15 product bundling examples that convert (& 12 proven ideas)

Product bundling allows you to boost sales, grow your revenue, and improve your customer’s average order value (AOV).

eCommerce bundles are a win-win for both store owners and customers. 

Customers prefer it because they can buy a package and save money. Also, they get to try new products at lower risks.

Store owners prefer it because it increases their AOV, drives more sales, saves money on marketing, and also keeps low-selling products in circulation. 

Forrester’s research has found that upselling and cross-selling contribute to around 10–30% of eCommerce revenues. 

In this guide, we feature 15 actionable product bundling ideas that you can easily experiment with for your eCommerce store, and along with them, 12 proven best practices that will help you convert faster and better.

15 HANDPICKED PRODUCT BUNDLING IDEAS + EXAMPLES FROM BRANDS DOING IT RIGHT

1. Mix low selling items with fast-moving ones

Every eCommerce store has some products that don’t sell as well as the others. 

The problem can be with pricing, positioning, or packaging. You can definitely work on some pricing strategies, in the long run, to boost the sales for these.

But what about right now? You can try out a product bundling strategy. 

Pure bundling is a product bundling example that works best to push out slow-moving items. 

Pure bundles are combinations of the same product or different products that shoppers can’t buy individually. Examples of products you offer in bundles and never separately are one-time-purchase items and multipart sets, like a blow dryer set with different detachable heads.

The pros? Quite a few:

• You can easily sell your worst-selling or less popular products
• You may motivate customers to pay more than they would have in the case of individual products
• You attract value-conscious customers who may not have been interested in your brand earlier
  

SquattyPotty, the FDA-approved pooping accessories maker, nails this strategy

They apply it for Invisibrush, their trademarked toilet brush + brush holder set, bundled with a replacement brush.

Given how infrequently a single buyer would purchase a toilet brush + brush holder set, this qualifies as a one-time purchase item. Besides, not that many people would go hunting for a replacement toilet brush.

Another example of a pure bundle, this one as a multi-pack of the same product, is Skinny & Co’s Cleansing Balm 3-pack bundle.

Not all your product varieties will be loved the same by customers. Packaging them in a bundle can help market the low-selling varieties. 

2. Show a way out of the ‘multiple choice’ complication

Mixed bundles are probably the most popular type of eCommerce product bundles because they are flexible. As a result, sellers control their inventory, sell to a broader range of buyers, and ease buyers’ burden of choice.

Think how McDonald’s value meals reduce the requirement for customer’s choice and offer them a set of various items. 

It also adds an additional perceived value to the customer. Even if they didn’t plan to buy certain products, the idea of getting a good deal on multiple items is hard to resist. 

This also reflects in pricing choices. While buying individual items may not make sense for your customers, getting them along with the items they need makes it a more appealing offer. 

Skinny & Co’s travel kit of 100% organic cosmetic products is an example of a mixed product bundle that offers value to the customer

Notice how the brand sells the idea of a chemical-free lifestyle and a hamper ideal for travel rather than just a bundle of different products. 

For the customer, an individual soap or a deodorant won’t make much sense. But a pack to live the chemical-free lifestyle makes it aspirational and adds to the perceived value of the products. 

The problem of choice also arises in the case of gifting. Who hasn’t felt the pressure of coming up with the right gift for their close ones?

This is a great space for curated gift bundles to weave their magic. Some retailers use gift bundles as guides for their shoppers to match different occasions. 

Sellers who package mixed gift bundles by matching them to occasions make it easier for buyers to select the right gift bundles for the right celebrations.

You can keep your gift bundles flexible—like the gift crates offered by ManBox.

3. Make the most of buy-more-pay-less bundles

One way to avoid buyers undervaluing your bundled products is to sell an entire bundle with an all-inclusive price reward.

This increases the perceived value of the bundled product and boosts the average revenue per user. 

There are 3 ways you can use this strategy effectively:

• Offer 2 or more products at a single price. In this joint bundling tactic, the customer won’t be able to buy the products individually but will get both the products at a single price when bought in a bundle. 
• Offer a set of high-priced and low-priced products together at a single price. This sort of leader bundling tactic attracts the customer with a leader product and also lands a sale for a low-priced product.
• Offer multiple varieties of products together at a single price. While customers can buy some of the items separately, however, they’ll miss out on the bundled deal. 
  

