Facts: These Are the Only 3 Ways to Increase Sales

There are three ways to grow sales, online or offline. Only three. However, most companies focus on just one—acquiring customers. By ignoring the other two, they’re missing out on revenue opportunities.

So what are the three ways to increase sales?

1. Increase the number of customers.
2. Increase the average order size.
3. Increase the number of repeat purchases.

Mastering these strategies isn’t just about tactics—it’s about understanding your customers and delivering value at every touchpoint. Sure, combining creativity and data-driven insights will amp up your sales but it goes deeper than that. Expanding your sales strategy to incorporate various approaches will boost brand awareness, drive traffic to your site, maximize conversion, and create a loyal customer base that will rep your brand for you!

1. Increase the number of customers

This is what most businesses do and try to get better at.

You do this by solving a real problem, being remarkable, driving relevant traffic (free and paid), boosting conversions, using referral programs, and so on. It’s the most expensive part of increasing sales.

Awareness and engagement

To boost customer acquisition, focus on creating a laser-targeted marketing approach that meets potential buyers where they are. 

Start with paid advertising campaigns that don’t just cast a wide net but are meticulously segmented by audience, interests, and behavior. Pair this with SEO-driven content marketing to capture search intent, ensuring your brand is visible when customers are actively looking for solutions. 

A great example of a brand leveraging paid ads and SEO to expand its customer base is Glossier, a beauty and skincare company. 

Simultaneously, Glossier invested heavily in SEO by creating a content-rich blog, Into the Gloss, featuring in-depth beauty guides, skincare routines, and product reviews. This blog positioned them as a trusted authority in beauty while strategically incorporating keywords to improve organic search rankings. 

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By pairing compelling paid ads with high-ranking SEO content, Glossier was able to attract new customers via immediate ad-driven traffic while building long-term visibility in search engines. This dual strategy boosted brand awareness and sustained customer acquisition over time.

Social media is another critical touchpoint—don’t just post content; create thumb-stopping ads and engage authentically with your audience in comments and messages. Glossier optimizes its marketing by running hyper-targeted paid social media campaigns on platforms like Instagram and Facebook, focusing on aesthetically pleasing visuals and user-generated content. Their ads highlight best-selling products with attention-grabbing headlines and direct links to purchase pages and often leverage influencer marketing.

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Finally, don’t underestimate the power of retargeting. Re-engaging users who showed initial interest but didn’t convert can significantly improve your ROI, turning previous clicks into paying customers. 

Glossier excels at re-engaging customers through personalized communication, social media interaction, and loyalty-focused strategies. This includes email marketing, product restocks, exclusive promotions, new launches, limited-edition drops, and seasonal promotions.

Who can resist a freebie?

Improving your sales funnel is one of the most impactful ways to boost your customer base, but it requires careful analysis and strategic tweaks. 

Start by identifying where prospects are dropping off—are they abandoning carts, hesitating at the pricing page, or failing to even reach checkout? Address these friction points head-on. HubSpot recognized that providing value upfront could attract and nurture potential customers more effectively. Here’s how it revamped its sales funnel through its freemium model and inbound marketing strategy:

1. Top of the funnel (TOFU): Offering free tools and content
   HubSpot introduced free tools such as CRM, email marketing software, and content like blogs, webinars, and eBooks tailored to solving customer pain points. This step brought in high traffic and captured leads with minimal friction.

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Simplify navigation and remove distractions from critical pages to keep visitors focused on converting. Test different call-to-action (CTA) placements and messaging to see what resonates. Offering social proof—like testimonials or customer success stories—can help build trust during critical decision-making moments. 

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2. Middle of the funnel (MOFU): Personalized nurturing
   Using their own marketing automation, HubSpot segmented leads based on behavior and demographics. This allowed them to send tailored emails, suggest relevant resources or webinars, and showcase how their paid solutions could meet specific business needs.

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3. Bottom of the funnel (BOFU): Seamless transition to paid solutions
   HubSpot made upgrading to paid versions a natural step. Their free tools included features that highlighted the added value of premium plans, enticing users to convert without a hard sell. For instance, limited usage of reporting in the free CRM encouraged users to upgrade for full analytics.

And don’t forget follow-ups; nurture hesitant leads with retargeting ads or personalized email campaigns. With a seamless, customer-focused marketing funnel, every stage works together to turn browsers into buyers.

Harness the power of word-of-mouth

People trust recommendations from friends and family more than any ad or campaign, making referrals a high-converting channel. 

The formula is simple: offer your current customers an incentive—like discounts, credits, or exclusive perks—for bringing in new business. 

