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How to increase the average check? Typically, this question is asked by managers of companies that already have a stable flow of clients or have reached the maximum possible market size. The topic of increasing revenue is very broad; there are many options on how to increase the average bill and earn more per client. We will talk about these methods in this article.

From this article you will learn:

1. To increase the average check, it must be calculated correctly
2. 2 strategies on how to increase the average check in a store
3. 9 ways to increase the average check in retail
4. How to increase the average bill in a cafe or restaurant
5. How can it be increased in an online store?
6. 8 more ways to increase your average bill online
7. What NOT to do in pursuit of increasing the average bill
8. What books do we recommend reading on this topic?

To increase the average check, it must be calculated correctly

For a business owner or company manager, the average bill is a convenient means of assessing the state of the business and the process of its development. By tracking the dynamics of changes in the average bill, a manager can understand what stage his business is at.

The calculation of the average bill depends on the range of goods and services that the company provides. For each type of business, this parameter will have its own characteristics. For example, if the product assortment matrix is ​​small, then the calculation will be simple, but if there are a lot of products, then the formula for calculating the average bill will become more complicated.

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• Why consumer loyalty is an effective business solution
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• Analysis of the target audience: how to “hit the target”

There is a myth that it is not possible to calculate the average bill for every company, but this is an erroneous statement. Based on the basic formula, you can roughly calculate the average amount of one purchase: take the entire sales volume for a certain period of time and divide it by the number of completed transactions. As a result, we get an average bill.

But not everything is so simple; there are moments that can spoil and distort such a seemingly simple calculation. We are talking about a number of circumstances outlined below.

1. Seasonality . If your business has different indicators depending on seasonal demand, then when making calculations it is worth taking short periods: the greater the demand surges, the higher the variability and volatility of the market, the shorter the time period for which the calculations are made should be.
2. Range . If your company provides consumers with a large range of goods and services, then when calculating the average bill, you need to divide your products into certain groups. Calculations must be performed separately for each group of goods and services.
3. Clients . If your clients are representatives of different income groups, then calculate the average bill for each of them; at a minimum, it is worth dividing buyers into two categories - economy and VIP.

As a rule, calculating the average check is not difficult, and in most cases a basic formula is sufficient, to which adjustments can be made in accordance with the specifics of the business.

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How to increase the average bill in a cafe or restaurant

Waiter phrases

If your waiters use only standard, routine phrases when communicating with customers, then most likely you will not be able to increase the average check. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct special trainings for staff, where people will have the opportunity to learn what words can be used to encourage a visitor to place an order.

To make it easier for the waiter, it is necessary to create a table of main and additional dishes. Waiters should memorize this table and promptly offer the client to try other suitable dishes along with the main order. It is also necessary to prepare templates of phrases that the service staff will use to advise the client on dishes and drinks.

Some recommendations for waiters:

• Offer a clear, concrete alternative. Instead of saying, “Any other drinks?” say: “Tea, coffee, lemonade or maybe beer?”
• Forget denial. There should be no “not” in your speech.
• Be persistent, make affirmative sentences using the words: I advise, I recommend, try.
• Offer specific items : “Try our new product - a signature cocktail from the best bartender in the capital!”

Avoid being overly intrusive

The management of any cafe or restaurant fears that customers will consider the service staff too intrusive. In order to avoid such assessment from visitors, you can prohibit waiters from offering dishes that are not an addition to the main ones and are not intended to expand the order.

Add to the list of rules for the waiter the words after which he must stop offering the client additional items. If the visitor says “that’s all”, “thank you, that’s enough”, “nothing else”, the waiter needs to stop recommending dishes to order.

Use a feedback system to evaluate the performance of your staff. Find out from your visitors whether the waiter was too intrusive, whether he performed his duties well, and whether his suggestion was useful when choosing an additional order.

The experience of Russian restaurants shows that waiters are often not active on their own, so it is very difficult to find an intrusive waiter; more often than not, they do not at all try to tell customers about the additional capabilities of the establishment.

Waiter motivation

Motivation of staff is very important for increasing the average check: the percentage of sales, which affects the salary, perfectly encourages waiters to sell more.

Tips also depend on the average check, although waiters often do not believe that additional sales can increase this type of income. Practice shows that the average tip is about 16% of the order amount.