Buy-more-pay-less bundles can improve your business in 2 ways:

• Increasing your AOV - You already know how AOV is an essential eCommerce metric to measure. This type of volume reward can positively impact your AOV. Customers buy more products in a single order, in effect increasing the revenue you generate from each order.
• Reducing marketing and distribution costs - As an indicator of your customer’s spending behavior, a higher AOV means your buyers spend a lot more on a single purchase in comparison to the cost of conversion. This leads to a reduction in marketing costs since you don’t need to spend on ads or promotion for individual products.  
  

GetFPV is a US-based drone and first-person-view (FPV) equipment retailer with a global distribution reach. GetFPV’s site features a dedicated drone bundles category using 38 of their fastest-selling units, featuring great discount deals.

As the image shows, this bundle helps the customer earn a discount of up to $339.

4. Reward your customers with a discount

Discount pricing or discount bundling works great as a product bundling idea when done right. 

This tactic can help create a favorable brand image in the minds of your customers. Discounts make them feel good about your brand as well as choose your brand over competitors. 

One of the best discount product bundling examples to take inspiration from is buy-one-get-one (BOGO) bundles. 

As per a survey by AMG Strategic Advisors, 93% of customers were found to prefer BOGO bundles. 

BOGO pure bundles may come as a multi-pack of defined volume, with the bonus item, or buyers can build their bundle quantity.

Mixed BOGO bundles are also effective for cross-selling products within the same category. In this case, buyers get a different additional product when they buy the bundle.

BOGO bundle types are prevalent, and nearly 7 out of 10 buyers agree it’s their favorite kind of product bundle. 

Another example of discount product bundling is a free shipping discount. 

High shipping costs are a prime cause of shopping cart abandonment. Several research studies have found that free shipping boosts sales.

The best part about a free shipping discount is that it helps cover packaging and delivery costs. By making customers eligible for free shipping only if they choose a bundle with a specific order value, you ensure that your costs are covered. 

This is the strategy that Jigsaw Health uses. It offers access to their free-shipping benefit for orders over $89 in the US. 

Customers may choose to buy any combination of products in the store. Once the order value has reached the specified amount, they get access to free shipping.

This bundle example will help in reducing costs. Ideally, the bundle value will cover the base shipping cost and cut out the compounding cost of shipping individual products.

5. Give them a "reason" to buy more

Hint: a smart way to make your products aspirational for the customer is by offering them options for an upgrade.

An upselling bundle is a product bundling tactic you can use to increase the overall AOV of your customers. Here, you can offer your customers an upgraded or more expensive version of the bundle they have selected. 

Suppose a customer is looking to buy a new smartphone. They plan to buy a similar model bundle to the one they already have. But as they go to buy, they see a recommendation for an upgraded model with all the new features and accessories. This is an example of an upselling bundle. 

Using an upsell product bundling strategy can be 68% more effective than trying to grab a new customer. 

Your upselling bundle can just be an upgrade to the current product with extra features or it can be a completely different and upgraded model of the product range. 

Opting for an upselling bundle can present you with several benefits:

• Helps customer discover your complementary products
• Offers more value to the customer
• Increases the overall profitability of each customer
  

For example, Koh, a brand of cleaning products, presents an irresistible upsell bundle offer at checkout. 

Building an eCommerce brand all set to stand out? For inspiration, read Marketing Lessons from 10 Great DTC Brands

6. Harness the power of personalization

Another effective product bundling example you can experiment with is cross-selling. This packages together everything that the customer may need along with the purchase of their chosen product. 

Cross-selling allows you to offer additional products for buyers—it works best for lower-priced items. 

Usually, the products offered in a cross-sell would be relevant to the buyer’s product of interest. In addition, you can even combine a cross-selling bundle with another product bundling strategy. Like you can add a discount to the total bundled product set to make it more attractive. 

For example, you purchase an $8.99 order of cheeseburgers in a fast-food restaurant, and the waiter asks if you’d like a $1.99 soda with it for $9.99 total. Like this example, cross-sell bundles are mixed bundles. The underlying idea is to recommend to buyers frequently purchased related products.

Cross-sell bundles contain personalized store experiences—buyers get what they want, sellers satisfy buyers.

As per a report by eConsultancy, 96% of marketers agree that segmentation is the key to boosting product bundling offers. Yet, eCommerce personalization and segmentation are among the top challenging CRO methods to implement.

Luckily, you can use your product performance data to personalize your offers. For example, monitoring how buyers shop in your store to discover products often bought together allows you to personalize cross-sell bundles for relevant product combinations.

