How to 2x Hayley's Online Sales. Episode 296

Let’s talk about something most store owners never do when they set a big sales goal:
they don’t do the math.

They say things like:

“I want to double my online sales this year.”

But they never check whether that goal is realistic, what it will actually take to get there, or which levers they’ll pull to make it happen.

That “missing math” is the reason a lot of smart store owners end the year feeling like a failure… when actually, they just set a goal that didn’t line up with reality.

In a recent coaching call, I walked through this with Hayley, who owns Harborside Bath and Body — a beautiful brick-and-mortar in northern Michigan plus a Shopify store.

Her big goal?
By the end of the year, she wants her online sales to match her in-store sales (without her store going down).

Huge goal. Totally doable.
But only if she uses three things:

1. A simple spreadsheet
   
2. Her key metrics
   
3. A willingness to focus on the easiest lever first
   
   

You can borrow the exact process we used.

Step 1: Make your goal pass the “math test”

Start here:

1. Pull your last 5 months of in-store sales.
   Let’s say August–December 2024. Write those numbers in a little spreadsheet. One row.
2. Pull your online sales for those same months.
   Put those on the second row.
3. For each month, calculate “the gap.”
   This is:

In-store sales – online sales = the extra online revenue you’d need to match your store.

Example (made-up numbers):

• August store: $18,000
  
• August online: $3,000
  
• Gap: $15,000
  
  

Now, don’t panic. We’re not done yet.

4. Grab your average order value (AOV).
   Use your year-to-date AOV so you’re not making this a full-time job. Say your AOV is $55, like Hayley’s.

For each month, take:

Gap ÷ AOV = extra orders you’d need

In the example:

• $15,000 ÷ $55 ≈ 273 extra orders in August
  

Do this for each of the 5 months.

5. Add it all up.
   Now you have:

• The orders you can reasonably expect (based on last year)
  
• The extra orders you’d need to hit your big goal
  
• The total number of orders you’re asking your business to handle
  

This is your reality check.

Look at the total.
Does it feel possible with your current resources, time, and life?

If yes — great.
If no — adjust the goal.

You’re not lowering your standards. You’re setting yourself up to win instead of quietly calling yourself a loser on January 1st.

Step 2: Use your three key metrics (this is how you actually get the sales)

Once you’ve done the math, you need to answer one question:

“How am I going to create those extra orders?”

Everything you sell online comes from a combination of three metrics:

1. Traffic – How many people visit your site
   
2. Conversion Rate – What % of visitors actually buy
   
3. Average Order Value (AOV) – How much the average customer spends when they do buy
   
   

The formula is:

Traffic × Conversion Rate × AOV = Sales

When things feel slow, most store owners jump straight to traffic:

• “I need more followers.”
  
• “I should start ads.”
  
• “I should post more on Instagram.”
  
  

Traffic matters, but it’s the heaviest lift. It takes time, money, and a decent emotional tolerance for things not working right away.

Instead, you want to ask:

“Which metric is the easiest for me to improve right now?”

And 9 times out of 10, that’s your average order value.

Step 3: Why AOV is your easiest lever (and how Hayley will use it)

Here’s why AOV is such a powerful place to start:

Let’s say you get 100 orders a month.

• At a $55 AOV, that’s $5,500
  
• At an $85 AOV, that’s $8,500
  
  

Same 100 orders.
Same workload.
Very different revenue and profit.

That’s why I told Hayley:

“Your quickest lift is to get your AOV from around $55 up toward that $85 free-shipping threshold.”

Here are three practical ways you can do the same.

1. Add a simple “front of the line” shipping upsell

Hayley charges a flat $9 for shipping in the U.S. (which is great for conversion).

She ships almost every day, and her in-store team handles fulfillment.

That makes this easy:

• Keep your regular flat-rate shipping (say $9)
  
• Add a second option at checkout:
  
• “Front of the Line Shipping – Guaranteed to ship next business day (+$5)”
  
  

A percentage of customers will happily pay extra for speed and certainty. Often around 20–25%.

You didn’t change your traffic.
You didn’t change your products.

You just increased your AOV and your margin in one click.

2. Use an in-cart upsell that almost everyone would want

Think of your in-cart upsell as the online version of the goodies at your cash desk.

