Quoted on SEO and content by the Shopify blog, MarTech, and other industry-leading publications 
- 1. How to Calculate AOV
- 2. How to Increase AOV
Table of Contents
Getting a new customer costs money. Getting an existing one to spend more in the same order doesn’t have to.
The strategies below come from people who know how to increase average order value (AOV) because they’ve done it for their own ecommerce businesses and their clients.
Key Takeaways
- Customers who are already going to buy will often spend more if they have a good reason to: the right bundle, meeting a threshold, a product that fills in a missing piece of their purchase.
- The most reliable source of new AOV opportunities is existing customer behavior: what they ask for, what content they engage with, and what they buy together without being prompted.
- The moment right after checkout is when a customer’s buying intent is highest and their payment information is already entered. That’s a great time to show customers more products they might like.
How to Calculate Average Order Value
If you haven’t done it yet, run this AOV formula real quick before we get started:
Total revenue divided by total number of orders
Now we can talk about how to improve that number.
How to Improve Your Average Order Value
Here are some tips that come straight from folks interviewed on Customer Growth Sessions (the Intergrowth® podcast).
1. Bundle With a Purpose
A bundle needs to give people a reason to spend more. Not just more options. A reason.
Jonathan Spyralatos, a Meta ads specialist who manages between $20 and $30 million in monthly ad spend, uses a supermarket example to explain. A store takes a bunch of distinct vegetables and repackages them as a Greek salad kit. The price increases with convenience.
“The mistake some people make with bundles is that they’ll often try and throw 10 of the same items together,” he says, “But they need to reframe this whole thing in order for the bundle to make sense.”
The salad kit works because it answers a question: what do I need to make this meal?
A shoe brand can cross-sell the same way, offering a deal on the shoe, the insole that addresses the arch problem the shoe creates, and the socks designed to work with both. Each complementary product earns its place in the bundle by completing the picture.
That’s the test. If a product in the bundle doesn’t make the other products more useful, it probably doesn’t belong.
2. Watch for Choice Paralysis on Your Bundle Pages
Getting the bundle frame right is necessary, but it’s not enough. Nils Koppelmann, founder of CRO consultancy 3Tech, has seen well-conceived bundles lose customers on the page anyway.
“It seems people get overwhelmed, not only because there are so many products … but sometimes it’s bundles of products,” he says, describing drop-off patterns he sees in session recordings.
When product bundles look too similar, customers stall and end up leaving because the decision was too hard. Reducing the number of options can do more for conversion rate than reducing the price.
Make sure the right bundle is obvious for each shopper. Images and descriptions should do that work. If a customer has to read carefully to understand the difference between two options, the page needs revision.
3. Let Customer Feedback Tell You Which SKUs to Add
Sometimes the product that moves the needle on AOV isn’t one you planned to build.
Paula Wise launched Sampleit, a curated subscription box of healthy snacks for kids, and sold 150 boxes in her first week. A customer question pointed her toward a SKU she hadn’t considered.
“At one point I actually offered a single box and a sibling box,” she says. “The sibling box has double the snacks because [a customer asked], ‘is there a way to order so you can have double the snacks if I have more than one child?'”
She almost ignored it.
“Half the orders that I’m receiving are for sibling boxes,” she says. “Clearly people really want that experience.”
That SKU now drives 50% of her volume. The feedback was there before the product was.
Customer engagement, if you’re paying attention to it, is a signal about what people would add to their order if it existed.
4. Use Social Engagement as an Upsell Signal
Paula uses content the same way she uses customer feedback: as demand research.
When engagement spikes on a post, she treats it as a signal about what customers might want alongside what they were already going to buy.
“I see tons of people commenting and screenshotting and sharing,” she says. “I realized like, okay, maybe there’s a way I can upsell next time and say, you know, here’s an add-on.”
The takeaway: Post content. Watch what resonates. Get those products in front of the people who respond to them.
5. Sell the Gift, Not Just the Product
Marcy McKenna, founder of Live Shopping Academy, sells a travel case on HSN. She noticed that framing the product differently changed how many units customers bought.
“I really hone in on the gifting element and talk about all the different ways to gift it and what you can put inside of it when you gift it,” she says. “People are buying ten, twelve at a time.”
Walking customers through a story about who the product works for, what goes inside it, and which occasions it fits gets them thinking in multiple units. That storytelling format works across product descriptions, ad creative, and email marketing.
