Besides getting more people to buy, you can also encourage customers to buy more when they make a purchase. Here are a few ways:
Increase Minimum Spend
Free shipping thresholds: Free shipping for orders over $50
Discount on minimum purchase: 20% off purchases over $75
Volume discounts: $20 off if you buy 5 or more
Incentivizing a minimum spend encourages consumers to make larger purchases, ultimately boosting revenue. However, implementing such incentives solely for profit-driven purposes may be perceived as manipulative. Instead, consider how encouraging this type of customer behavior can also have a positive impact, and communicate this clearly:
- Shipping thresholds reduce carbon emissions because customers consolidate their orders into a single shipment.
- Encouraging minimum purchase/volume discounts enables you to negotiate with suppliers more effectively by achieving higher minimum order quantities (MOQ) and benefiting from improved economies of scale. This, in turn, can reduce manufacturing waste. Cost savings from bulk orders can then be reinvested in your business or directed toward supporting a cause you’re passionate about.
Subscribe and Save
Is another form of a volume discount, but spread out over time. Not all subscriptions encourage wastage. By giving customers the flexibility to choose how often they’d like deliveries, you can offer convenience and value to them while simultaneously increasing revenue and establishing predictable cash flow for your business.
Soylent is one such example. They provide upfront information on the percentage of savings and also present the cost of each meal with various purchasing options. With their subscription service, they offer the flexibility to customize the delivery frequency, rather than locking customers into a standard monthly period.
Increase the Time Spent in Your Store or On Your Website
Done solely for the purpose of maximizing revenue, is manipulative. Casinos employ this strategy by creating intentionally disorienting layouts that make it difficult to find the exit. They may also offer free drinks or bonus credits to encourage patrons to stay longer and continue spending.
Ethically, you can create high-quality long-form content that engages readers and provides valuable, actionable information. This is more meaningful than using click-bait style snippets like “Top 3 ways to do XYZ,” which are often overgeneralized and lack depth.
Another ethical approach is to design your retail space to be not only visually appealing but also immersive and experiential. This encourages customers to spend more time in your store because they enjoy the experience, not because you’re trying to manipulate them.
ASSIGNMENT
What could you explore to increase your customer’s average purchase size? Minimum order thresholds? Subscriptions? Upsells? Cross-sells? Improving the experience to make it more engaging?