For example, Dropbox’s famous referral program gave both the referrer and the new user extra storage space, turning their customers into a motivated sales force. 

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The program’s simplicity and immediate value made it highly shareable, encouraging users to spread the word. By integrating the referral process directly into the product’s interface and making it seamless to share via email and social media, Dropbox turned its users into enthusiastic brand ambassadors.

As a result, the company grew from 100,000 to over 4 million users in just 15 months, with referrals accounting for over 35% of daily sign-ups. The campaign’s success underscores the power of aligning incentives with user desires and making sharing effortless.

To make it seamless, integrate a referral system directly into your checkout or onboarding process and use automation tools to track and reward participants. A well-executed referral program brings in new customers and builds loyalty with your existing base—a double win.

Reward loyalty. Drive advocacy.

Loyal customers are not only more likely to make repeat purchases, but they’re also your best marketers. 

Focus on delivering exceptional experiences at every touchpoint, whether it’s through responsive customer support, thoughtful follow-ups, or exclusive rewards for repeat buyers. Simple perks like loyalty points, early access to sales, or birthday discounts make customers feel valued and appreciated. 

Starbucks optimized its marketing strategy by leveraging its Starbucks Rewards program to drive customer retention and turn loyal customers into brand advocates. The program offers personalized perks like free drinks, birthday rewards, and early access to products, making it highly appealing to frequent coffee drinkers. By using a mobile app as the program’s hub, Starbucks created a seamless user experience that encourages repeat visits.

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The real brilliance, however, lies in how Starbucks uses customer retention to fuel advocacy. Members of the Rewards program often share their personalized drink orders and experiences on social media, effectively promoting the brand organically. Starbucks also incentivizes advocacy by providing bonus points for referring friends, creating a loop where loyal customers bring in new customers. This blend of retention-focused perks and advocacy-driven referrals has not only deepened Starbucks’ customer relationships but also expanded its customer base significantly.

Happy customers will naturally share their positive experiences, bringing in referrals that cost you nothing but have a high likelihood of converting. Invest in customer retention, and you’ll find your customers doing the heavy lifting of acquisition for you.

Experiment with growth hacking techniques

Now, I know the term sounds contentious, but growth hacking is nothing more than finding creative, often low-cost ways to drive rapid growth by leveraging data, experimentation, and innovation. 

For example, viral campaigns—like offering a compelling incentive for customers to share your product—can help your reach snowball without draining your budget. 

One standout example of a brand leveraging a viral campaign to grow its customer base is Spotify with its “Wrapped” campaign. Spotify Wrapped, launched annually, provides users with personalized statistics about their listening habits over the year, including their top songs, artists, and genres. What made this campaign viral, when it first launched in 2016, was its shareability. Users could easily post their Wrapped results on social media, sparking conversations and a cascade of engagement.

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In 2020, Spotify’s mobile app downloads saw a 21% surge in the first week of December. While in 2021, a reported 120 million users engaged with their Wrapped feature, a significant increase from 30 million in 2017. And of those, 60 million users shared their personalized Wrapped graphics on social media.

By tapping into people’s appreciation for their unique music tastes and the sense of being part of a larger community, Spotify transformed personal data into shareable content. This deepened existing user engagement and attracted new users curious to explore the feature and share their own music trends. The campaign’s success highlights the power of personalization, user-generated content, and social sharing in driving both growth and brand visibility.

Another approach is product gamification, where you add fun, interactive elements that encourage users to engage and share their experiences.

Duolingo, the language-learning app, has masterfully used gamified elements to both attract and retain users, significantly growing its customer base. It skillfully uses the Octalysis Framework, a ‘Human-Focused Design’ originally created by Yu-kai Chou, which analyses what motivates users and harnesses this to drive engagement and create rewarding user experiences.

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The app integrates features like streak tracking, experience points (XP), leaderboards, and skill trees, essentially turning the language learning process into a game.

For instance, Duolingo motivates users to maintain their daily streaks, rewarding them with virtual trophies and encouraging friendly competition through leaderboards. This sense of progress and achievement keeps users engaged while creating opportunities for social sharing, effectively turning users into ambassadors for the brand. 

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Today, Duolingo has more than 500 million users and about 40 million monthly active users globally. Not too shabby.

The key is to test, measure, and iterate quickly. Don’t just stick to what’s traditional—try bold, unique tactics that capture attention and generate buzz.

Invest in email marketing

Email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective tools for turning prospects into loyal customers—when done right. Start by building a quality email list through opt-in forms, lead magnets, and exclusive offers that resonate with your audience. Once you have your list, focus on delivering value. 

