In our latest series, we’re discussing how ecommerce brands can increase their LTV and customer satisfaction and improve the customer journey by leveraging key products and features. Today, we’re talking about the strategy of product bundling—which offers benefits for both merchants and customers.
Bundles save shoppers time and effort as they choose products, which adds enormous value for them. By offering curated bundles, you can introduce them to new products they might enjoy. And by letting them build their own bundles, you give them ultimate flexibility, making the shopping experience even more seamless on the user end.
On the merchant end, product bundling can help increase average order value (AOV) and customer lifetime value (LTV). In fact, our data shows that customers who use Bundles have up to 2.7x higher LTV than those who don’t. In other words, by offering product bundles, merchants can lay the groundwork for their customers to stay with them longer and spend more over time.
Our data shows that customers who use Bundles have up to 2.7x higher LTV than those who don’t.
In this post, we’ll dive into the ins and outs of product bundling—including an in-depth look at our integrated solution, Bundles. We’ll also cover product bundling strategies your store can use to enhance your customer experience.
Key takeaways
- Merchants can increase AOV and LTV by providing bundled product offerings.
- With Recharge’s Bundles offering, customers have their pick of curated or build-your-own options that give them ultimate flexibility and personalization.
- With build-a-box product bundles, flexibility is key—make sure shoppers can adjust the components of their bundle that matter most to them for the highest customer satisfaction.
The many benefits of product bundling
Product bundles provide massive benefits for both merchants and customers. Below, we’ll explore the advantages for each side.
Merchant benefits of product bundling
Product bundling is a proven tactic for increasing AOV and LTV. The results speak for themselves—merchants who utilize Recharge’s integrated bundling solution average 55% higher AOV than those who don’t. Plus, stores often see better loyalty as a result of the personalized and flexible options that bundling offers.
Merchants who utilize Recharge’s integrated bundling solution average 55% higher AOV than those who don’t.
As customers purchase and try more products, they also gain a better understanding of what they enjoy the most, how the products should be used, and how they fit into their lifestyle. Especially for health and wellness, beauty, and food and beverage brands, having repeat customers who also have the opportunity to try new products is crucial to building brand recognition and converting customers over and over again.
Repeat customers can create a deeper relationship with your brand, and become more knowledgeable about your products.
Take Brickhouse Nutrition, for example. They utilized Bundles to improve their customer acquisition by creating different flavor combinations at a discounted price. This allowed customers to choose the flavors they liked the most in their next shipments, while also saving money with a bundling discount.
By offering bundles this way, Brickhouse Nutrition increased the likelihood of customers subscribing to the flavor they liked the most. And, in the process, they increased their AOV by a whopping 75%.
Brickhouse Nutrition increased AOV by 75% with Bundles.
Customer benefits of product bundling
Customers also win with product bundles, which can save them a lot of the time and effort that goes into researching products and purchasing them separately.
Additionally, the level of personalization and customization that product bundling offers is exactly what consumers are looking for these days. They want the right combination of items that will serve their exact needs, and when they come bundled they often save money as well thanks to discounted pricing.
How to enhance the customer experience with Bundles
Choosing to offer bundling is just the start—from there, merchants will need to test and iterate to see which kind of bundling options works best for their target audience and their business.
Below, we’ll highlight a few key ways that merchants can create the best bundling offerings for their customers through Recharge.
1. Offer curated product bundles
For certain product verticals, curated product bundles can be highly appealing for consumers. One of the biggest benefits of bundling for customers is the time and effort saved.
With custom-curated groupings, you can offer your customers the best combinations of products that complement each other or are already commonly bought together. This is a simple way to boost AOV by offering multiple products as one product, and it can help your store give customers exactly what they want.
Often with bundles, customers don’t even know prior to purchasing that they would want these two or more products together. But, once they see them bundled—and with a discount attached—they’re more enticed to make a purchase.
Crafty Ramen is one Recharge merchant who takes curated bundles to the next level. They offer customers “the perfect at-home ramen experience” with boxes that include everything a customer needs to cook and enjoy ramen in their own kitchen.
2. Provide build-a-box options
For some product verticals, like meal kit companies, wine clubs, and more, build-a-box bundles may be helpful to offer instead of or in addition to curated bundles. By offering build-a-box options, shoppers can get exactly what they want in their order for ultimate flexibility.
By offering build-a-box bundles with Recharge, you set the rules as a merchant. Select which products customers can add to their bundles, and how many, then give your shoppers the freedom to mix and match as they please.
Tsuno is a great example of build-a-box bundling. They offer customizable bundle boxes of period care products, including tea and chocolate. Their website guides customers through building a custom box—all they have to do is select five items from the page, plus the frequency they’d like the shipment. If they want to swap out items in their next order, it’s easy to do.
Tsuno makes it easy for customers to create their own subscription boxes filled with the period care essentials they want, at the frequency they desire.
3. Get creative with product bundling
As a merchant, feel free to think outside the box with bundles—after all, you know your customers best and what their wants and needs are.
You might decide to create a “founder’s bundle” that includes favorite products from your company’s founder, or feature a well-known celebrity or influencer’s product picks in a specially curated bundle. Knowing your audience well will lead to the best ideas that will resonate with them and make them want to purchase a bundle.
Blume, a skin, body, and period care company, has their skincare bundles focused on specific problems customers might be having—making it super easy for them to shop and buy bundles to treat an issue.
Increasing customer satisfaction & your bottom line with Bundles
By choosing the right technical bundling solutions and launching an effective product bundling strategy, you don’t just create easier and better shopping experiences for your customers. You also lay the groundwork for increasing key metrics, like AOV and LTV, for your ecommerce store.
Test and vary your product bundles to see which combinations customers gravitate towards, or let them choose their own for the ultimate dose of online shopping freedom. Either way, Bundles will help you take your customer journey to the next level and create stronger relationships with your customers.