Ask yourself:

“What’s a product that almost every customer would say yes to?”

In Hayley’s case, options were:

• Bug spray and anti-itch roll-ons (seasonal, but selling like crazy)
  
• Lip balm
  
• Everyday basics like lotion
  
  

You can:

• Offer one hero item (e.g. best-selling lip balm)
  
• Or create a little bundle just for the in-cart upsell (e.g. 3 lip balms)
  
  

You don’t even have to discount it. Just create a separate product in Shopify that’s “Lip Balm Trio” so the AOV jumps more when people say yes.

3. Bundle your way to higher-profit orders

This is especially important if you’re a reseller, like Hayley.

When you’re buying from other brands, your margin is your margin. You can’t do much about that on a single low-price item.

Example we talked about:

• A shampoo on her site sells for $12
  
  
• If it costs her $6–7 landed, by the time she pays staff and overhead, the profit on that single bottle is probably only a few dollars
  
  

Processing that order might cost her more than she makes.

But if she bundles:

• A hair care bundle
  
• A “Hayley’s Favorites” bundle
  
• A seasonal self-care kit
  
  

…suddenly her margin dollars per order go way up.

Remember, your bank account doesn’t care about your margin percentage. It cares about how many actual dollars are left after every order.

Your job is to:

• Create bundles your ideal customer would love
  
• Give them a story (e.g. “Everything I use on my skin every night”)
  
• Feature them in email, social, and on the homepage
  
• Make the price point meaningful (aim for $80–$120 when you can)
  
  

This is where you stop letting the customer decide everything and start curating what they buy from you.

Step 4: Turn your store counter into a list-building machine

Hayley’s in a tourist town. Summer and fall bring tons of visitors through her doors — many of them will never wander in again unless she has their email.

Right now, her team is supposed to ask people to join the list for a 15% off coupon via QR code. But they feel awkward, so… they’re not doing it consistently.

You might have the same issue.

Instead of nagging your staff, make the process easier for them and more fun for the customer:

Options:

• Instant reward:
  “Drop your email and get 10% off this purchase right now.”
  
• Little gift at the counter:
  Pre-make cute sample packs in small boxes or bags.
  “Pop your email here and you can choose one of these little gifts.”
  
• Gift-card style promo:
  Run a promotion:
  “We’re giving away 100 $10 online gift cards this month. Add your email and we’ll send one if you’re selected.”
  (Hint: you can “select” more than 100 if you want.)
  
  

This does two things:

1. Makes it easy for your team to ask — they’re giving something, not “bothering” people.
   
2. Feeds leads straight into your online store, which keeps paying you long after summer tourists go home.
   
   

Step 5: Treat traffic like the long game it is

Will Hayley need more traffic to fully hit her goal? Yes.
Will you? Almost certainly.

But here’s the key: don’t start with traffic.

Once your AOV is stronger and your list-building is working, then:

• Pick one hero product (like Hayley’s best-selling lotion).
  
• Create content that talks about the specific reasons people love it.
  
• Run simple, focused ads to that product and/or an email opt-in tied to it.
  
  

And remember:

When you increase traffic — especially cold traffic — your conversion rate will likely dip. That’s normal. You’re bringing in people who don’t know you yet.

Your welcome flow and ongoing email will do a lot of the heavy lifting over time.

So think of traffic like a flywheel you’re slowly building, not a magic button you slam in a panic at the end of the month.

Your action plan for this month

If you take nothing else from Hayley’s coaching call, take this:

1. Do the math on your goal.
   Figure out:

• The online/in-store gap
  
• The AOV
  
• The extra orders required
  
• Whether your goal passes the sanity test
  
  

2. Pick one AOV move and implement it.

• Front-of-the-line shipping
  
• A simple in-cart upsell
  
• One new bundle with a story behind it
  
  

3. Decide how you’ll get more emails from people who already walk through your door.

That’s it.

No giant rebrand.
No complicated funnel.
Just a smarter goal and a few levers that actually move the needle.

RELATED LINKS:

Get on the Reliable Revenue® Waitlist: https://www.thesocialsalesgirls.com/reliable-revenue

Check out Hayley’s Website: https://harborsidebathandbody.com/

Frequently Bought Together: https://apps.shopify.com/frequently-bought-together