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How to Increase Average Order Value on Shopify (2026 Guide)
We tested Shopify AOV tactics to find what increases basket value without hurting conversion.
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TL;DR
- The most effective ways to increase average order value (AOV) on Shopify are bundles, relevant upsells and cross-sells, quantity breaks, free-shipping or gift thresholds, subscriptions and loyalty programs.
- The right AOV tactic depends on your products, customer behavior, margins, and buying journey.
- At craftberry, we use order and customer data to identify where customers already have a reason to spend more, then test the offer at the relevant point in the buying journey.
- For the most reliable results, most Shopify stores get there faster by working with an experienced CRO agency that can isolate changes with structured A/B testing rather than guesswork.
- Our 2026 testing data shows that five of six concluded bundle and upsell tests increased AOV, supporting a data-led approach to offer design rather than blanket discounting and showing how targeted AOV growth can support revenue growth without relying on broader discounts.
Key takeaways
- AOV opportunities are strongest when the offer matches a real purchasing need. Bundles, cross-sells, and quantity offers should help customers complete a routine, buy the right quantity, or get more value from the product without weakening the customer experience.
- A higher AOV is not necessarily a better result. Evaluate AOV, conversion rate, and revenue per visitor together to determine whether an offer generates more value from existing traffic.
What is average order value?
Average order value is the average amount a customer spends in a single order.
The formula is:
| AOV | = | Total Revenue ÷ Number of Orders |
For example, if your Shopify store generates $20,000 from 400 orders, your AOV is $50.
Shopify Analytics reports AOV as a standard ecommerce metric for online businesses, so you can calculate AOV without an additional app. The more important question is how a change in AOV affects the rest of the funnel.
A bundle, upsell, or subscription can increase basket value while reducing conversion rate, or lower AOV while generating more revenue per visitor.
For AOV testing, the commercial outcome matters more than AOV in isolation.
What is a good AOV for a Shopify store?
There is no universal AOV target.
AOV varies significantly by product category, price point, business model, and customer mix, so marketing strategies for one ecommerce brand may not work for another.
Use industry benchmarks as context, but use your own sales data and purchase history as the primary benchmark. This gives you a deeper understanding of where higher-value purchases are already happening.
Compare AOV by:
- AOV by product category
- AOV by traffic source
- AOV by new vs. returning customers
- AOV by device
- AOV by market
- AOV by subscription vs. one-time purchase
- AOV by number of items per order
Tip
Don’t benchmark your AOV against another store. Use your own order data to find where customers are most likely to add another product or choose a higher-value option.
Where Shopify stores miss AOV opportunities
Many stores optimize the journey around getting the first product into the cart.
| The missed opportunity is often the next question: |
| What else does this customer need to complete the purchase? |
That opportunity usually appears when existing customers have already shown purchase intent. The goal is not to add an upsell at every step, but to identify where a complementary product, higher quantity, or bundle has a clear role in the purchase.
"Most stores are trying to buy more traffic when the cheapest revenue they'll ever get is the second item in a cart they already won."
Preslav Nikov, founder of craftberry
Which AOV tactic fits your store
Match a tactic to your situation before testing it, based on what we have actually seen move (or not move) AOV across client accounts.
| Tactic | Best for | craftberry result | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bundles with clear framing | Two or more products that logically belong together | Shelly: +11% conversion rate, +8% revenue per visitor from relabeling only, no price change | Combinations not backed by order data read as arbitrary |
| Cross-sells and tiered quantity offers | Single-hero-product stores, consumables | Mi Amante: +11.1% conversion rate, +13.8% revenue per visitor | An irrelevant cross-sell adds friction and can hurt conversion rate |
| Cart-drawer and post-purchase upsells | A genuinely complementary next purchase | 2026 test: drawer underperformed the cart page, -4.4% conversion rate, -6.6% revenue per visitor | Test the format first; fix cart friction before adding offers (Honest Baby Clothing, +30% conversion rate) |
| Free-shipping or gift threshold | Baskets that sit just under a natural threshold | Takomo: 27.7% of 8,795 buyers named shipping cost a surprise, the top hesitation reason | A threshold copied from a competitor can give away margin for nothing |
| Quantity breaks | Consumable or repeat-use products | 2026 testing log: 5 of 6 concluded bundle/quantity tests raised AOV, roughly 2% to 10% | Forcing quantity on a non-repeat product does not convert |
| Subscriptions | Predictable replenishment cycle | Innermost: +68% average order value, +40% returning-customer rate | A subscription-first page can lower AOV while lifting conversion rate, still a win overall |
| AI-guided product discovery | Complex catalogs, considered purchases | 2026 test: AOV up by double digits, smaller lift in revenue per visitor | Needs accurate product data and constrained recommendations in regulated categories |
7 ways to increase average order value on Shopify
1. Build product bundles around a customer need
A bundle can increase AOV by moving the customer from a single-product purchase to a more complete solution.