The product stays the same, but the frame changes what it means to buy one.
6. If Your AOV Is High Enough, Consider Calling Your Abandoned Carts
This one is not for every store. But for brands where basket sizes typically run above $100, a single recovered order can justify the cost of the effort.
Philippe Roireau, co-founder of Consio, a phone sales platform built for ecommerce, has seen it work in categories like furniture and high-end apparel. He’s also specific about timing.
“The more recent a lead is into your ecommerce funnel, the more relevant your phone call will be to them,” he explains, putting 48 hours as the “sweet spot” window for a call.
Even when people don’t buy, the calls pay off. “You’re really finding out who you’re competing against and how you need to tune your offer,” he says.
Cart abandonment recovery via phone works best as a targeted tool, not a blanket one. Make sure you know your average order value and your margins before building it into the process.
See also: 15 Ecommerce Marketing Tips from Some of Our Smartest Friends
More Tried-and-True Strategies for Increasing AOV
Here are some more AOV tips that require less setup than most and work across a wide range of store types.
If you’re not sure where to begin, start here.
7. Use SEO and Content to Put More Products in Front of Shoppers
A shopper who lands on a category page or buying guide from search is already telling you something: they’re evaluating. They haven’t committed to a product yet. Showing them several relevant options, instead of just one, can change what they spend.
A collection titled “dresses for wedding rehearsals” or a detailed buying guide can be as effective as a good salesperson if it ranks well. It shows the customer the best options you have for their needs before they narrow too far.
Learn about our ecommerce SEO and content marketing processes:
8. Use Thresholds and Tiers to Pull Customers Toward a Higher Basket
Two of the most reliable AOV levers don’t require new products or new channels: free shipping thresholds and tiered loyalty programs.
Free Shipping Thresholds
A free shipping threshold set 10 to 20% above your current average order gives customers a concrete reason to add one more item. Some brands call this a minimum order value for free shipping.
A lot of people would rather add a $10 item than pay $7.99 in shipping costs, even when they end up spending more overall. Shopify’s research confirms that 80% of online shoppers are willing to meet a threshold to avoid paying for shipping, and the team at Capital One Shopping found that free shipping thresholds increase AOV by 15 to 20% when set correctly.
Tiered Loyalty Programs
A loyalty program with distinct tiers works on the same principle. A customer close to a tier will often spend to reach it.
According to research from Rivo, VIP tier customers generate 73% higher average order value and make 3.6x more purchases than non-tier members.
Silver, gold, and platinum tiers with meaningful benefits at each level create an incentive that a flat points program doesn’t. They also improve customer retention and customer lifetime value over time, which can make them worth building even when the short-term AOV lift is modest.
9. Use Volume Discounts to Reward Bigger Orders of the Same Product
Buy two, save 10%. Buy three, save 15%.
Volume discounts work best when the first tier is close to what customers are already buying. According to the team at AtomCommerce, a well-structured volume discount typically increases AOV by 15 to 25%.
The threshold does a lot of that work. If you set it too far from the current purchasing behavior, it probably won’t move anything.
10. Use Personalized Recommendations to Surface the Right Add-On
Personalized recommendation engines use purchase history and browsing behavior to suggest the product a customer is most likely to add.
They’re one of the higher-leverage tools available for AOV, with personalized recommendations increasing AOV by 369% compared to generic ones.
11. Use Limited-Time Offers to Raise the Stakes on Bigger Carts
A flash sale, a 24-hour free shipping window, or a gift-with-purchase at a higher cart value gives customers a reason to act now.
Just keep in mind that the offer has to be real. A countdown timer that resets every week stops meaning anything after the first time a customer sees it.
12. Add a Post-Purchase Upsell to the Thank-You Page
A post-purchase upsell offers one additional product right after checkout, using the payment information already entered. No second transaction required.
According to Finaloop’s analysis of operator data, the offer converts best when it’s a single item priced low relative to the order. A $500 add-on next to a $100 purchase won’t convert.
Conclusion
AOV is one of the few ecommerce metrics you can move without acquiring a single new customer. The strategies above vary in complexity and setup time, so make sure to start with the ones that are closest to what your customers are already doing.
And if you’re interested in using SEO and content marketing to make sure your customers are seeing your products in search engines, give us a call.
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