How to Increase Ecommerce Average Order Volume and Customer Lifetime Value

In this Surge Session we go over different strategies for increasing average order volume (AOV) and customer lifetime value (CLV) for both eCommerce and lead generation / service-based business. We also discuss the importance of these figures, as well as cost per acquisition, and the relation between them. We cover topics such as drip-marketing, Facebook marketing, and leveraging eCommerce functionalities.

First consider which type of businesses you are: eCommerce or Services / Lead Generation. The type of business you operate does not affect how you calculate AOV and CLV but it does affect what strategies you should leverage to increase those figures. From there you will leverage your existing customer bases, databases, and email lists for increasing the efficiency in your processes and purchasing funnels in order to generate more conversions and therefore increase sales and profit.

In this section we also cover some tips and tricks for calculating CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) or CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost), CLV (Customer Lifetime Value), and AOV (Average Order Value).

Here are some simple formulas for calculating CPA and CLV:

• CPA = $ total acquisition cost / # customers acquired
• CLV = Average Single Sale x Average Repeat transactions x Retention Period

The Lifetime Value of a Customer is incredibly important and warrants creating a separate marketing strategy around it (in addition to one for attracting new customers). We cover several strategies for increasing the Customer Lifetime Value, such as upsells, recurring services, add-ons, and creating brand loyalty

Focusing on eCommerce, knowing what steps you should take after figuring out CPA and LV, and the the relevance of the figures, means you need to create a strategy to increase those figures. On your eCommerce platform think about leveraging the right functionalities to supplement your strategy.

For long-term strategies, think about rewards programs or customer loyalty programs for example. For short-term strategies there are plenty of functionalities to take advantage of, such as upsells, like pre-checkout upsell and abandoned cart, and cross-sells, like bundling and add-on discounts. You can check out our custom programming page for an extensive list of functionalities we offer that you can leverage to increase your AOV and CLV.

When calculating CPA and LV, it is very important you have as much data as possible. The average eCommerce conversion rates leverage secondary CTAs (calls-to-action). In this section we cover the different types of secondary CTAs you can leverage, such as follow-up deals and specials, as well as provide you with some tricks and tips for streamlining and taking full advantage of them.

We also cover a very significant and critical strategy called retargeting. Retargeting converts casual online shoppers into buyers. Usually, only 2% of shoppers convert on the first visit to an online store so retargeting aims to bring back the other 98%. Retargeting works by keeping track of people who visit your site and displaying your retargeting ads to them as they visit other sites online.

This process and its results can be exponentially improved by leveraging Facebook marketing and the Facebook Pixel. The Facebook Pixel helps you track website traffic and provides crucial data on the people comprising that traffic through their Facebook data.

In the final section of this Surge Session we focus on lead generation, rather than eCommerce, to see how to increase Lifetime Value for services. The main strategies are comprised of: 1) building trust and maintaining customer relationships, and 2) leveraging funnels with a drip-marketing strategy.

Drip-marketing is a direct marketing strategy that involves sending out several promotional pieces over a period of time to a subset of sales and/or prospect leads that you’ve captured in a lead nurturing campaign. It puts prospects into funnels with secondary calls to action and allows you to filter people out or change people to a different funnel.

One benefit of drip-marketing is the very targeted nature of it. It allows you to target people that are much more likely to convert and create very efficient funnels. It also creates a process for you to nurture leads and follow-up on both leads and existing customers. Some tools you can leverage as a service-based, lead-generation-seeking business are Sumo and Opt-in Monster.

Ask the experts at Optimum 7 any questions you have regarding the topics we covered in this Surge Session. If you need help in creating and implementing a strategy to increase average order value and customer lifetime value, do not hesitate in reaching out to us. Contact us today.

SPEAK TO AN ECOMMERCE EXPERT