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If you're spending time and money bringing traffic to your Shopify store, you want to maximize the value of every order. That’s where AOV (Average Order Value) comes in.
A higher AOV means better returns on your marketing spend, increased customer lifetime value, and more revenue without more traffic.
This guide outlines ten practical tactics to increase AOV using native Shopify features, apps, and referral strategies.
AOV = Total Revenue / Number of Orders
Improving AOV lets you:
Track these metrics in parallel:
Upsell and cross-sell apps increase AOV by recommending higher-priced or complementary items at the right moment.
Examples:
Choose apps that let you customize upsell logic and visuals to match your brand.
Create pre-packaged product bundles that offer better value together than separately.
Examples:
This increases cart size and gives customers a convenient way to buy more.
Encourage customers to buy more units of the same product:
This strategy is ideal for consumables, apparel, or household goods.
Use shipping incentives to nudge customers toward a higher cart total.
Example:
This subtly encourages customers to add one or two extra items to qualify.
Post-purchase upsells allow you to offer additional products after checkout but before order confirmation. Since the payment is already completed, it feels like a low-friction add-on.
Upsell ideas:
Time-limited bundles or promotions encourage urgency.
Example:
Urgency boosts action and basket size.
Incentivize referrals with tiered rewards. If customers know they can earn a $10 voucher after every third referral, they may be more likely to spend again.
ReferralCandy helps automate this by issuing coupons or store credit after referrals, keeping the customer coming back and spending more.
Use smart recommendations and filters to help users find products that go well together. Avoid buried inventory or navigation friction.
Helpful techniques:
Offer better unit pricing as order volume increases:
This encourages bulk buying and increases average cart value.
Use customer data (past purchases, cart behavior, preferences) to tailor recommendations and upsell flows.
Personalization apps in Shopify can help you:
Increasing AOV is one of the highest leverage growth tactics for Shopify merchants.
From upselling and bundling to post-purchase offers and referral incentives, you have many tools to improve cart value without increasing traffic or ad spend.
ReferralCandy makes it easy to turn referrals into repeat revenue while increasing AOV with smart, incentive-driven nudges.
Ready to turn every shopper into a bigger buyer? Start your free trial with ReferralCandy
Raúl Galera is the Growth Lead at ReferralCandy, where they’ve helped 30,000+ eCommerce brands drive sales through referrals and word-of-mouth marketing. Over the past 8+ years, Raúl has worked hands-on with DTC merchants of all sizes (from scrappy Shopify startups to household names) helping them turn happy customers into revenue-driving advocates. Raúl’s been featured on dozens of top eCommerce podcasts, contributed to leading industry publications, and regularly speaks about customer acquisition, retention, and brand growth at industry events.
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