Order bumps are one of the best sales strategies e-commerce businesses use to increase their revenue and average order value. Amazon reported that a whopping 35% of their sales come from using order bumps, upsells, and cross-sells. But it’s not only e-commerce giants who take advantage of order bumps and use them to make more money. Online course creators can benefit from this sales strategy as well. And with the newest order bump integration feature Teachable offers, it’s never been easier to do so. We’re sharing some of the different types of order bump examples to help you get started.
Why bother with order bumps?
There are a few key reasons why you should consider using the order bump strategy as an online course creator:
1. To increase average order value
Order bumps are one of the most effective ways to increase your average order value. In turn, they can increase the overall profits of your online business, too. When you’re selling an online course with a higher price tag and offer a related product at a lower price point to complements, the chances are that the customer will buy it the lower-priced item as well.
Let’s say you’re selling a yoga for beginners online course. Offering an order bump like a meditation guide for beginners that perfectly complements your yoga course is useful for customers. If the customers find it valuable, they will add it to their cart and buy it, increasing the average order value.
2. Provide more value to the customer
When you’re implementing order bumps into your sales strategy, you’ll always be looking to offer a customer products similar to what they’re already buying, like the previous example of yoga for beginners course and meditation guide.
Because of that, you’re increasing the value customers get when they’re buying from you. Remember: They might not have had the opportunity to check out all the products in your shop. Or they might have skipped on a product that is valuable and would be interesting to them.
But order bumps allow you to provide more value and increase the positive shopping experience with your brand.
3. Expose the customer to more products
Not all customers will spend hours browsing each product you have. In fact, they might never get a chance to see everything your brand has to offer. An order bump allows you to expose customers to more products that they might be interested in. Plus, order bumps can help you sell products that may not be as appealing on their own as when paired with other products.
Returning to the same example of yoga course and meditation guide. Students might not find your course on meditation on its own, as they usually would be looking for magazine tips or apps like Calm to help them discover meditation.
But when you pair the meditation guide with your yoga course and offer it as an order bump, chances are they might buy it because it goes well with what they’re looking for. And it’s just one click away.
9 different types of order bumps (plus some examples)
There are many different ways how you can implement various order bump examples into your online course business. We have nine order bump examples you can easily implement right now.
1. Complementary offer
One great way to implement an order bump is by offering a complementary product that would go well with the main product the customer is buying. For example: When you buy products from the Apple store, Apple offers AppleCare+ and other related items at the checkout. If you’re buying a new MacBook, AppleCare+ or extra adapters are very valuable and useful.
2. Personalized offer
Another type of order bump most commonly seen is a personalized product recommendation during checkout. Offer a product that fits perfectly with what customers are buying to increase the chances that they might purchase your order bump.
This also gives special points for your brand for personalization. Every customer appreciates feeling special and understood when they’re shopping.
Tony Robbins offers a special personalized offer for each customer based on the items in their carts. This creates a sense of exclusivity. Also, personalization makes it even more enticing to buy. Think of it this way: Chances are that if you’re looking for a program to improve your productivity on Tony’s website, you’ll likely want supplements that promise you to help do that easier.
3. Templates
For many Teachable creators, Templates may be a perfect order bump offer. They are low-cost items, yet they can add a lot of value to an online course. For example: If you sell online courses on increasing productivity or online courses on time management, you could offer custom planner templates to use with your course to better manage time and workload.
You can easily create beautiful and effective planner templates with design programs like Canva. And, they don’t take a lot of time to design. Alternatively, you can hire a designer to create templates with a few different layouts that your students could buy and use on a daily basis.
4. Worksheets
Other great order bump examples are worksheets or workbooks. When people take your course, they’ll likely be taking notes as they learn. Make it easy and convenient for them by creating worksheets and workbooks as order bumps.
You can create a worksheet with questions and spaces for answers, also adding summaries at the end of modules and space for notes. This will save people time and make it easier to take notes as they progress through your course material.