It will be useful to organize competitions on the average bill among waiters, calculating their results over the month. It is very important not to skimp on the prize reward, because the subordinate who showed the best result has already brought you considerable profit.

Some restaurateurs are confident that the policy of separating tables with different average checks is beneficial to the establishment, because there is no point in keeping tables with a known high check for a weak waiter, since the establishment loses money.

When holding competitions, it is necessary to remember that they must be fair: it is necessary to create conditions under which it will be unprofitable for waiters to cheat and they will not have the opportunity to fraudulently increase the amount of the average check, for example, by reducing the number of clients relative to their real number.

But often competitions among waiters are perceived by them bleakly and even negatively, as they force them to leave their comfort zone, start working more actively, and offer additional dishes and drinks. It is necessary to ensure that competition between waiters does not take on an unhealthy form.

In order for service personnel to more adequately perceive management’s attempts to increase the average bill, it is necessary to work not only with waiters, but also with management staff, teaching them modern management techniques.

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Types of promotions to attract customers

To contents

Promotional campaigns to attract customers are not only discounts on a certain list of goods. This is a whole range of possibilities, among which it is important to choose exactly what is most interesting to your target audience. So, if the notorious “2 for the price of 1” promotion works great in a grocery or souvenir store, then it makes no sense for the sale of large household appliances.

Therefore, when choosing the type of promotion, it is important to consider:

• The assigned task;
• Feasibility from the point of view of break-even and profit volume;
• Interests of your target audience;
• Status and image of the company. After all, small shops cannot afford such luxurious gestures as large ones.

For example, in 2020, Coca-Cola held a large-scale promotion in London, according to which a percentage of the cost of each bottle of the drink was transferred to the polar bear fund. At the same time, a “bear zone” was established in the city’s central park, where every child and adult could see virtual bears in the wild. Thus, Coca-Cola significantly increased sales, strengthened brand trust and helped animals. But, of course, not even every supermarket chain in Russia could afford such a spectacular promotion.

Promotions

Promotions are events aimed at introducing customers to a brand, creating the image and reputation of a new company or product. These include the familiar tastings that are held in supermarkets. They serve two purposes at once - they introduce customers to the product and increase the size of the average check of the store itself, since people often immediately buy the product if they like its taste.

But this is not the only promotional option. In the field of sales of non-food products the following are often used:

• Thematic exhibitions and fairs;
• Distribution of leaflets, discount coupons and flyers;
• Gift with purchase. At the same time, a new product is often sold in conjunction with an already known one;
• Master classes and testing are a current option for getting acquainted with new lines of cosmetics, perfume aromas and other things;
• Holding a competition among those who have already purchased a new product. People are always happy to participate in the lottery and have at least a chance of winning.

The type of promotion should be selected according to your budget. If you are not ready to spend a lot on a raffle for a trip to Egypt or a car, then you can get by by distributing leaflets. Although the effectiveness of a product launch will, of course, vary.

Promotions to increase sales and their examples

The largest number of popular promotion models are aimed specifically at increasing sales volume. These are the famous ones:

• “red price tags”;
• “fresh boom” and daily discounts on certain product categories;
• “2 for the price of 1” and “1+1=3”;
• "Black Friday" and others.

It is with this type of stock that you should be most careful. After all, discounts of less than 30% may go unnoticed by customers, and more than 50% may cause the store to make losses.

They turn out to be most attractive for the areas of trade in electronic goods, information courses and other easily duplicated products.

Promotions to increase the average check

Often in business there is a problem of a small check. A large number of buyers, bringing in pennies of profit, can exhaust sellers and cause inefficiency in their work. Therefore, if your average bill is below 500 rubles, you should adopt this particular promotion format:

• Discount for purchases over a certain volume;
• Progressive system of volume discounts;
• A gift with a purchase in an amount slightly higher than your average receipt.

In addition, such effective marketing technologies as up sell and cross sell will help you increase your average check. By introducing them into your business, you can increase your sales by 20% this month.

Discount and club cards

A discount card is a kind of “binding” of a client to a store. Every time he opens his wallet, he sees plastic with the store’s branding and remembers it. Many cardholders who received even a small discount of 3-7% continue to constantly use goods and services of the same brand.