The strongest bundles combine products with a clear reason to be purchased together, make the perceived value of the larger purchase easier to understand, and can increase customer satisfaction when they simplify the buying decision.
Use order data to identify existing combinations, then build bundles around questions customers already ask:
- What do I need to get started?
- Which products work together?
- What do I need for the complete routine?
- Which products are commonly purchased together?
For example, a skincare bundle could combine a cleanser, serum, and moisturizer. A supplement brand could offer a monthly stack, while a home brand could group products designed for the same room.
Use your order data to validate these combinations before creating a new bundle.
Use offer framing before increasing the discount.
craftberry's experience:
On Shelly, we tested bundle framing without changing the underlying pricing. Adding “Most Popular” and “Best Value” labels to existing bundle tiers increased conversion rate by 11% and revenue per visitor by 8%, without changing the price or layout.
| Conversion rate | +11% |
| Revenue per visitor | +8% |
| Price or layout change | None |
The result shows why bundle optimization is not always a pricing exercise. Clear labels can reduce decision friction by helping customers identify the intended option faster.
From the craftberry engineering team: Shopify caps a single product at 250 variants, a real constraint once a "build your own bundle" or multi-option bundle grows past a handful of choices.
When a merchant needs more combinations than that ceiling allows, we architect the bundle logic through custom metafields and a private app rather than fighting the variant limit, which also keeps the product page loading fewer unnecessary variant records.
2. Add relevant upsells and cross-sells where the decision happens
A cross-sell should have a clear relationship to the product being purchased. 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, so recommendations should use customer and product data where available.
| Instead of showing unrelated products, answer a specific buying question: |
| What does the customer need to use, maintain, or get more value from this purchase? |
Examples include:
The placement matters too.
On Mi Amante, we replaced the standard product-page upsell with a tiered quantity offer built around a “buy more, save more” structure. The test increased conversion rate by 11.1% and revenue per visitor by 13.8%.
| Conversion rate | +11.1% |
| Revenue per visitor | +13.8% |
The result does not mean quantity breaks are right for every Shopify store. They work best when the product and purchase pattern naturally support buying multiple units.
3. Use cart-drawer and post-purchase upsells carefully
The cart is a high-intent AOV test location because the customer has already selected a product.
Use this moment for relevant complements or a visible threshold to encourage additional purchases, rather than generic recommendations.
For example:
Cart message
You're $15 away from free shipping.
On FitSpo, craftberry built product-page upsells around the specific product being viewed, alongside shipping information and reviews.
Do not assume a cart drawer will outperform a cart page.
In one 2026 controlled test, the cart drawer reduced conversion rate by 4.4% and revenue per visitor by 6.6% versus the existing cart page.
Fix cart friction before adding more offers.
On Honest Baby Clothing, redesigning an outdated cart experience as part of a broader optimization programme increased conversion rate by 30%.
“They don't feel like an agency, but rather part of a team that is just as invested in our company's success as we are.”
Michael Silva, VP E-Commerce & DTC Marketing, Honest Baby Clothing. Clutch review
Post-purchase upsells work differently.
The initial transaction is already complete, so the additional offer does not compete with the original purchase decision.
A post-purchase upsell can present a discounted offer immediately after checkout, when the customer has already committed to buying.
This makes post-purchase a useful place to test complementary products, replenishment offers, or a higher-value version of the product, while keeping customer engagement going.
Check the economics before adding another app
Compare expected incremental revenue with:
- app fees
- discount costs
- performance impact
- implementation
- maintenance.
For high-volume Shopify Plus stores, custom upsell logic may be worth evaluating when app fees or technical constraints make an off-the-shelf solution inefficient.
4. Set a free-shipping or gift threshold from your order data
Set the threshold close enough to existing basket values to encourage customers to increase their order size and make the reward attainable.
Tip
Use your order distribution rather than a competitor's threshold or an arbitrary round number.
If most orders fall between $45 and $70, a $100 threshold may be too distant to influence behavior.
This behavior is consistent beyond craftberry's own data: a May 2025 YouGov survey found that 67% of US online shoppers buy more items just to qualify for free shipping.
Show the remaining amount in the cart:
Cart message
You're $12 away from free shipping.
In our post-purchase survey for Takomo, based on 8,795 responses, 27.7% of buyers reported unexpected shipping costs as a source of hesitation.
The same principle applies to free gifts. Before launching the offer, model its impact on AOV, conversion rate, margin, and fulfillment costs.
5. Use quantity breaks when customers naturally need more than one
Quantity breaks work best across ecommerce stores when customers consume, replenish, share, or regularly repurchase the product. Tiered quantity discounts can make a larger purchase easier to justify.
A consumer goods CRO agency can use order data to identify these patterns, then test quantity-based offers without relying on blanket discounts.