Tony Robbins again utilizes this order bump strategy for his training programs. If you buy one of his digital courses, he offers an order bump of a physical workbook and summary:
Remember: You don’t have to offer a physical worksheet/workbook, a digital version will do. And, if people prefer to have a physical version, they can easily print it at home, so you don’t have to worry about shipping.
5. Ebooks
Ebooks are great low-cost items to offer as order bumps. They can provide tons of value for your students taking the course. Your ebook doesn’t have to be long and complicated, as longs as it relates to what your customer is buying.
Back to our yoga example: If you’re a creator who offers yoga courses for beginners, you could create an ebook on meditation for beginners and offer it as an order bump.
It complements your yoga course very well and adds to your customers want to learn and helps them achieve their goals. Because it’s a low-cost offer and relates to what your customers are looking for, chances are, they’re going to be interested in it and will buy it.
6. Mini-courses
If you want to go an extra mile, offering a mini-course as an order bump can be a great alternative to an ebook. It can be a short two to three-module course for $7 that fits with the theme of your main course.
Let’s get back to the example of the yoga course business. People who are interested in yoga might also be interested in learning about another wellness-related topic such as healthy eating. A short mini-course that teaches people the basics of healthy eating is a great order bump here.
A quick tip: Mini-courses as order bumps can also be good ways to test out the waters for new course ideas. You can see if people resonate with the mini course material. If you see that many people add the mini-course to their orders, it may mean there is a demand for it. You can use that knowledge and expand the course into a full-on online program later on.
7. Coaching sessions
People who are buying your online courses and products trust you. So, one of the easiest ways to increase the average order value is by offering coaching sessions as an order bump. Depending on the time commitment you want, you can either offer monthly coaching sessions or simply one-off sessions where you chat with your students for an hour.
Getting back to the wellness course business example. You could offer a one-time 60-minute coaching session for new students, where you will help them discuss what their goals are, how they can achieve them, and any other tips to make their journey easier.
You could offer different tiers for your online course with different prices as order bumps, too:
- Tier 1: for $200, students get access to course material
- Tier 2: for $450, students get access to course material + a one-time 60-minute coaching session with you
- Tier 3: for $1,500, students get access to course material + monthly coaching call with you for four months
Offering coaching sessions as an order bump gives you a lot of space for experimentation and different ways to increase your average order value.
8. Companion course
If you have one or more courses that complement each other very well, you could use them as order bumps. Because full online courses are higher-price, they might not be an easy way to increase average order value.
Alternatively, instead of offering the full course as an order bump, you can offer limited access to a complementary course for $10. This is great because it increases your average order value and introduces customers to more of your products.
The chances are that after getting to sample a complementary course that they might be interested in, people will end up buying the full course as well. Let’s get back to the productivity course we mentioned earlier. If you sell a course on time management and a course on time blocking, those two courses complement each other very well.
You can offer the first one to two modules of the complementary companion course for $10 as an order bump. This gives your customers extra value and a peek at another course they might find valuable.
9. Access to a community
Another fantastic order bump example is access to a community. It can be through a membership program, where people get access to a community, monthly content, and your time. It could be a simple group where your students can connect with each other.
Coming back to the same wellness example. If you’re selling yoga courses and healthy living products, offering a community can be a great way to offer your customers accountability and support on their wellness journey.
You could implement this order bump strategy by offering a three-tier system to your online course:
- Tier 1: getting access to course material.
- Tier 2: access to course material + getting access to a support/membership group for students.
- Tier 3: everything from the previous tiers + getting a 1-hour session with you once a month.
See this Teachable creator example: Nicolas Botomisy offers an All Access Subscription to his online courses teaching people how to make desserts. It’s a membership where he offers a private group for students to connect and share their passion for pastries and desserts with each other. He also offers monthly Q&A sessions. Those who want more than just access to one of his online courses can get so much more if they join the membership.
No matter what type of order bump example or strategy you try, this new feature is a fantastic way to give you more opportunities to expand and scale your business. Learn how to fully set up your order bump on Teachable here.
Tags:
