Quick answer: Use referral incentives and affiliate tiers that reward higher order values—lifting your AOV by 10–30% without extra ad spend.
For eCommerce brands, finding new customers is getting expensive. Increasing average order value (AOV) is one of the most reliable ways to lift revenue without raising customer acquisition costs.
A 10% boost in AOV can raise profit margins by up to 30%, especially when combined with performance-based channels like referrals and affiliates.
Affiliate and referral marketing aren’t just for customer acquisition—they’re powerful tools to grow AOV, too.
Here’s why:
In our own referral program benchmarks study, top-quartile programs showed a 7–9% lift in AOV compared to non-referral orders.
Encourage affiliates to promote higher-value products by offering tiered commissions—for instance, 10% for sales under $100 and 15% for $100+. This motivates creators to drive bigger baskets rather than volume alone.
You can set this up easily in ReferralCandy’s affiliate tool, which lets you assign flexible commission rules by SKU or order value.
Affiliates can push bundles or complementary products that naturally lift cart totals. Give them pre-approved creative assets that spotlight popular combinations like “Starter Kit + Refills” or “Buy 2, Get 1 Free.”
This tactic mirrors what top DTC brands do when setting up affiliate programs in Shopify—offering bundles and cross-sell options right inside referral links.
Most affiliate programs pay per conversion. But you can reward quality too—by setting bonuses for affiliates whose average referred order value exceeds your store average.
Example: “Earn an extra $50 this month if your referred customers’ AOV stays above $120.”
Offer percentage-based discounts that scale with spend. For example:
ReferralCandy allows custom coupon tiers and post-purchase tracking so you can measure which structure drives the highest lift in AOV.
Double-sided incentives—where both the referrer and referred friend get rewards—are proven to increase conversion rates. To boost AOV, make those rewards conditional on higher spend:
According to our study, double-sided offers can raise referred order value by 12–18% over single-sided ones.
Instead of flat discounts, experiment with tiered referral incentives that push add-ons.
Example:
This transforms your referral system into a built-in upsell channel, driving both engagement and higher AOV.
Surface referral links in your order confirmation pages, SMS messages, and post-purchase emails to encourage sharing when excitement is highest.
Adding referral CTAs where customers are already spending increases share rate and total referred revenue.
For subscription-based stores, offer rewards when friends subscribe to higher-tier plans or longer commitment.
Example: “Get a $20 bonus when your friend signs up for a 6-month plan.”
Subscription brands in ReferralCandy’s dataset saw referral AOVs 1.5–2 percentage points higher than one-off purchases—showing that long-term value compounds when paired with smart incentives.
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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