Pro Tip: Switch out single-product recommendations for cross-sell bundles on your product and checkout pages.

Here’s an example from Jigsaw Health’s cross-sell bundle recommendation. You can use recommendations such as these on your product and checkout pages.
With the bundle option, buyers get a price reward when they choose any of the products from the recommendations provided.

Short on time? Here's a quick video with all the brilliant examples:

7. Make it easy for them to keep buying from you

A great product bundling idea to get repeat customers is through subscription bundling. It delivers value as well as offers loyal customers. 

It also helps in boosting your eCommerce revenue over time. Think about how Apple bundles multiple products such as music, TV, and magazine into their bundle.

This offers a lot of value to subscribers, keeps them engaged in more than one product, and helps fight subscription fatigue. 

It benefits both the buyer and seller on an ongoing basis. Subscription bundles build trust and boost customer loyalty. Store owners also benefit through lower operating and shipping costs as well as the promise of consistent revenue.

Subscription bundles come with doorstep delivery, discounts, and the flexibility of buyers choosing their box contents—most customers opt to subscribe for these reasons.

Perhaps one of the most successful examples of subscription bundling is NatureBox, the healthy snack subscription brand. 

Buyers can make a one-time order of NatureBox’s snack boxes in any quantity they want. They can cancel subscriptions anytime, and NatureBox will refund the unused balance from their last subscription payment.

For buyers who might be reluctant to purchase, this bundle offer won’t have to worry about refills and delivery and can subscribe once and relax for a long time before they have to renew their subscription. 

8. Get them into the DIY mode

Make-your-own bundles or do-it-yourself (DIY) bundles allow buyers to choose what products they want to be in their bundle package. (Here's some advice on how you can make your eCommerce products gain through better display.)

DIY bundling gives you benefits like:

• Sell to a broader range of buyers,
• Improving buyer satisfaction, and
• Giving your shoppers a great brand experience
  

As you might have guessed, build-your-own bundles are a great hit in the fashion retail business. However, DIY bundling can also be used effectively for a lot of other product categories:

• Tech products, where buyers can choose brands/models of accessories to go with their primary purchase (smartphones, computers, drones, etc.)
• Gift items, so buyers can customize their gift boxes, and so on.
  

A famous example is this bundle by casual fashion retailer, Culture Kings.

The bundle specifies product combinations and volumes buyers can build but leaves the choice of brand, style, and size to them.

ManBox is a Canadian retailer of men’s gift boxes, more like crates. The crates are handcrafted and filled with items based on themes like:

• Alcohol
• Foodie
• New daddy gifts
• Dog lover gifts
• Fashion and grooming items, and
• Healthy lifestyle gifts
  

ManBox’s primary list of products is these gift crates, which allow buyers to build their gift bundles by adding the perfect items into their preferred gift box.

9. Make seasonal shopping more attractive

Bundle offers get special attention around the holidays, festivities, and sales promotion days like during Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) sales.

Customers can save money on those seasonal bundles at any time of the year, too, not only on special dates. Specifically, you can offer year-round bundles as specially curated, discounted bundles with a deadline featuring a count-down.

As the name indicates, seasonal bundles are examples of product bundles built around special seasons and holiday themes. Think of winter holiday bundles: Easter bundles, 4th of July bundles, Chinese holiday bundles, BFCM bundles, and the like.

However, all curated bundles offered at specific times of the year—having good value and deadline-based—are seasonal bundles.

This is a great example of a seasonal bundle from Amazon retailer, Nap Inc. It sells a bundle of 20 Christmas gift boxes exclusively available during the Christmas season.

10. Help customers discover new products

Some products just don’t sell as fast as others. Inventory clearance bundling is a product bundling example that allows you to repackage these stagnant, slow-selling, or surplus inventory in a way that’ll get buyers’ attention.

Like most other bundling offers, inventory clearance bundles help buyers eliminate the customer’s pain to discover the extra parts that complement the main product. But since most inventory clearance bundles also lower the prices of buying individual products, customers will enjoy discounts. 

Think of products with replaceable parts, like electronics or OEM spare parts that don’t get as much attention as the main product.

For you to sell, the main benefits of this type of product bundling include:

• Reducing inventory waste
• Cutting the cost of storing products, and
• Clearing surplus and dead or slow-moving stock
  

However, you can also use inventory clearance bundling to launch new products.

