Winning a new customer is expensive. Getting a customer who’s already checking out to spend a little more costs almost nothing. That’s why average order value (AOV) is one of the most valuable numbers in your store — and one of the easiest to move.
Below are eight ways to raise it in WooCommerce, followed by the part most guides skip: how to tell whether a change actually made you money.
What AOV Is (and How to Calculate It Properly)
Average order value is your sales divided by the number of orders over the same period. The details matter:
- Use the same sales figure everywhere. Net sales — after discounts, and without tax and shipping — gives the truest picture of what each order is worth to you.
- Count only real sales. Failed, cancelled and pending orders shouldn’t drag the average down or pad the order count.
- Compare like with like. A 7-day period that includes a weekend sale isn’t comparable with one that doesn’t.
8 Ways to Increase Average Order Value
- Set a free-shipping threshold just above your current AOV. Somewhere around 15–30% above today’s average nudges shoppers to add one more item without feeling out of reach.
- Bundle products that belong together. A camera with a case and memory card, or a three-pack of something people reorder, raises basket size and feels like better value.
- Show relevant cross-sells on product and cart pages. WooCommerce has built-in up-sells and cross-sells — keep them genuinely related and limited to two or three.
- Use tiered offers instead of flat discounts. “Spend £75, save £10” protects margin on small orders and rewards bigger ones, unlike 10% off everything.
- Offer quantity breaks. For consumables, “buy 3, save 15%” turns a single purchase into stock-up behaviour.
- Add a gift with purchase above a threshold. A low-cost, high-perceived-value gift often lifts AOV more than an equivalent discount.
- Offer premium options at checkout. Gift wrap, express delivery or an extended warranty add revenue at the moment the customer has already decided to buy.
- Make your best-value option the obvious one. When there are size or pack options, highlight the one with the best price per unit.
How to Measure Whether It’s Working
AOV on its own can lie. The most common trap is a change that raises AOV while quietly reducing the number of orders — leaving you with less revenue overall. Check these together:
- AOV and order count side by side. AOV up and orders flat or up is a win. AOV up and orders down needs a closer look at total net sales.
- Items per order. If AOV rose but items per order didn’t, price changes did the work, not bigger baskets.
- The order-size distribution. A free-shipping threshold should visibly move orders from just below the line to just above it.
- A fair comparison window. Compare with the previous period of the same length and with the same period last year, to rule out seasonality.
Change one thing at a time where you can. If you launch bundles, a new shipping threshold and a sale in the same week, you’ll never know which one worked.
Track AOV Automatically with SaleTides
SaleTides shows average order value on your dashboard with an automatic comparison to the previous period or the same period last year, alongside order count and net sales so you can see the full trade-off at a glance. The Orders report adds an item-count distribution and average items per order over time — exactly what you need to judge a threshold or bundle.
See the SaleTides sales dashboard →
Key Takeaways
- Calculate AOV from net sales of real (counted) orders, over comparable periods
- Free-shipping thresholds work best around 15–30% above your current AOV
- Tiered offers protect margin better than flat percentage discounts
- Always check AOV next to order count and total net sales
- Change one thing at a time so you know what worked
