Average order value.

Why average order value matters more than new traffic

When revenue is not growing, the first thought is to bring in more customers. But acquisition costs money, while raising the order value of those who already buy costs almost nothing.

Average order value is the amount one customer spends in one purchase. Raising it by a tenth is often easier than increasing the flow of enquiries by the same share, and the result shows faster.

Working on order value consists of a few clear steps: understand the current picture, decide what to offer on top, teach your people to do it and check what came of it.

Assess what is happening now

Without figures, any measure is guesswork. Start by analysing your own customer base.

• What is bought most often — identify the main items and see what is usually bought with them.
• What the order value is by customer group — almost always it turns out that some customers buy noticeably more than the rest.
• Where people come from — order value also differs by channel, and that affects where to invest budget.
• What is never bought — usually these are either unnecessary items or ones the customer simply does not know about.

The last point yields the most quick wins: it often turns out that half the range is invisible to the buyer.

What to offer on top of the main purchase

Next you need to decide exactly how to grow the order value. There are several ways, and they do not exclude one another.

Bundles — put together what is already bought together and give the set a slightly better price. The customer gets a ready-made solution, the company a bigger order.

Cross-selling — offering what complements the main purchase. Relevance is key here: the add-on must be logical, otherwise the offer reads as pushiness.

Upgrades — show a more expensive version of the same thing and explain the difference. Some people choose it themselves once they understand what they are paying for.

A loyalty programme — accumulating bonuses or terms that reward buying more and more often. It works if the benefit is clear at first glance.

Thresholds — terms that become more favourable at a higher order total. A classic technique that is easy to calculate and easy to explain.

It all comes down to people

Any of these mechanics works exactly as well as the person talking to the customer uses it.

An employee must know the range well enough to offer something suitable rather than the first thing to hand. They must understand why they are offering it: not to “top up the total” but to solve the customer’s problem more fully. And they must do it at the right moment — when the main decision has already been made, not instead of it.

Watch the line, too. A pushy offer irritates and lowers the chance of a repeat purchase, which means it eats up more than it brings in.

Tell people about the offers

Bundles and loyalty programmes do not work if only staff know about them. They need to be shown where the customer makes the decision: on the website next to the main item, in the newsletter, on social media, in advertising.

Word them in terms of benefit, not mechanics. “The set is cheaper by this much” is clearer than three paragraphs describing the terms of a promotion.

Check the result

Regularly track how the average order value changes, which offers are bought and which are ignored, and whether purchase frequency has dropped in the process.

The last point matters: order value can be raised in a way that makes people come less often, leaving total revenue unchanged or even lower. So look at both figures at once and adjust offers based on results, not on gut feeling.

Frequently asked questions

Where to start if the range is small?

With service add-ons: delivery, installation, extended warranty, maintenance. They do not require expanding the range and often sell better than products.

Won’t attempts to sell more put people off?

What puts people off is not an offer but an irrelevant offer. If the add-on is genuinely related to the purchase, it is perceived as help.

Aren’t volume discounts a loss of money?

A loss if you count per deal, and a gain if the order total grows faster than the margin falls. This needs calculating before launch, not after.

How quickly is the result visible?

Faster than in advertising: changes to the offer affect the very next sales. But do not judge by a single week — you need a cycle comparable to the usual purchase frequency.

What to do next

Calculate the average order value for last month and write down three items that logically go with your most popular product. That is enough to get started.

We set up advertising for offers like these — that is advertising setup and management. Next, you may find useful our pieces on how to retain customers and how to run an email newsletter.