Offer new products in a bundle with a relevant product. For example, if you just started stocking this new line of press-on nails, then you can bundle it with a bestselling manicure set. You may also bundle new products with surplus or stagnant inventory as a mixed BOGO bundle.

Here’s an example from GetFPV. They use inventory clearance bundling to offer a bundled selection of compatible parts into their drone DIY kit.

The kit enables buyers to follow instructions on a manual to build their drone by assembling the parts.

Kitting slow-moving replenishable SKUs with bestsellers is also a good practice in inventory clearance bundling—this refreshes your product offering or presentation.

You can give buyers a fresh experience by creatively bundling older stocks with the latest bestseller products. You’re automatically creating a new product from the old or surplus stock available. In addition, inventory clearance bundles allow customers to see your products in a new light.

Keen to make your eCommerce products stand out through relevant descriptions? Read How to Write Product Descriptions: 11 Proven Ideas (with Examples)

11. Make it cheaper to buy favorites

Once a shopper has bought the same product from a business multiple times, the latter can safely categorize this product as a “favorite’. 

As soon as you identify products that seem to be added to shoppers’ carts time after time, a new bundling opportunity presents itself.

The bundling of favorite items. 

Often they are just one product in multiple numbers - an in-between with a long subscription model on one hand and a one-time purchase on the other. 

Here’s an example from women’s health brand Hers. 

Whereas a one-time purchase makes a two-bottle pack come at $16, making it $32, buying 4 bottles every four months instantly brings it down to $14.25 per bottle. For people buying 6 bottles every six months, the price is further slashed to $13.50 per bottle. 

This is a great tactic if you want to establish loyalty in your customers. In the above example, notice that no matter how many bottles a shopper buys, they are essentially consuming a bottle per month. However, the more they buy at a time, the better the price advantage they can enjoy. 

The following are the reasons this form of bundling can work well:

• It takes away the worry of people spending too much time on regular purchases
• A decent mark-down begins to be show up as a consistent price advantage over a period of time

If you do decide to implement this strategy, make sure you bring the options upfront just as Hers has done. 

12. Deepen engagement through gamification

Anyone who is a netizen and prefers shopping online will know most eCommerce businesses bundle products to create a win-win situation. 

However, product bundling can be more than a chore where the shopper’s purpose gets limited to getting a better price or getting a greater quantity at the same price. 

This is where gamification comes into the picture. It is a technique you could use to turn the effort of bundling into an exploratory and joyful process just as Lush Cosmetics does. 

Their two-step bundling process offers a few visible benefits:

• Offers the shopper the capability to experiment with a range of products across categories, and later, even design elements
• Enables the shopper to turn the bundle into a gift - and the choice between available message graphics and writing one’s own customized message

‍ 13. Offer the freedom of choice through gift boxes

We know we stated in an earlier point that too much choice can be a deterrent to shoppers. However, it’s not entirely true. There are shoppers who will have complete or near clarity around what they want to buy. 

Let’s take the example of someone who’s buying a gift for a dear one they know would love products of a certain kind or a specific brand. To have such a person avail a gift box with complete freedom of customization is a good idea. In such an instance, as a business you’ll have to define two aspects -

• The fixed price at which this box will be available
• The maximum number of items that can be added to the box

Here’s an example of how this tactic can be implemented. Daily Harvest lets their customers take their pick in the “Gifts” section of their eCommerce site. 

They have at least two gift box options, which in our opinion, comes with straightforward benefits. 

• They can be availed by audiences with different gifting budgets in mind
• They feature the options of choosing between “pick any 9 items” and “pick any 6 pints”

This form of DIY bundling offers two advantages. 

• Shoppers get to explore across various categories of products to make their box. This instantly increases their engagement with the brand. 
• Shoppers can engage deeply with one kind of product and decide if they want to buy further in the future. 

14. Roll product bundles supported by authority 

If you’ve run out of product bundling ideas, try the staff favorites edition. It conveys authority—a perceived high-authority status of the person can make people compliant with the request. 

Customers may not be clear about what product to choose. They may lack knowledge or be torn between two products. Staff edition bundles convey a sense of authority convincing users to buy. They explain why a product works and the results that the staff experienced. 

This reduces friction facilitating easy decision-making through the way of cognitive ease—the fluency of the brain to process information.

Colorescience has product bundles formulated as Staff favorites. 