Examples:
- Buy 2, save 5%
- Three-month supply
- Subscribe and save
Tip
Use order data to identify typical quantities before creating the offer. The goal is to incentivize customers toward a useful quantity, not to turn every AOV test into a pricing strategy.
6. Use subscriptions when the product has a predictable replenishment cycle
Subscriptions can increase AOV when customers naturally reorder products such as supplements, skincare, personal care, and pet products. Pairing subscriptions with loyalty rewards can turn buyers into loyal customers and strengthen customer loyalty.
The opportunity is strongest when the subscription makes repeat purchases easier while supporting customer retention and customer lifetime value.
For Innermost, we built Recharge-based subscription infrastructure and added contextual upsells across the buying journey. Over the multi-year partnership, the programme contributed to a 68% increase in AOV and a 40% returning-customer rate.
The subscription experience should make it easy to choose frequency, skip, pause, swap products, and manage the subscription.
Friction in subscription management can undermine both retention and revenue.
7. Use AI-guided product discovery to increase basket value
AI can support AOV when it helps shoppers find the right product and build a relevant basket through personalized recommendations.
For example, a shopper could ask:
Shopper query
“I have sensitive skin and need a simple evening routine.”
An AI shopping assistant can use that intent to narrow product options and suggest complementary items that fit the same routine.
In a controlled 2026 test, a guided product-selection assistant added to a product page increased AOV by double digits, with a smaller increase in revenue per visitor.
AI recommendations should rely on accurate product attributes, clear rules, and relevant customer context.
In regulated categories, keep recommendations factual and focused on product discovery rather than medical or therapeutic claims.
The AOV strategy we recommend for Shopify stores
Do not implement multiple AOV tactics at once. Use customer and order data to identify the strongest opportunity, then test one change at a time.
Step 1: Establish your baseline
Track:
- AOV
- conversion rate
- revenue per visitor
- items per order
- one-item order percentage
- new vs. returning customer AOV
- top product combinations
Step 2: Find the strongest opportunity
Use sales data to find products customers already buy together, common order quantities, and gaps between current baskets and your free-shipping threshold.
This gives valuable insights into where customers tend to spend more, an early signal of business health.
Step 3: Test at the highest-intent point
Prioritize the product page, cart, checkout where supported, post-purchase, subscription flow, or email marketing.
Do not add the same offer everywhere.
Step 4: Test the offer, not just the placement
Test product selection, bundle composition, quantity, framing, labels, thresholds, gifts, discounts, dynamic pricing strategies, copy, and visual hierarchy.
Personalization can also be tested as part of the offer itself. According to McKinsey, personalization most often drives a 10% to 15% revenue lift, although company-specific results can range from 5% to 25%. The key is to test whether personalized product selection or recommendations generate incremental revenue, rather than assuming personalization will improve AOV.
Shelly illustrates why offer clarity deserves its own hypothesis. The existing bundle structure already gave customers different options, so the test focused on making the preferred choice easier to identify rather than adding another incentive.
Step 5: Judge the result on revenue
At craftberry, we evaluate AOV changes alongside conversion rate and revenue per visitor. A higher average order value matters only when it helps maximize revenue overall.
In our 2026 testing log, five of six concluded bundle and upsell tests increased AOV by approximately 2% to just under 10%. One test slightly reduced AOV but increased conversion rate and revenue per visitor.
AOV is a key metric and growth lever, not the final KPI.
AOV vs. conversion rate: which should you optimize?
AOV and conversion rate can move in opposite directions. A higher basket is not necessarily a better outcome if fewer visitors complete the purchase.
That is why craftberry evaluates AOV tests using AOV, conversion rate, and revenue per visitor together.
The same principle applies to subscription tests.
In one craftberry test, conversion rate increased by more than 50% and revenue per visitor by more than 40%, while AOV fell by approximately 8%. The lower AOV did not make the test a failure because the change generated stronger revenue performance overall.
The objective is not the highest AOV. It is more revenue from the traffic you already have.
How to test AOV changes on Shopify
Tip
Treat an AOV change as part of your sales and marketing strategies, not just a CRO test.
An ecommerce conversion rate optimization agency can help an ecommerce brand structure these tests around commercial outcomes, rather than treating AOV as the only success metric.
Start with a hypothesis based on your order data, such as:
Customers frequently buy Product A and Product B together. Adding Product B as a contextual cross-sell should increase AOV without reducing conversion rate.
When traffic volume supports it, validate the hypothesis with a controlled A/B test. At craftberry, we generally run AOV tests for at least two full weeks to capture weekday and weekend behavior, while also checking statistical significance before drawing a conclusion.
For lower-volume stores, an A/B test can take too long to produce a reliable result. In these cases, a high-confidence implementation can be more practical.
