How to increase average order value in an online store

Average order value (AOV) is revenue divided by the number of orders in the same period. 120 orders that brought in $6,000 give an AOV of $50.

Revenue is visitors times conversion rate times AOV. Raising AOV from $50 to $56 grows revenue by 12% with the same traffic and the same conversion rate, and the cost of getting each order (ads, payment setup, packing) stays almost the same. That is why a few dollars more per order often adds more profit than the same percentage more visitors.

Look at the spread as well as the average. If most orders sit at $35 and a few are at $300, the average hides your typical buyer. Note the median order and the most common basket before you choose a tactic.

A free delivery threshold is the simplest lever. In a 2019 National Retail Federation survey, 51% of online shoppers said they add items to reach a free shipping threshold, while 47% said they drop the purchase when they miss it.

Set the threshold a little above your typical order, so most buyers are one small item away. If the common basket is $40, a threshold of $50 asks for one more product; a threshold of $100 asks for too much and mostly annoys people.

Show the distance in the cart: "Add $8 more for free delivery", with two or three cheap products that close the gap. Check the margin first: the extra item has to pay for the delivery you now cover.

A bundle sells products that are used together for one price: a camera with a memory card and a case, shampoo with conditioner, three pairs of socks instead of one. The buyer saves a decision, and you sell two or three items where you would have sold one.

Build bundles from your own orders: look at which products are often bought together and offer that pair with a small saving, for example 10%. A bundle of things nobody combines is just a discount.

Keep the single products on sale next to the bundle. The bundle is easier to judge as a good deal when the separate prices are visible.

Product recommendations are a classic way to sell more per order. In a 2017 Salesforce study of 150 million shopping sessions, only 7% of visits included a click on a recommendation, but those visits produced 26% of the revenue.

Recommend what completes the product, not what replaces it: batteries for a toy, a cover for a phone, a refill for a bottle. On the product page show items that go with it; in the cart show a few small add-ons under the free delivery gap.

Keep add-ons cheap compared with the main product. Shoppers accept an extra item that costs 10% to 30% of the main item more easily than a second big purchase. An upgrade to a larger size or a better version works the same way when the price difference is small.

Instead of one discount for everyone, reward a bigger basket: 10% off above $60, 15% off above $100. Or a quantity price: one for $12, three for $30. Buyers who were already close move up a step.

Put the first step just above your typical order, like the delivery threshold, and the second step where only your best buyers go. Too many steps confuse people; two are enough.

Run the numbers on every step before you publish it. The discount calculator shows what each percentage leaves you after costs, and a step that sells more but earns less per order is not a win.

A gift with purchase works on the same idea: a free sample, a small accessory or a tote bag when the order passes a set amount. Choose a gift that costs you little and that buyers value more than its price.

A prize game can do the same job and keeps the cost under control. In DealCraft a visitor spins a wheel or scratches a card and wins a prize decided on the server: a percent off, a fixed amount off or a free product from your catalog. Each prize can carry a minimum purchase, and the WooCommerce plugin checks at checkout that the rest of the order reaches it, so a free item is never free on its own.

A budget cap and a maximum number of winners fix the total cost before the game starts, and every code is single-use with an expiry date, so a prize cannot end up on a coupon site.

AOV can rise while the business earns less: a big discount on large baskets, a threshold that makes some buyers leave, a bundle that sells only to people who would have bought both anyway. Always look at AOV together with conversion rate and margin per order.

Change one thing at a time and compare two weeks before and after, away from sales and holidays. If your shop can show an offer to half of the visitors, compare that half with the rest; it is the cleanest test.

Track the share of orders above the threshold or tier. If it barely moves, the step is in the wrong place.

A threshold far above what people buy. It feels out of reach, so nobody moves toward it, and some leave over the delivery fee.

Pop-ups with add-ons at the payment step. The shopper has decided; interrupting them there costs more orders than it adds items.

Discounts on everything all the time. Buyers learn to wait for the sale, and the average order shrinks with your margin.

Judging by AOV alone. More per order with fewer orders, or more per order with less margin, can be a loss.