4 tactics to increase average order value in your call centre

The pressure is on for contact centre leaders to start delivering bigger and better results… with smaller budgets. When it comes to increasing revenues, you might immediately think that bringing more customers in is the best approach. But, increasing the average order value in your call centre might be the better option.

Why? Because it costs more to acquire a new customer than it does to nurture your existing ones. Enhancing the customer experience and encouraging them to spend more money, either on individual orders or over a longer period of time, means you can enjoy increased profits without the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to draw in new customers.

In this blog, we’ll share four tactics (plus examples) of how to increase average order values (AOV) in your contact centre. We’ll also discuss what average order value is and how to calculate it for your business, so you can start implementing these tips and tricks immediately.

What is average order value (AOV)?

Average order value (AOV) is the average amount of money a customer spends on each transaction. AOV is an important key performance indicator for any business. That’s because it helps set a baseline for growing sales. In addition, it helps businesses manage inventory and create smart pricing strategies based on demand.

So, why should increasing average order value (AOV) in your call centre be a key consideration? Well, it’s just smart business. If you’re increasing average order values, you’re increasing profits and boosting your bottom line without forking out extra acquisition costs. According to research, cross-selling and upselling – which focus on increasing the average order values through clever tactics – increase revenue by up to 30%!

Measuring AOV also enables you to improve other important business metrics. For example, when you compare AOV to your customer acquisition costs (CAC), you can start to draw links between which kinds of customers and purchases present the most value for your business.

How to calculate AOV?

Before we dig into the different tactics that will help your business grow average order value, let’s figure out yours. To calculate the average order value, you can use the following formula:

[Total revenue for the month / the number of orders during that month]

With your average order value in mind, you can start to work on increasing it month-by-month and set clear revenue goals as part of your wider strategy.

4 proven tactics to grow AOV

So, we’ve discussed what AOV is and how growing it will help your business. Now let’s turn our attention to how to increase average order value. Here are four tactics to help you increase average order value, plus case studies of businesses successfully increasing AOV!

Pinpoint which channels drive high-quality calls

Mapping the customer journey clearly shows you how and where your customers interact with your business. That may be through a Google search, a targeted PPC campaign, or social media ads. Being able to identify the source of each call – and attributing value to each – helps you fine-tune high-value campaigns. Having this intel means you can focus more budget and attention on activities that will drive more high-value orders.

Internet Gardener may be an award-winning online retailer, but they noticed orders made over the phone tended to be their highest-value orders. This is where customers needed a personal touch to purchase big-ticket items. They used Infinity to track and record every call into their business. As a result, they were able to identify the source that led to the call and recording revenue per call. All in all, they were able to increase their average order value by over 30%!

Analyse PPC to drive more successful outcomes

If you want to get more granular about increasing your AOV, taking a closer look at your PPC campaigns will help grow sales and increase profits. Infinity’s call tracking software gives your Google ads the full tracking treatment. As such, you can uncover the blind spots between online clicks and offline calls.

With tools like Smart Match, you can link those valuable calls directly to campaigns. This means you can lower acquisition costs, identify underperforming activities, and increase your average order values.

For Southern Sheeting, Smart Match enabled them to connect transaction values to thousands of calls. This gave them detailed insight into which marketing activities were boosting revenue and showed clear ROI. This led to a 26% increase in AOV on calls driven by their PPC campaigns and a 12% rise in sales calls overall.

Supercharge your scripts using real customer intel

With the right tools in place, you can unlock real audience insight from every call, at scale. Instead of relying on a tiny sample of calls, use tools like Conversation Analytics to understand which keywords or questions in calls are likely to trigger conversions. Then you can use these to create genuinely persuasive and useful sales scripts. It also helps you spot buyer trends that you may not have noticed otherwise.

For example, thousands of people book an eye test with Specsavers every day. They were keen to understand what was happening during calls. They knew customers would be offering up valuable intelligence they could use to evolve and improve messaging. Thanks to Conversation Analytics, they noticed that due to changing needs, more customers wanted home visits. With this intel, they were able to refine their messaging to drive a 25% increase in home visit bookings!

Develop upselling strategies based on what really works

What if you could identify opportunities to increase the average order value of every customer? Good news, you can! Effectively identifying cross-selling and upselling opportunities increases revenue, without fielding dozens of extra calls. One of the best strategies to increase average order value is to understand how your best agents are delivering positive outcomes and nailing every sale.

Use tools like Conversation Analytics and Agent ID to harness customer data and refine your most persuasive calls to action, based on the best calls going in and out of your contact centre. Take that a step further with agent scorecards to really drill down into individual agent performance to tailor training and get each of your agents performing like superstars.

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For example, Flight Centre wanted to focus on the promotion of tailor-made holidays, which required in-depth calls with potential leads. Conversation Analytics enabled them to set goals based on location, intent, and even brand words that they marked as high or low value. This led to a 46% year-on-year increase in conversions and a 44% increase in the number of high-value enquiries and bookings.

Ready to find out how to leverage your call data to increase average order values in your call centre?