How to Increase Average Order Value: 9 Proven Tactics

What is average order value?

Average order value is total revenue divided by the number of orders in the same period. If your store made $30,000 from 600 orders last month, your AOV was $50.

Shopify and WooCommerce both show AOV in their analytics. Look at it over time and by traffic source, not as a single number: shoppers from email and from paid social often spend very differently.

Why average order value matters

Revenue is visitors × conversion rate × AOV. Improving any of the three grows revenue, but AOV has an advantage: most costs per order, such as ads, payment processing and packing, don't grow as fast as the order does. A $70 order usually costs you little more to win and ship than a $50 one.

1. Set a free shipping threshold

Extra costs are the most common reason shoppers abandon checkout: 40% of US shoppers who left gave that reason (Baymard Institute). A free shipping threshold turns that cost into a reason to add one more item.

Set the threshold a little above your current AOV, close enough that one more item reaches it, and show the remaining amount in the cart: "You're $12 away from free shipping."

2. Offer bundles

Group products that are used together, such as a camera with a memory card and a case, and price the bundle a little below the parts. Bundles work best when they solve one job completely.

3. Cross-sell what completes the purchase

Suggest accessories and consumables on the product page and in the cart: the right charger, a care kit, refills. Keep it to one to three relevant items; a long row of random products is ignored.

4. Upsell to the better version

Show the next model up next to the one being viewed, with the difference stated plainly: "Twice the battery life for $20 more." The upgrade should be clearly better for this shopper, not just more expensive.

5. Use quantity and tiered discounts

"Buy 2, save 10%" or "Spend $100, get $15 off" works well for products people use up or buy for others. Make the tiers easy to reach from your current AOV.

6. Answer questions before they cost you the bigger order

Shoppers who aren't sure often buy the cheaper option, or one item instead of two, to reduce the risk. Clear answers about size, compatibility, materials and returns give them the confidence to choose the product that actually fits.

This is where an AI shopping assistant helps: it answers on the product page, at any hour, from your own catalog and policies.

7. Help shoppers find the right product

A shopper who finds what they wanted quickly has budget and patience left for a second item. Good search, filters and guided product finders shorten the path; see our guide to the product recommendation quiz.

8. Reward bigger orders with loyalty points

Points per dollar spent, or bonus points above a threshold, give shoppers a reason to consolidate purchases into one larger order with you.

9. Make returns feel safe

Shoppers add a second size or color when they know returning it is easy. State the return window and cost on the product page, not only in the footer.

Mistakes that hurt average order value

• A free shipping threshold so high that shoppers give up instead of adding items.
• Pop-ups and upsells that interrupt checkout.
• Recommendations that don't match the product being viewed.
• Discounts so deep that a bigger order earns you less margin.
• Judging a tactic by AOV alone: if conversion rate drops, revenue can fall even as AOV rises.

Test one change at a time and compare revenue per visitor, not just AOV. For the other side of the equation, see our guides on Shopify conversion rate optimization and how to reduce cart abandonment.

Sources

1. Baymard Institute — Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics. Reasons for abandonment during checkout, US adults; updated September 22, 2025