The explanation and detailing demonstrate legitimacy and credibility.  Staff edition bundles help in:

• Help in product discovery enabling customers to find products they’re unaware of 
• It increases the perceived value of the product since there is employee social proof 
• Buy products that address their problem without having to scour the site 

15. Drive urgency with limited edition bundles 

Limited edition bundles create a sense of exclusivity. They evoke scarcity leading to an increase in demand and value for an item. This justifies the higher pricing for the same. 

Of late, there’s been a generational shift towards the preference for limited edition products. 

According to a Ypulse study, limited edition products are a favorite among the Millennials and Gen Z demographics. 46% of 18-24 year olds and 45% of 25-39 year olds have bought limited edition products. 

Limited edition bundles have the following benefits:

• Introduce new products, enhance customer preferences, and drive incremental sales 
• Help increase profits during a lean patch 
• Generate increased traffic and online sales to your online store 
• Simplify inventory management and forecasting since they are produced in small batches. This doesn’t need stocking calculations making inventory forecasting easy. 

Here’s an example of a limited edition bundle from Pai Skincare. The limited-edition bundle induces FOMO. The strikethrough pricing increases the perceived benefit of the product. The visitor count looking at the product creates a sense of urgency to act. 

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12 PRODUCT BUNDLING BEST PRACTICES THAT MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS HIT BUY INSTANTLY

If your product bundle ideas don’t grow your AOV, gain more loyal buyers, improve your return rate, and turn “just browsing” to “can’t wait to buy,” then it hasn’t worked. Moreover, it probably won’t work until you strengthen your bundling strategy.

But at the same time, it doesn’t mean there’s no point to it. High-converting product bundling depends on how much you know about your buyers’ purchasing habits. Every product bundling failure or success can improve your understanding of how to give buyers a better brand experience.

There are several things to keep in mind when bundling your products. For example, deciding on what products or making intelligent pricing decisions for those bundles.

So let’s explore how to get your pricing, bundling, bundle naming, and other crucial parts of your bundling right.

1. Decide which bundles to go for

Knowing what products to bundle together will determine whether your bundles perform or not. That’s why you must rely on data to make that decision. 

Here’s what to consider when bundling your products.

a) Bundling based on product sales performance

If you’ve complementary products where one performs better than the other, you can bundle the better performing products with the less performing ones to boost sales. You can also pair new products that do not receive much attention with well-known products that people already know and buy.

McDonald’s does this well. 

b) Bundling based on the product’s sales trends

Some products tend to sell at certain times of the year or when certain events happen. 

Therefore, you can offer bundled offers containing those products with complementary items.

Another possibility is if you notice that a product is declining in sales and you want to boost it. 

Then, you’ll bundle that product with some of the highest selling products to clear the one with declining sales off your shelves.

c) Bundling based on sales channels

If certain products sell better on Amazon or other channels you sell from, but you want to drive growth for a new or underperforming product through that channel, bundling can help. You’d bundle the high-performing products in that channel with the product you want to give a lift in sales.

d) Bundling based on offers, discounts, or free shipping

You might use products with high-profit margins for your bundling offers that include free shipping. You’d encourage buyers to get free shipping for a group of products when they buy them together, thereby increasing your AOV by incentivizing buyers with free shipping.

You can use a similar tactic for discounts and other special offers. Remember, the goal is to incentivize your buyers to shop for your most profitable products.

Bathorium encourages customers to purchase its bundle by adding a free shipping incentive.

It also displays the free shipping information prominently below the CTA as well as the header. Adding a bonus product also makes the bundle more lucrative. 

2. Fix your goals, then your bundle price

Discounted bundles require special care to set the appropriate discount percentage. However, you may also decide to bundle products just for the non-price benefit it provides the buyer.

Bundles that are not discount or price-focused draw their value from solving a buyer’s problem. Plus, value-focused bundles do wonders for your inventory control and revenue.

Alpkit creates a bundle specifically for marathons.

A customer interested in a marathon would require all of the products together. However, individual items such as the jacket would cost €120. Purchasing the bundle helps them save €98. 

A great deal, no doubt!

But say you decide not to sell your product at a discount. Would it still convert?

That would depend on many factors:

• The product type,
• Individual product costs,
• Target buyers, and
• Product or sales seasonality
  

For instance, in a Harvard Business Review study, simply bundling two products of a wide value margin to up your sales volume on the cheaper one will undervalue the expensive product.

A straightforward solution is to establish the net revenue you make from selling each product at its original price. This is your gross margin.

