Persuading a customer to <a href="/articles/ecommerce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make a purchase</a> is like making the winning goal in a long, drawn-out game. Now, imagine that feeling over and over again. 
As of May 2022, the average order value for a typical <a href="/articles/offline-to-online/create-online-store/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">online retailer</a> is about $115.45, according to <a href="https://www.irpcommerce.com/en/us/ecommercemarketdata.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IRP Commerce</a>. Although your number may look a little different, with the right warranty and shipping partner it’s a number that can increase significantly, leaving your competition in the dust.
Here are some of our favorite methods to leverage when thinking about your average order value and profits.
<h2 dir="ltr">Make Sure Customers Are Happy</h2>
Aside from acquiring new customers to grow your AOV, retaining customers is just as important (if not more important). How your customer perceives their experience shopping with you is critical to encouraging repeat purchases. 
Customers want to see that you actually care about them, not just their purchase. 
When a customer builds an emotional relationship with a brand, they have a 306% higher lifetime value and will spend an annual sum of about $699 with a company, versus regular, satisfied customers who will spend an annual sum of only about $275, according to a study from <a href="https://www.motista.com/resource/leveraging-value-emotional-connection-retailers01" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Motista</a>. 
So, how what are some things you can do to create happy customers:
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Focus on customer service: include live chats, 24/7 support and <a href="https://www.luckyorange.com/blog/posts/ecommerce-customer-service-kpis">quick response times</a>. </li>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Make it personal: know your customer in 360. Offer product recommendations, send personalized emails and maintain communication through email marketing.</li>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Give them more: add useful services in your checkout like free shipping, <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/xcover-go/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warranty for their products</a>, shipping tracking, <a href="https://go.xcover.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shipping protection</a> and loyalty programs. </li>
</ul>
<h2 dir="ltr">Add Value to Your Customer Journey</h2>
Back to the last point made, today’s customers look for more beyond products. They look for value, too. The more you offer, the more they shop.
A good example of this are product warranties.  A <a href="https://campaigns.covergenius.com/embedded-insurance-retail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PYMNTS study</a> commissioned for XCover Go revealed that a whopping 78% of shoppers would spend more online, if offered protection at check-out, equating to an AOV increase of 62%.
Customers want you to know they are getting the best value with their purchase, whether that means free shipping or a protected parcel. Pair that with the fact that add-ons, like <a href="https://go.xcover.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">product warranties</a>, can give you a little extra revenue, that’s a double-win. 
By adding solutions that bolster their experience, you can effortlessly provide this. 
Here are other ways you can add value to your customer journey:
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Include multiple ways to checkout including one-touch payments or a pay later services.</li>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Offer bundled discounts.</li>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Create a loyalty program.</li>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Offer sales or free trials.</li>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Include free gifts or samples.</li>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Create a birthday reward.</li>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Add <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/xcover-go/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">product warranties</a> to your checkout.</li>
<li dir="ltr" role="presentation">Include <a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/xcover-go/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shipping insurance</a> with their purchase.</li>
</ul>
<h3 dir="ltr">More shipping ideas.</h3>
Shipping is actually one of the biggest areas you can add value to their journey. Consider offering free shipping after a certain amount is spent if it’s within your budget. If you can’t offer that just yet, there are plenty of other services you can tack on to your shipping to boost your customer’s experience, like shipping tracking or <a href="https://go.xcover.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shipping insurance</a>.
These services allow customers to be in control of their shipping, creating value at little to no cost to you.
In fact, 60.1% of consumers would buy insurance or warranty from their ecommerce retailers if it were offered at checkout, according to a <a href="https://campaigns.covergenius.com/embedded-insurance-retail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PYMNTS study</a> commissioned for XCover Go. 
<h2 dir="ltr">Keep Them Coming Back</h2>
From payment options to shipping protection, the best thing you can do for your business is take advantage of these apps to create a custom, personalized experience tailored for your customer base. 
Apps that make it easy to sell around the world are there to grow your customer base effortlessly and to protect your customers and shipments. In doing so, they’ll help drive your AOV.
<h2 dir="ltr">Growing Globally</h2>
Running a tried-and-tested playbook is one part of the equation to increase your AOV and it’s a no-brainer: increasing your customer pool. 
Yes, you should focus on performance marketing, but another surefire way of growing your customer base is by shipping worldwide. If you’re already doing it, one major issue for your customers is the cost of shipping and their apprehension about international parcels getting lost or damaged. 
Data from American shoppers provides a useful gauge of how fearful your international customers might be about the security of their parcels. The average cost of a stolen parcel stateside is $136, according to <a href="https://www.crresearch.com/blog/2020-package-theft-statistics-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">C+R Research Study</a>. While 43% of Americans have reported porch piracy at least once, 52% are fearful of it when shopping online.
<h2 dir="ltr">How XCover Go Can Help</h2>
However, even with concerns, selling around the world is totally achievable. It just needs to be backed by products that address these issues with product returns and shipping. Apps and integrations make it a piece of cake to alleviate your customer worries.
<a href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/xcover-go/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">XCover Go</a>, a product warranty and shipping insurance app, provides worldwide protection for your customers and their purchases. They take care of country-by-country regulations, translations, multilingual customer support and more from a single integration. 
On the warranty side, they arrange repairs and replacement in multiple countries and languages. Plus, they pay out your customers through instant bank transfers and e-wallets in 90 currencies. Something that would be pretty difficult to do on your own. 
On the shipping insurance side, their friendly team aims to complete claims on average within three days.You can set up shipping insurance for all your sales and get paid the item’s value if it gets damaged, stolen or lost. 
Alternatively, XCover also makes it possible to make it a shopping cart add-on for your customers. Plus, they pay out instantly once the claim is approved.

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4 Ways to Boost Your Average Order Value