as glamorous as getting new ones through the door. But it is considerably easier, and it is considerably cheaper… and that’s why this is where the smart money is found.
What To Consider
- How will you define lost or at-risk customers?
- Will you create multiple lost customer segments based for different products or types of products?
- How long before you consider a customer “lost” and will this vary by segment?
- Which channels will you follow-up on (email, web, direct mail, ads, etc)? How many emails to send and at what frequency?
- Which messaging approach? Humourous? Apologetic? Personal? Direct?
- Will you adapt the sequence based how the shopper responds or their recent behaviour?
- Will you offer an incentive to return (discount, free gift etc)? If using a promo code, will this be personalised and expire automatically?
- If using different lost customer segments how do you make sure one shopper won’t end up in multiple campaigns?
- How will you measure win-back rates?
How To Implement (the easy way)
We’re currently working on a new post which will be the Ultimate Guide To Recovering Lost Customers (you get the idea by now!). Once again, this will provide a step-by-step gameplan with everything you need to know to recover at least 20% of your inactive customers.
In the meantime, if you are looking to shortcut your success, we built Pathfinder, an AI marketing employee to handle all of this for you. Pathfinder works for free initially, connects to Shopify and Magento stores, and takes care of all of the above automatically.
- Create a free account here.
- Connect your Shopify or Magento store.
- Turn on the Pathfinder skill “Recover lost customers”.
OK. You get it. If you want a shortcut implementing this stuff, it might be worth looking at Pathfinder (it works for free, after all). Maybe it can help you implement some of these ideas more quickly, and take responsibility for each area as your business grows.
However you decide to do it, I’d definitely encourage you to put these ideas to work in your business ASAP. We have “installed” them into dozens of online stores over the 18 months and they tend to make a quick impact more often than not.
Give them a try and us know your results! 💪