Craft personalized, benefit-driven emails that speak directly to the recipient’s needs and desires. Use automation to follow up with leads based on their behaviors—like abandoned carts or page visits—keeping your brand top-of-mind without being pushy. But most importantly, test everything: subject lines, CTAs, layouts, and even send times. 

Grammarly, the writing assistant tool uses a mix of personalized and behavior-triggered emails to engage users and encourage upgrades. When users sign up for Grammarly’s free version, they receive welcome emails that highlight the tool’s benefits and provide tips on getting started.

Grammarly goes a step further by tracking user activity and sending targeted emails based on engagement. For example, users who frequently use the free version might receive an email showcasing premium features tailored to their needs, like advanced grammar checks or plagiarism detection. They also use milestone emails—such as celebrating the number of words written or errors corrected—to reinforce the product’s value and keep users engaged.

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This strategic, personalized approach has helped Grammarly not only retain users but convert free users into paying customers, significantly increasing its customer base over time.

The beauty of email is in the data it provides; use it to continuously refine and boost your results. A smart email strategy not only drives immediate sales but also builds relationships, keeping customers coming back for more.

2. Increase the average order size

They say that the most profitable question of all time belongs to McDonald’s: “Would you like fries with that?” That question captures the essence of this point.

When you get people to the stage that they’re ready to buy from you, you can ask them to buy more things. There’s much less friction. The reason is that getting customers to the buying point is the hardest part of the sales process.

They need to trust you and believe in the value they’re getting. They need to convince themselves that they need or want it. And they need to believe that it’s the right thing to buy at this moment.

Once they’ve made a conscious decision to give you money, they’ve simultaneously decided to give you their trust. So, in that moment, you’re able to sell them more. Here’s how to do it.

Upsell a product that costs about 60% less

Question: When somebody buys a shirt, should you upsell them a tie or the whole suit?

The right answer is a “tie.” It’s (usually) cheaper and hence seems like a small thing to add. If you try to upsell something more expensive, you’d counter the same friction as you did with the initial product. (That doesn’t mean it can’t work, just that it’s harder).

The time-tested 60×60 rule says that your customers will buy an upsell 60% of the time for up to 60% of the original purchase price. Any upsell you offer must be congruent with the original purchase. When they buy shoes, you offer shoe-care products, not a keychain.

Ever registered a domain name through GoDaddy? Let’s see how many things they’ll try to upsell you on:

Here’s the list:

1. Different extensions (.net, .info, etc.);
2. Domains you searched previously;
3. “Variations you might consider”;
4. Premium domains;
5. Country- and region-specific domains;
6. “Add 5 more domains and get bulk pricing”;
7. Pop-up banner with “Get 3” or “Get 5” additional extensions for a deal;
8. Email plan.

Yes, that’s eight attempts to upsell you! GoDaddy is excessive, but it’s been working for them. You should at least try to upsell one thing.

Quantity discount

Buy more, save more! Bose, the audio equipment brand does this well. They often offer promotions like “Buy 2, Save 20%” on their headphones or speakers, targeting customers who may be interested in buying products for family members or as gifts. This type of offer encourages customers to buy additional units, increasing the overall order value. 

Bose strategically places these discounts during key sales periods such as Black Friday or holiday seasons, creating a sense of urgency. Here we can see that Bose is not only offering up to 40% off bestsellers but $150 off on orders before November 29 as part of their Early Black Friday campaign.

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By combining the quantity discount with targeted marketing and seasonal offers, Bose effectively increases both the number of products per transaction and overall customer satisfaction, as buyers feel they are receiving greater value for their purchase.

Offer an upgrade

Remind people that for just a little more money, they can get a fancier product. One of Apple’s key strategies involves the promotion of add-ons and higher-tier versions of their products. Most people won’t need more than 64 GB of storage for their iPad, but thoughts like “just in case” and “it’s only $150 more” make Apple more money.

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They also offer optional upgrades, leveraging accessories like AirPods, Apple Watches, and cases during the checkout process. This tactic not only boosts the average order size but also reinforces Apple’s brand positioning as a premium product provider, encouraging customers to invest in a fuller ecosystem of devices and services.

Product bundling

Product bundling—offering something to go with the initial product for a special price—is a great way to increase the average order size. Amazon often recommends you get a bundle using strategies like “Frequently Bought Together” and “Customers Who Bought This Also Bought” suggestions on product pages. This tactic encourages customers to purchase related items together, increasing the overall order value. For instance, when a customer is looking at a laptop, Amazon often suggests a laptop bag, mouse, or keyboard as a bundle, offering them at a slight discount when purchased together. 

