Myself included. E-commerce marketers have a bad habit.

One of the tips to break a bad habit is replacing it with a good habit. I’ll attempt to do that to myself in this article.

E-commerce marketers are notorious for chasing shiny objects. Let’s be honest, we got into e-commerce because of the freedom to test stuff or because we could customize every little aspect of our store! I’m not pointing fingers, because I’ve been guilty of this myself. This is how I know so much about the problem!

Closely related, yo-yo dieting is when you are on a diet for a few days or even weeks. Then onto the next new diet a couple weeks later. Only to follow up with a new one after indulging for a couple weeks.

“Yo-yo marketing” is no different. A new marketing hack comes out every day. Scratch that. Every hour. Worst part is. They work. Until they don’t. Then, onto the next one.

This seems exciting in the moment, but it’s really hurting your e-commerce business.

Instead of “yo-yo marketing” you should give the 3 growth levers a try.

What are the 3 growth levers? They’re returning customers, average order value and new customers. Sound too simplistic? They are. They’re also timeless and won’t change when a new Facebook algorithm comes out, if Google changes how they score “good content” or if we lose the ability to track certain metrics in a marketing channel.

Unlike yo-yo marketing. The 3 growth levers make for a great framework to double your revenue. If you know how to influence each of them. No hacks needed. No secret software upsell. Just good ol’ business fundamentals.

Returning Customers: The Under Rated Growth Lever

Returning customers are defined by an existing customer who comes back to your store and buys again.

Imagine that someone buy your product. They used it and loved it but never were reminded to come back and buy again? Do they not like your product or is it just a case of “I had no reason to buy again?”

Did you know: When you get a customer to buy for the third time, they’re 20% more likely to purchase again vs. if they just purchased 1-2 times and never came back?

By simply reminding your existing customers you existing and giving them a reason to buy again, you can cash in on this under rated growth lever with the send of an email. Should take no more than 1 hour from start to finish.

Take action by opening up Klaviyo or Shopify and finding how many 1x customers you have. Then send them a special off to make their second order. The first place I always make sure to look for potential with returning customers is to look in a brands customer list for 1st time customers. This is where I find that most brands have a 1 time customer problem at the root of their returning customer problem. Now that you know how to cash in on your returning customers. Get ready to learn about the most overlooked growth lever!

Average Order Value: The Overlooked Growth Lever

Average order value is the amount someone spends when they order on your website. It’s also the most overlooked growth lever.

What if have someone who loves your t shirts. They add a shirt to cart and head to checkout. But before they reached checkout they are hit with a pop up that says “Want to add a pair of jeans?” They tap yes. Automagically the jeans and t shirt are added to cart.

The reason average order value is so important is because your order value just went from $45 to $105 with a simple question at the right time. This is the powerful opportunity that lies within focusing on increasing your AOV.

There’s plenty of apps that allow you to do this, but I love using The Bold Bundles app on Shopify. Mainly because it doesn’t make you create a whole new SKU to do this. Which can be a nightmare with inventory & fulfillment.

There are plenty of other best practices when it comes to increasing your average order value, but start with making smart bundles that improve the life of your customer while increasing your cart size today! Don’t leave just yet though, because we’re about to talk about the golden child of all growth levers.

New Customers: The Golden Child

The final growth lever is returning customers. This is the one all e-commerce marketers know and love. The one we obsess over. Listen to podcasts about. Read blog posts that should have been books on.

Imagine, you didn’t start by focusing on new customers to grow your business, but instead. Figured out how to get your customers to spend more with each order. Then you focused on automating email flows that get them to return. Then you focused on getting new customers. Would that be more or less profitable than coming out the gate on a quest to acquire as many new customers as possible?

The reason I believe most e-commerce marketers focus on new customer acquisition with all their might is that we believe that they’ll automatically come to our site, spend a lot and come back a second time. I’ve found in my experience, that‘s not the reality.

In order to make the most of new customer acquisition, you should focus on it the least. Very counter intuitive, but like most things that last in life. You must work on the foundation to build something that lasts.

Work on setting up automated emails that allow your customers to become lifelong customers (or at least help them make more than 1 order!) then focus on making sure you’re increasing your average order value.

Focusing on these 3 growth levers should help you fight your cravings to yo-yo marketing.

If you know an e-commerce marketer struggling with “yo-yo marketing.” Make sure you send this to them in hopes they’ll find a better path to growing their e-commerce business.

Hope this was useful, Joe Chavez

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you.

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