Once you know your gross margin, you can decide how much of it you’re willing to take off. To be prudent, it’s best if you keep discounts between 5% to 20% of your gross margin, depending on the ratio of gross margin to the cost of the product.

Don’t leave anything to chance. Coming up with a strong eCommerce pricing strategy to drive better conversions.  

3. Think about your customers before naming your bundle

The name you give your bundle will draw attention to it. 

Shoppers are attracted by benefits. Naming the product bundle after a benefit will improve the chances of customers purchasing it. 

An example is Belif’s products that sell for $76, but in a bundle, the two products sell for $55. 

They named that bundle after the benefits it offers buyers Skincare Solution for Dullness and Dryness. 

In case you’re faced with a dilemma, you can refer to these questions for naming inspiration:

• Which audience will benefit from it?
• How long or short should it be?
• Should it be descriptive or imaginative?
• How should it reflect the brand?
  

Here’s an example from Purple.

Not only are the bundles centered around a theme but also have catchy names. It makes the product aspirational. A Snooze + Snuggle Bundle seems like a nice addition for the customer. 

The added incentive of saving 15% makes it even more appealing. 

4. Checkouts are ideal places to introduce product bundles

Adding bundled products at checkout is a great option to boost eCommerce sales. 

It helps customers see the opportunity to complete the purchase and get extra benefits from completing their purchase.

It’s also a great way to reinforce the customer’s purchase intent. This is because of the subtle urgency. This little psychological hack makes customers consider purchasing something that’s worth their money. Bringing in this decision while they’re checking out improves the chances of conversion. 

Check out this example from Best Buy. 

They offer product recommendations along with the one the customer selected to bundle together. They also highlight the price savings that customers can get when they choose the offer. It reduces the customer effort by already selecting the items and adding a CTA—making part of the decision for the customer, improving the chances of conversions.

For example, discount bundles at checkouts incentivize buyers to go ahead with the purchase and allow you to sell more products at once.

Again, you can introduce the bundle on a new page after the customers click on checkout. It can offer product recommendations that can make their total purchase even more valuable. 

A few things to remember when bundling products at checkout are:

• They offer benefit to the customer
• They are related to the items already added to the cart
• They are not too pricey as that’ll deter the customer

5. Create separate landing pages for bundles

You can create independent landing pages for your bundles to encourage buyers to shop the product bundles. This practice is excellent for promoting bundles that tie high-selling products with lower-performing items or clear old stock.

In-app promotions, email, social media, and even paid advertising are great ways to promote these products. The landing page would feature all the individual products you included in the bundle and then show the buyer the bundle pricing, so they can see the savings you get.

It’s a great place for buyers to check for offers and discounts. Clearly displaying your offers will help customers easily discover them. 

This is how ThirdLove creates a separate section for their bundles called ThirdLove Kits.

These bundles are personalized and curated with the customers in mind. Plus they offer savings options as well. So a win-win!

You can keep updating them overtime to keep the offers fresh and relevant. You may also tie them to seasonal holiday periods or occasions or create separate categories such as monthly bundles.

6. Go for freebies during overstocking

Freebies are something every shopper loves. It’s also a hard-to-resist incentive to ignore. 

While you can experiment with discounts, freebies are also something worth a try. 

However, it’s important to make sure that the free items are relevant to the product/s added to the cart. Just adding a free item that isn’t useful for the customer won’t add much value. Relevant product recommendations will be compelling for the customer to make the purchase. 

Another superb use of freebies can be to deal with product overstocking. Offering extra product stocks as freebies can help bring down excess stocks. You can balance your inventory and map it to customer demands. This offers you enough space to introduce new products or models. 

7. Highlight the savings for customers

The surest way to convince customers to go for a bundle is by highlighting the savings they are going to avail. 

Customers love getting discounts and saving money for their purchases. An incentive of getting more value out of their money is going to convince them into a purchase. 

There’s also a feeling of novelty attached to this since it makes customers feel they’re getting an exclusive benefit. 

The priority for most shoppers is to find a product that fits within their budget. Hence savings are a great incentive for them. 

So, make the savings bit visible for customers to weigh in. 

Native makes its order compelling for customers by adding a savings option. 

The subscribe feature also helps in boosting customer loyalty. This option comes auto-selected to nudge the customers in the right direction. 

8. Highlight BNPL options to compel customers to buy 

Buy-Now-Pay-Later options have risen in popularity as they branch out the financial burden into interest-free installments. 