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(Incidentally, they also upsell every buyer with the offer of an Amazon credit card.)

I throw marketing seminars each time I go to Europe, and whenever I offer an online marketing course to go with the seminar fee (for some extra money, but a very good deal), around half the people take the offer. Bundling FTW!

Complementary products

Beauty retailer, Sephora, uses a strategy called “frequent bundling” in which they create product sets that complement each other, such as skincare sets, makeup bundles, or hair care kits. These sets often include products that customers may not have considered purchasing together, but are marketed as essential for achieving a specific look or routine.

Sephora also uses its “Free Samples with Purchase” program to incentivize customers to add complimentary products to their cart. By offering two free samples of new products (such as a skincare serum, perfume, or makeup item) with a purchase, they encourage shoppers to try something new, which often leads to increased cart size as customers add the recommended complimentary products. 

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This strategy not only increases the average order value but also drives customer satisfaction by offering them value and enhancing their overall shopping experience.

One interesting thing you can do is to tell someone not to buy the complementary product if they don’t need it. This can reduce friction.

If a customer expects to go straight to the checkout but then gets smacked with an upsell, it’s nice to word it in a way that reduces the pressure and lets them feel in control.

Longer commitment

Charge monthly? Get them to sign up for a longer period. GetResponse, a popular email marketing platform, has effectively optimized its pricing strategy to encourage customers to increase their average order size by offering substantial discounts for longer-term commitments. Instead of paying a higher monthly fee, users are incentivized to choose annual or bi-annual plans by receiving discounts of up to 40% compared to the month-to-month subscription. This approach helps customers save money and encourages them to invest in the platform for longer.

By offering clear value and cost savings, GetResponse boosts its average revenue per user (ARPU) while reducing churn, as customers are more likely to stick with a service they’ve prepaid for and invested in upfront. This strategy highlights the effectiveness of aligning pricing incentives with customer value perception to drive higher order sizes.

Extended warranty

If you’ve ever bought a gadget, you’ve probably been offered an extended warranty—for a price.

Even though, statistically speaking, extended warranties are almost always a bad deal for the buyer, they provide peace of mind. An excellent example of a brand optimizing its marketing to increase average order size through extended warranties is Apple. When customers purchase devices like iPhones, iPads, or MacBooks, Apple prominently offers AppleCare+, an extended warranty and protection plan.

The marketing campaign is seamlessly integrated into the purchase process. Customers are presented with the benefits of AppleCare+ at checkout, such as extended coverage for accidental damage and priority technical support.

Apple emphasizes peace of mind, reliability, and long-term savings, making the extended warranty feel like a valuable investment rather than an upsell.

By positioning AppleCare+ as a must-have for protecting expensive purchases, Apple successfully increases the average order value while enhancing customer satisfaction and trust.

Add-on services

Ever go to Chipotle? You can get a good burrito for a decent price, but they offer to add tasty guacamole (right in front of your eyes) for $1.80 more.

Get customers to add small things to their order for a small fee. They might just add up, if you know what I mean.

Here’s how Delta Air does it. When customers book a flight, Delta prompts them to upgrade their experience with options like Comfort+ seating for extra legroom, Sky Priority for expedited security and boarding, or access to their premium Sky Club lounges.

These add-ons are strategically displayed during the booking process, with clear benefits highlighted to entice travelers seeking a more convenient or luxurious journey. Additionally, Delta packages some of these services into bundles, offering perceived value and encouraging customers to spend more in a single transaction.

Expedited delivery

If you sell physical products or do custom work (be it software development or engraving jewelry), you can get people to pay more for faster service.

Amazon has masterfully optimized its marketing campaigns to increase the average order size by leveraging its Prime membership program and expedited shipping offers. For instance, Amazon prominently displays a “Get free shipping with orders over $35” message to incentivize customers to add more items to their cart to meet the threshold. To capitalize on this, Amazon often suggests expedited or priority delivery for an additional fee. Prime members, on the other hand, benefit from free one-day or same-day shipping, which is marketed as a convenience advantage.

Once you’ve maxed out your options to increase the average order value, it’s time to move on to your third method of increasing sales—getting those same customers to come back again (and again).

3. Increase the number of repeat purchases

You spend a ton to acquire new customers—it’s much cheaper to keep them than to go off finding new ones all the time.

You don’t want to keep all of them—just the profitable ones. First, you’ll have to which ones are costing you, and which ones bring home the bacon. (You may also want to offload some due to the emotional costs of servicing them).