When launching such a marketing ploy, you need to keep several factors in mind:

• You shouldn’t give out discount cards to everyone. After all, this is a kind of privilege for a regular buyer, so it needs to be awarded only for a certain volume of purchase or on a paid basis;
• The card may work in different ways. Either it provides a small discount on each purchase, or serves to accumulate points and stamps, which can then be exchanged for a gift;
• To attract wealthy clients, a club card with prizes will be more attractive than a discount of a couple of rubles.

Gaming promotions and competitions

Passion is one of the most powerful motivators to action. Therefore, everyone wants to get a winning ticket, or maybe more than one. Gamification in business will come to the rescue and a variety of conditions can be invented for participation in the game:

• Purchasing “lucky goods”, the barcodes of which will be entered into the lottery;
• Awarding tickets at a certain purchase price;
• Thematic competitions with writing essays on a specific topic and much more.

The simpler the playing conditions, the higher your chances of a significant increase in profits.

How can you increase the average check in an online store?

Increasing the average check in online trading is not very different from a regular store, but it has its own characteristics.

• Recommendation of other products.

Sometimes it is difficult for customers of an online store to understand the entire range of products, and they focus only on purchasing the one they are going to purchase. But perhaps they would like to additionally order other items - show them the most suitable ones from your range in the special offers block.

This can be done, for example, on the “cart” page, where the buyer will take the final steps to place an order. Perhaps, having seen a suitable offer, a client of an online store will add several more products to the cart, thereby increasing the average check.

• Related products.

In addition to popular products or products from different categories, in the advertising block you can offer the buyer to choose related items and accessories for the main order. For example, you can recommend cases for a mobile phone, spare batteries, or a connection service to favorable tariffs from mobile operators.

• Minimum order amount.

Many online stores set a minimum purchase size, for example, when offering free delivery. In this way, the client is encouraged to place an order for a larger amount than the cost of the item he needs.

By purchasing additional goods and accessories, a person spends more money to cross the threshold of the minimum price, thereby increasing the average bill of the online store. You can also offer a discount on future purchases, provided that the customer makes a current order for an amount equal to or greater than the minimum.

• Cheaper together.

If you want to increase the average check of an online store, try to run special offers when a visitor, having selected and ordered two or more items at the same time, receives a certain discount, for example, buying a set of clothes from two skirts and a sweater will cost the client 15% less.

Or prepare collections, for example, of books by one author: it will be convenient for a person to purchase all books at once with a 10% discount. Thus, when purchasing sets or sets of things, the client receives a favorable discount, and you increase the average check.

• Loyalty program.

If an online store sells everyday consumer goods, such as household chemicals, then you can develop a loyalty program in which the client receives bonus points on his special account or accumulates a discount. The next time the person returns to your store and makes another purchase using points or a discount.

Loyalty programs are aimed at strengthening cooperation with customers. Loyal customers provide online stores with up to 70% of all profits and increase the average check.

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Organization of an advertising campaign

It is well known that high-quality advertising is one of the best ways to increase demand for a product. But there are certain requirements for it. Thus, advertising should provide the consumer with only truthful information about the product.

There are several options for running an advertising campaign. For example, it can be implemented on the Internet. In this case, it is very important to create a bright and memorable advertising image, as well as place information where it will be in demand. A well-organized advertising campaign can activate numerous users of the World Wide Web.

8 more ways to increase your average bill online

1. SMS mailing . Send out a newsletter with attractive offers to those who have already made a purchase in your store once. But don't use these types of alerts all the time and annoy your customers.
2. Gift with purchase. Give an inexpensive but pleasant gift to the buyer. Present a beautiful or useful item when you reach a certain purchase amount. Everyone loves to receive gifts.
3. Joint action. For example, start collaborating with a good novice photographer and give your customers coupons for a free photo session. This way you can increase sales, and the photographer will build up his client base.
4. Increase or provide additional warranty. Practice shows that customers are more willing to make a purchase if an additional guarantee is attached to it, even though the customer himself pays for it in a small increase in the price of the product.
5. Price optimization. Today it is very easy for an online store client to compare prices with competitors, so look at their websites and make your price list consistent with the current market situation.
6. Certificate for future purchases. An advantageous offer - to pay part of the amount with a certificate for the next transaction - attracts customers and allows the online store to bind the customer to itself, and it is profitable for the person to make another purchase.
7. Be sure to adapt your online store website for various mobile devices: today, a third of all traffic comes from mobile devices, and this value will only grow, so the interface of your online store should be convenient on both a desktop computer and mobile devices.
8. Limited offer . Make a reminder that every day on the site you will be offered to buy something at a good price with a limited number of products participating in the promotion.