BNPL programs benefit retailers and eCommerce businesses by: 

a) Encouraging new product trials

BNPL options encourage new product trials for customers without a credit card. Credit cards require a credit check and the ownership costs are high while BNPL options have none. This makes procuring BNPL cards easy which encourages customers to buy product bundles. 62% of customers think that BNPL options will replace credit cards. 

This will help customers try out new product bundles at your eCommerce store.

b) Boosting conversion rates 

eCommerce brands that offer BNPL services experience a 20-30% increase in conversion rates. This is because it compels customers to buy otherwise unaffordable products. It helps them make impulse purchases as 60% of customers have bought something unnecessary including product bundles. 

c) Improving Customer Lifetime Value 

BNPL options increase the ticket size by 30-50% as millennials and Gen Z are the major demographics to adopt BNPL. This encourages repeat purchases encouraging customers to buy bundles at interest-free payments. 

MyProtein offers two BNPL options on its product pages to encourage customers to try new product bundles. 

9. Display promo codes on category pages to reinforce bundle shopping  

Promo codes can help increase your product bundle conversion rates as high pricing is one of the reasons for cart abandonment. Including promo codes incentivizes customers to complete the purchase. 

Interestingly, promo codes increase oxytocin. In a study, participants who received a $10 coupon experienced a 38% increase in oxytocin levels compared to participants who didn’t receive the promo code. 

MyProtein includes promo codes on its product category pages to make its product bundles appealing. 

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3 mistakes to avoid while product bundling

We had shared in our earlier section the product bundling examples that work. 

However, there are a few bundling examples that don’t work as well. Some bundle attempts can backfire and have the opposite result: discourage buyers from going through with the sales process.

For instance, bundling can back customers into a corner and leave them with little choice, especially in pure bundles where individual items are not available separately.

Take the Nintendo example. Nintendo’s mixed bundle of gaming consoles and video game software were a huge hit among video game lovers. The idea was that the addition of video game software to the bundle decided to buy a gaming console so much easier and worth it; what a bargain!

At the time, Nintendo also offered these products as individual items customers could buy separately if they wanted. As a result, they made more sales by over 100,000 gaming consoles and a million video game units.

However, it didn’t work so well when Nintendo offered buyers this bundle as the only option. Instead, Nintendo’s revenue declined by 20%.

Another serious aspect of bundling that can undermine your efforts is bundle pricing. The wrong bundle pricing strategy will create an imbalance where a product sells more in a bundle than an individual unit. If the bundle is heavily discounted, then profit is lost while the bundle offer lasts.

When your bundle doesn’t convert the way you’d hoped, then watch out for these rules that you should never break when bundling products:

1. Don’t ignore target consumer data

First off, you don’t want to bundle products no one wants to buy. For inventory clearance bundling, consumer data will help you decide what lead products to bundle with a stagnant one.

What products do your customers buy most, and how likely will they purchase a complementary or alternative product if provided?

Perhaps a more reliable way to discover stagnating products in your inventory list.

Stock/sales ratio (SSR) = Stock $ ÷ Sales $

You calculate SSR for each stock-keeping unit (SKU) per period, usually monthly. A stock or sales ratio of one means that you’ve entirely sold off all stocked volume of the product in that month. Comparing the stock/sales ratio of all your products will also show the products customers buy more.

The effectiveness of any eCommerce marketing strategy depends on many variables, and one of the most important is buyer preferences. Let the buyers dictate product mixes, and if you haven’t got the data to work that out, leave the product options open in a DIY bundle.

Trial and error is not the only way to understand target consumer habits. Through segmented testing, you can find out what works for your target buyers across several demographics.

2. Don’t be restrictive with your bundling tactics

Less is more, simple is easy, and all that—yes. But mix things up a little, incorporate other strategies to get buyers’ attention.

The most important thing to remember when creating high-converting bundles is to make combinations buyers will find valuable. How you achieve that should only add to the fun and not reduce its efficiency.

However, keep the overall buying process simple, easy, and straight to the point. Cross-sell bundle recommendations are such a great idea. But for it to optimize the conversion of your checkout page, allow a one-step click-to-buy process.

Buyers aren’t interested in going through a complicated checkout process. Instead, 9 out of 10 buyers will abandon their cart if checkout is complicated.

