October, November, December (OND) are the key sales months for eCommerce sites, accounting for up to 50% of the annual revenue for many.
Yakit, with its acclaimed landed cost engine, removes the merchants' risk in duties/taxes while allowing for subsidized or Free shipping based on order value thresholds to increase Conversion. Buyers also love the fact that they will not be asked to pay duties/taxes or additional fees at their door step, when receiving an order.
Shipping, Duties, Taxes can account for almost 30% of an international order and can be a big swing factor in Conversions. It is, by now, an open secret that Free shipping increases Conversions. Buyers love Free Shipping!
Here are some ideas on how to review the data presented in your Yakit dashboard, and fine-tune your site to increase Conversions with subsidized/Free shipping promotions. Now is the time to experiment with Conversions - powered by Yakit - and get ready for a very successful OND 2018.
1. Find where your customers are coming from
Your Yakit analytics screen shows this very clearly. You can also view the Quotes served by Yakit in the Quotes tab on your shipping dashboard.
The "Quotes" tab shows you the details of every Yakit "quote" that as been served on your site. This is designed to help provide you with valuable information on who is ordering, and also, who isn't completing their orders as well.
2. Check your Conversions and AOV
Your average Conversions by service type and your Conversion by country are shown in the Yakit analytics screen as well. You can also see your Average Order Value by country.
This will give you an idea of how to motivate your buyers to buy more in the next step.
3. Offer free or subsidized shipping
You can run promotions (it's a good idea to test it during your calm summer months) to one or more countries using our Free/Flat shipping settings in Yakit. A typical promotion should be run for at least 2 weeks to get actionable data. Check the profits you are making vis a vis the shipping subsidy. You can check the subsidy by looking at the Margin metric (see image in item 4 below) in your Yakit analytics screen.
4. Check Conversions and finalize the "offers".
If your Conversions have moved up, and you are making more profits now (the increase in AOV and sales has offset the subsidy you are providing), move on to other countries. Remember, Free or subsidized shipping may not work in all countries, as consumer behavior differs. Use our Free/Flat shipping settings to adjust accordingly.
We have seen Yakit customers with high AOV (over $200) improve their Conversions to over 30% using Free Standard shipping - while offering free Express shipping after a certain order value. (The merchant Conversion average with Yakit is 20% by just showing landed cost. This is about 3x the industry average - which is 6% - for Fashions/Accessories.)
If your average order value is low (say under $50), subsidized shipping can lower the "shock factor" that consumers feel for shipping+duties/taxes when they are purchasing lower value items. We have seen customers improve their Conversions 2x by subsidizing shipping.
5. Don't forget the LTV.
Hassle free "duties paid" shipping with full end-to-end tracking and shipment support is key to having your customer buy from you again and again - improving your customer Life Time Value.
Yakit allows you to ship using our logistics with prepaid and guaranteed duties/taxes, or you can ship using your own shipping provider.
6. Advertise free shipping, promote duties/taxes prepaid shipping
Last, but not the least, don't forget to advertise your hassle-free shipping including Free or Subsidized shipping promotions. Once international buyers know that their shipping will be secure, hassle-free and duties-prepaid, with full end-to-end tracking, they will buy from you again and again, and refer their family and friends as well.
You can put a banner on your site which states "FREE GLOBAL SHIPPING" which will get buyers' attention.
Here are some points you may want to add to your FAQ or shipping page :
- We ship worldwide through Yakit.
- Calculate and pay your shipping and guaranteed duties/taxes automatically at checkout. You will not be charged any additional fees on delivery!
- We offer 3 <edit as appropriate> service levels: Yakit <you can customize this name in your Channels page> Standard (6-12 business days), Yakit Fast (3-7 business days) and Yakit Express (2-5 business days). Business days exclude weekends and major holidays.
- Yakit Standard and Yakit Fast are typically delivered to you by your country's postal service. Yakit Express is delivered by an international courier like DHL or FedEx.
- All orders are fully tracked, customs cleared, duties/taxes paid and fully insured.
- Our tracking accounts for real-time delays and exceptions. Be sure to check it periodically to see how your order is moving or if there are delivery instructions in case you are not there to receive it.
If you have not signed up for Yakit, don't miss out on a booming OND 2018 for your business.
As always, help is just a Y-Chat away. We love to hear from you and will put our best minds to work on your global growth challenges.
Happy shipping with Yakit.