Here are some ways to keep the existing customer buying.

Offer promotions and remind customers what you offer 

Send targeted follow-up emails to customers offering a related product or service. (You can do this automatically with a good email autoresponder and shopping cart.) Notifying them of deals is also great.

Wine Library is constantly sending me wine offers over email (because I’ve bought before). Every now and then, I’ll take it:

Companies do this with email marketing but also on social media. Get customers to follow you on one of these and offer special deals just for followers.

Here’s an example from Modcloth Facebook page:

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Free shipping for a year (locking customers in)

Do you use Amazon Prime? Free two-day delivery is nice, and so are free streaming movies. However, by giving you this deal, Amazon’s essentially locking you in. Why buy from anyone else if Amazon ships it for free (in just two days)?

Wine.com does the same thing. Customers can enjoy free shipping from select wines, gift sets, and gift baskets. For an annual fee, customers receive unlimited free shipping on all orders over $49 through its StewardShip subscription program. This approach incentivizes shoppers to maximize their orders to make the subscription worthwhile, often leading to larger basket sizes.:

If your customers buy the kind of products you sell frequently, come up with an incentive to keep buying from you—and only you.

Offer coupons with the order

Do you know the open rate of transactional emails? Three times higher than commercial emails.

So when customers place an order with you and receive the “Thank you for your purchase” email, make sure you include some marketing in that email, like a coupon code.

They just completed an order, so they probably won’t buy immediately. coupon code with an expiry date is a better idea than offering an additional product. (You should have offered that immediate buy opportunity as an upsell during the checkout.)

I bought a gift for a friend, and the confirmation email had a coupon in it:

Save credit card details

I shop on Amazon all the time. The few times when I don’t buy something from Amazon are when I’m after something that Amazon doesn’t have.

Of all the reasons I prefer Amazon, the biggest one for me is that my credit card details are already stored there. If I go buy from an online store I’ve never visited, I have to enter all the payment and shipping details. Annoying.

In recent years, they’ve made it even easier by removing the need for a checkout page altogether:

People are inherently lazy. Your job is to make buying from you as easy and convenient as possible.

Customer experience

People remember experiences. If the experience your website provided sucked, they won’t come back. Investment in user experience pays off.

Somebody on Quora suggests that Play.com (now part of Rakuten) provides a great experience. I did a search on Twitter, and it could be true:

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Shopify optimizes marketing campaigns by emphasizing features that enhance customer experience for merchants and their customers. By integrating apps like BOLD Upsell and Shopify Flow, Shopify empowers merchants to create seamless upselling experiences. They also educate merchants on using AI-powered product recommendations to personalize the shopping experience for their customers, making higher-value purchases more enticing and intuitive.

What’s more, Shopify went above and beyond customer experience this Black Friday by offering an immersive live shopping tracker.

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Harry Finkelstein, president of Shopify, revealed in an X post on November 29: 

“Breaking news: just looked at the @Shopify Live Globe and @Shopify merchant sales hit over $4.5 million per minute and more than 20 million shoppers have already made a purchase from a Shopify merchant on Black Friday so far.”

This approach not only boosts revenue for Shopify merchants but also positions Shopify as a partner invested in its customers’ growth, driving loyalty and retention in the process.

Service is the new selling

This is directly related to the last point. Once you get the customers in, provide a superior support and service experience. You can always impress people with excellent service since the average quality of service is very low.

An excellent example is Zappos. The online shoe and clothing retailer prioritizes delivering a “WOW” customer experience (unexpected gestures that exceed customer expectations). This includes anything from offering perks like free upgraded overnight shipping and a no-questions-asked 365-day return policy. Their customer service team is also encouraged to go above and beyond, spending as much time as needed to help customers find exactly what they want.

Satisfied customers naturally shared their positive experiences, becoming informal brand ambassadors. To amplify this, Zappos encouraged customers to refer friends and family through loyalty rewards and referral incentives. 

In short, if you provide excellent service, people not only recruit new customers for you, but they’ll be sure to repeat their experience.

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By leveraging these advocates, Zappos not only recruited new customers but also created a sense of trust and community around its brand.

Release a new, better model every year

iPhone, anyone?

Conclusion

When trying to increase your sales, don’t forget the other two ways in addition to getting new customers. Optimize for all three ways and enjoy growth thanks to previously untapped opportunities.By focusing on customer-centric growth, you’ll attract new customers and promote loyalty, turning existing clients into advocates who amplify your brand. CXL’s expert-led growth marketing training ensures you’re always ahead of the curve with proven methods to scale your revenue sustainably.