Increasing demand through word of mouth

From time to time it happens on the market that a company seems to be working, there is plenty of information about it, and an advertising campaign is in full swing - but for some reason there are no results. Potential clients go to competitors who do not advertise their activities at all. This is exactly how the effect of the famous “word of mouth” manifests itself: a consumer, having received a positive experience from interacting with a certain company, tells relatives and friends about it, and they then carry the information further, “to the masses.” Often, such spontaneous advertising is much more effective than organized advertising, because people instinctively treat information received from friends with greater confidence. Why not take this fact into account?

You can activate word of mouth in several ways:

• The first way
  is to launch a so-called “virus”. This scheme is often used by beauty salons: they give new visitors cards that provide a discount for their friends. Friends, having come to the salon, in turn receive similar guest cards, and this continues until the establishment becomes quite popular. Cards, bonuses and special offers for new clients are viruses.
• The second way
  is to draw public attention to a product or service and create a stir. It doesn't matter how exactly it will be organized. In some cases, a little scandal helps.
• The third way
  is to hire people who will spread information about the product and also discuss its benefits. The purpose of “decoy ducks” is not so much to advertise the product as to arouse the curiosity of others.
• The fourth method
  is similar to the first. The only difference is that special offers – “chain letters” – are sent via email. Such a letter, for example, may contain a discount code valid in an online store. You can either activate it yourself or give it to a friend.

Concluding the conversation about word of mouth, it is worth noting that a far-sighted leader must learn to control this phenomenon, since it often successfully replaces expensive advertising campaigns.

High product quality, consumer awareness and effective advertising are the three most important factors influencing demand. None of them should be left unattended.

We recommend reading:

How to determine demand for a product

If there is demand, there is business; if there is no demand, there is no business. We have prepared step-by-step instructions for you to determine the demand for a product.

How to increase sales during a crisis

Crisis threats can be neutralized at a fairly high level and even used to further increase sales levels. Read about how to do this in our publication.

What NOT to do in pursuit of increasing the average check in an online store

• Don't put rubbish in . When selling stale goods, remember: it must be free of defects and useful to the user. Don't make this offer to everyone.
• Don't offer too many products , the visitor will simply get confused and end up not buying anything.
• Don’t forget about profits, make discounts and lucrative offers so that sales don’t go to zero or even negative.
• Do not break the “rule of 25” , that is, do not sell additional and related products in an amount greater than 25% of the main order. Every buyer has a spending limit that he is psychologically unable to overcome.
• Don't be afraid to downsell. If the buyer added an expensive product to the cart, spent a lot of time on the site, but never made a purchase, offer him a similar product at a lower cost, but with the same functionality. At the same time, show the person that a cheap product is no worse, and sometimes even better, than an expensive analogue.

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What books do we recommend reading about increasing the average bill?

Mikhail Merkulov “Restaurant. 50 ways to increase profits"

The book allows you to look at the restaurant business through the prism of global experience. Many restaurant owners forget that their business is also based on sales, and no matter how much they improve the dishes and assortment, the main thing in business is successful implementation.

Dmitry Kolodnik, Denis Podolsky “Retail store. How to double your sales"

The book gives insight into the most powerful ways to increase sales.

• How to get more for a product?
• How to turn potential buyers into real ones?
• How to sell more?
• How to increase repeat sales?
• How to attract new clients?
• How to increase profits with advertising?
• How to find a “golden” seller?

Pavel Lisovsky “Secrets of the average check” (2nd issue)

The book offers a description of an effective technology for increasing pharmacy sales. The technology is based on increasing the average bill through additional sales of dietary supplements, medical products and FMCG products.

The book also describes the technology of interviewing clients when:

• selection of OTC drugs, dietary supplements, medical devices, FMCG products;
• synonymous replacement of Rx drugs;
• selection of drugs using INN.

When working on this book, all wishes and recommendations from specialists and pharmacy managers who managed to evaluate the first release of this manual were taken into account. The publication presents more than 30 topics that reveal methods for increasing the average pharmacy bill.