High AOV vs. Low AOV

Is the email strategy any different?

Author

Philip Moldovanu
April 08, 2025

Hey there đź‘‹

It’s Philip from Inbox Insider.

Let’s talk about something that I never see ANY email marketers talking about.

The difference between email marketing for e-commerce brands with a high AOV, versus brands with a low AOV.

Brands selling high-ticket items have completely different needs and challenges compared to brands selling lower-ticket products.

The approach from an email marketing perspective is almost entirely different.

Instead of being primarily an LTV channel, email turns into more of a CRO channel when it comes to high AOV brands. And when I say high AOV, think $1000+

Let’s break this down.

Sales Cycle Length

High AOV Sales Cycle

Products with a higher price tag usually mean a longer sales cycle.

This is because customers need more time to consider their purchase and develop the the amount of trust required for them to fork over 4 figures in cash to you over the computer screen.

If you’re one of these brands with high ticket prices, your email set-up should look totally different than a brand selling $10 fidget spinners.

For example, your campaigns should focus primarily on education and trust-building rather than promotions.

Promotions should be much more rare if you’re high ticket, as it’s important we maintain a high level of respect and authority with the shopper.

You should also have MUCH longer, more informative email flows. The main goal with these flows is to nurture your leads through a much more robust persuasion journey. Not to facilitate a sale IMMEDIATELY.

Your welcome flow should be anywhere from 8-14 emails long spread across about 3 weeks.

In this flow you shouldn’t be desperately asking for the shoppers credit card or constantly introducing discounts.

You should instead be highlighting your superior product quality, showing the production process of your products, showcasing the brand story/history, or even showcasing real customer testimonials and experiences.

Basically the goal is to build as much trust and connection with the shopper as possible by focusing on the value your brand provides. Position yourself as high quality and as an authority.

Low AOV Sales Cycle

With low-cost items, your sales cycle is gonna be much shorter, so your email setup will look a little different.

People can often make decisions pretty quickly and depending on how low-ticket you sell, could purchase off of impulse or immediate need.

Your email strategy should reflect this. You should be much more aggressive in your communication, you have less time to get your reps in with this shopper before they satisfy their need. Either with you or someone else.

Welcome flow should be 6-8 emails long, and should fire much quicker.

Since the buying decision is made a LOT more quickly, it’s very important to introduce discount codes or time-sensitive offers at strategic points in the flow to inspire immediate action from the shopper.

With these kinds of brands you can really place a huge emphasis on urgency, frequency, and promotions.

Understanding Frequency

Every brand has a different AOV, as well as a different purchasing frequency.

High AOV - High Frequency

You have some brands that sell high ticket products and their customers come back often to buy again or to buy another SKU. They have high frequency.

Think designer clothing or something similar. They’ve got the ultimate combo, high AOV, and high frequency.

When you’re dealing with high-ticket products and a high frequency customer base, you have a super valuable situation for email marketing.

These brands have customers who not only spend a significant amount per transaction but also return repeatedly to purchase additional items or simply variations of the products they’ve already bought.

For high AOV and high-frequency brands, you’ll want to really lean on product drop announces, new collection teasers, seasonal releases. That type of thing. Get people excited.

With these brands, it’s very important that you build on the already established loyalty of your customers. Get as close to your customer as possible.

You can do this with exclusive offers to certain customers who come back often, early access to certain products or releases early, and overall VIP treatment.

Make people feel special, and honored to be a part of the club. They’ll be handing over their cards without even thinking about it.

It’s also good to upsell as much as you can within your email flows. Recommend related items using dynamic content blocks in a post-purchase flow for example.

High AOV - Low Frequency

On the flip side of that same coin you have brands that also sell high ticket products, but their customer only buys once every 2-3 years.

This would be something like a $1000 kayak or something. It’s high AOV, but low frequency.

Since customers only buy once every 2-3 years, you should really try to prioritize nurturing and educating your audience over time.

So that when they finally DO need a new kayak, they immediately think of you and nobody else. Because you’ve been in their inbox the whole time dropping straight value.

It’s all about staying top of mind with these types of brands.

Also make sure to have a really amount of value-based content in your campaigns when you sell high ticket.

People will start to build a connection with you as a brand, which is important when selling something above $1000 online.

Low AOV - High Frequency

Then you have brands that sell lower ticket products but with super high frequency, their customers come back every 25-30 days for example.

A perfect visualization of this would be supplements or some type of brand selling consumables.

Your main goal with email marketing in this scenario is to encourage repeat purchases.

Things like replenishment flows and winback flows should be the backbone of your strategy.

If you know your protein powder takes 30 days to run out, build a flow that reaches out to customers after 20 days encouraging them to re-fill before they run out.

Loyalty or rewards programs also go very well with these brands. Offering people a free 30 day supply of protein after their 5th purchase, for example.

Low AOV - Low Frequency

And lastly you have the brands that sell low ticket, and their average customer doesn’t come back super often.

A good example of these types of brands would be things like gadgets and novelties. Things that serve a simple purpose and don’t need replacing much.

Think of like a water bottle, or a phone case.

The awesome part is that all of these e-commerce models work, and they all benefit massively from email marketing.

It’s very important that your email marketing strategy is properly configured depending on which category you fall into.

For these brands, it’s all about that first purchase.

Chances are people won’t be coming back to you any time soon after they make their purchase, so your goal is to squeeze in as many as you can.

Your sign-up form is incredibly important for these brands.

You wan’t to capture as much site traffic as you can and put them through your welcome flow to encourage a purchase QUICKLY.

Make sure that none of your site traffic slips through the cracks.

Did that all make sense?

If not, reply to this email. It goes directly to me and I’ll respond.

That was a little crash course on AOV and how it relates to email marketing.

I will do a completely FREE audit on your Klaviyo and if I don’t find at least 3 things that make you an extra $1000 within 24 hours i’ll personally Venmo you $100.

Interested? Book here

Till next time!

Philip