3. Don’t make your bundles hard to find

There are a lot of easy ways to let shoppers find your product bundling offers. We’ve highlighted some of them in other parts of this guide, but here’s a more comprehensive list:

a) On-site: Product bundling examples on Amazon and most retail stores are predominantly found on-site on different store pages

On these eCommerce sites, product bundles are,

• Used as gift guides,
• Offered at checkout (as personalized product recommendations: relevant to cart, and not too expensive),
• Displayed as welcome message, exit-intent popup, or used as a banner,
• Category page (for category mixes), or product page (as product recommendations, relevant to the product of interest),
• Found on dedicated bundle pages.
  

b) Social: nearly 30% of marketers distribute promotional content on Facebook. That’s 10% more than the number of retailers creating for their websites. But, you could promote your bundle on any social media platform you want or are more comfortable with.

Perhaps the best way to decide is to choose the right community where you can find many of your target buyers.

c) Email marketing: You probably already have to send buyers follow-up emails to recover cart abandon. Why not offer a sweeter deal while you’re at it? Moreover, email message personalization is easier to achieve than website personalization.

Whichever channel you choose to promote your product bundles, getting buyers to notice it is the priority. Consider these essential criteria and decide how to optimize them for better conversion:

• Product bundle packaging.
• Optimize bundle campaign design to emphasize bundle savings.
• Product bundle naming.

Product Bundling: an integral part of your sales strategy

Bundling is a smart way to boost your in-store and online sales. With time, it has only been growing in popularity. 

With steep competition and rising customer acquisition costs, bundling is a strategy that’s effective in improving customer lifetime value.

Product bundling is an easy way to make your offer more attractive to customers, increase their order value, and balance your inventory. A win-win for all!

Product Bundling 101

1. What are two types of bundling? 

Fundamentally, product bundling is of two types: 

a) Pure Bundling 

Pure bundling refers to product bundles containing the same or complementary products that aren’t sold individually. For example, Ugmonk has a Analog Starter Kit consisting of a wood card holder, metal divider, and three card packs. 

All of these products aren’t sold separately which makes it a pure bundling. Pure bundling is further divided into three subcategories: 

• Joint Bundling: When two products  are offered together at one bundled price.
• Leader Bundling: Leader bundling refers to a leader product or primary product sold with a non-leader product or accessory. The leader product is offered at a discount. 
• Mixed-leader Bundling: In mixed-leader bundling, a leader product is offered with one or more non-leader products. The leader product is also available for purchase individually. 

b) Mixed Bundling 

 In mixed bundling, customers have the option to choose the items in a bundle or buy them individually. The customers can buy the products individually but mixed bundling offers the bundling at a lesser price compared to the price of the products  individually. 

Here’s an example of mixed bundling from Chewy. 

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2. What are the different types of bundles? 

Apart from pure bundling and mixed bundling, there are five types of product bundling: 

a) Cross-sell bundling 

Cross-sell bundling consists of a primary product and a complementary product that has no use without the primary product. For example, a nail polish and nail polish remover. 

b) New product bundling 

New product bundling includes a new selling product along with a best selling product. The best selling product is used as a nudge to reinforce the benefits of the new product. When paired with the best selling product, the chances of customers buying the new product bundle increase due to increase in perceived benefit.

c) Gift set bundling 

Gift set bundling includes products that make for a great gifting experience. It is great for festive occasions such as Thanksgiving, Halloween, Black Friday, and Halloween. Gift set bundling works great for last-minute shoppers as it helps find products at the last minute. 

d) BOGO bundling 

BOGO or Buy One, Get One is a type of bundling containing a high-priced product paired with a similar item offered for free or at a major discount. This informs the customer that they can get a free product at a lesser price. 

Here's a BOGO offer from GNC. 

d) Occasional bundling 

Occasional bundling are bundles created based on themes for particular occasions. This could include celebration bundles, gifting bundles etc. This can help increase short term sales for the particular period.

Here’s a Valentine’s Day bundle from Colorescience.

3. Is bundling upselling? 

Bundling is a fusion of upselling and cross-selling. While bundles consist of higher priced and lower priced products, upselling contains only higher priced products. Upselling is predominantly a product recommendation strategy. Bundling increases the perceived value of a product at a lesser price. 

Colorescience has a product bundle consisting of two higher-priced products and one lower-priced product. 

Upselling includes products that are priced higher than a particular product a customer is viewing. For example, here are the upselling product recommendations for a product worth $44 on GNC. 

4. Is bundling effective?

Bundling can help increase your sales over a period of time. You can sell your slow-moving products with fast-selling products and earn products. Bundling helps increase your AOV since you are nudging customers to buy more than one product at a time.