As a craftberry working guideline, we generally look for around 1,000 orders per month before relying heavily on formal A/B testing for AOV changes. The appropriate threshold depends on traffic, conversion rate, expected effect size, and test complexity.
Do I need a Shopify conversion rate optimization agency to improve my AOV?
You do not need a CRO agency to test every AOV tactic. A free-shipping threshold, relevant cross-sell, or simple quantity break can often be tested by your Shopify team using existing tools and order data.
A Shopify CRO agency adds value when you need to identify the right opportunity, isolate the impact, and interpret the result correctly.
At craftberry, we have worked with ecommerce brands across different products and buying patterns. We recognize recurring customer behavior, apply proven ecommerce practices, and use that experience to prioritize what to test.
We then isolate changes through structured A/B tests rather than changing several elements at once. Each test measures AOV, conversion rate, and revenue per visitor, so you can see whether a higher basket actually creates more revenue.
For example, in the subscription test referenced above, a lower AOV actually came with stronger overall revenue. You could only trust that result because conversion rate and revenue per visitor were measured alongside it.
Tip
Use your internal team for straightforward AOV tests. Bring in a Shopify CRO agency when you have enough order volume for meaningful testing and need evidence-based decisions across the customer journey.
What not to do when increasing Shopify AOV
- Do not optimize AOV at the expense of conversion. A larger basket is not useful if fewer customers complete the purchase.
- Do not default to a discounted price. Test framing, bundles, relevance, and thresholds before reducing price.
- Do not install an app for every tactic. Scripts, conflicts, fees, and maintenance can outweigh incremental revenue, especially as the store's fixed costs grow.
- Do not copy another store's threshold. Use your own order distribution and margins.
- Do not show irrelevant recommendations. Cross-sells should have a clear connection to the purchase.
A practical Shopify AOV checklist
Before launching your next AOV test, check:
- Current AOV and revenue per visitor
- Conversion rate
- Items per order
- Most common product combinations
- One-item order percentage
- Current free-shipping threshold
- Existing bundle and upsell logic
- Existing Shopify apps affecting cart and product pages
- App fees and performance impact
- Margin impact of exclusive discounts
- Test hypothesis
- Primary and secondary success metrics
FAQ
How can I increase average order value on Shopify?
The most reliable starting point is your existing customer data. Identify products customers already buy together, then test relevant bundles, cross-sells, quantity offers, free-shipping or gift thresholds, and subscriptions at high-intent points such as the product page and cart.
The goal is to increase basket value without reducing conversion rate or revenue per visitor.
What is the fastest way to increase AOV on Shopify?
There is no universal fastest tactic. The strongest opportunity depends on your products, order patterns, margins, and current customer journey.
For many stores, start by analyzing existing customer behavior, product combinations, one-item orders, quantity patterns, and the gap between current baskets and the free-shipping threshold. Test the opportunity with the clearest evidence behind it rather than implementing multiple AOV tactics at once.
Does Shopify have average order value built in?
Yes. Shopify Analytics reports average order value as a standard ecommerce metric, so you can calculate average order value without an additional app.
Additional analytics become useful when you need to segment AOV by product, channel, customer type, market, device, or other dimensions.
What is a good AOV for a Shopify store?
There is no universal “good” AOV for Shopify. AOV varies with product category, price point, business model, and customer mix.
Use industry benchmarks as context, but compare your performance primarily with your own historical data and similar customer segments. The more useful question is where your customers already show a willingness to increase their basket.
Do bundles increase AOV?
Bundles can increase AOV when the products have a clear reason to be purchased together. Use customer purchase data to identify natural product combinations rather than grouping products arbitrarily.
At craftberry, a Shelly bundle test increased conversion rate by 11% and revenue per visitor by 8% by improving how existing bundle options were presented, without changing the price or layout.
Should I use discounts to increase AOV?
Offer discounts selectively. They can increase basket size but reduce margin, particularly when customers would have purchased without the incentive.
Before increasing the discount, test offer framing, bundle structure, quantity breaks, volume discounts, free gifts, and thresholds. The Shelly test also showed that clearer value communication can improve commercial performance without changing price.
Do upsells hurt conversion rate?
They can. Relevant upsells can increase order value, while intrusive or poorly timed offers can add decision friction and disrupt customer interaction.
Evaluate an upsell against AOV, conversion rate, and revenue per visitor, rather than measuring the additional basket value alone.
Do Shopify upsell apps slow down a store?
They can add performance and technical overhead. Additional apps may introduce scripts, increase page weight, duplicate functionality, or conflict with existing storefront code.
Before adding an AOV app, compare its expected incremental revenue with app fees, performance impact, implementation effort, and maintenance costs.
How long should I run an AOV A/B test?
At craftberry, we generally run AOV tests for at least two full weeks to capture weekday and weekend behavior, while also checking statistical significance before drawing a conclusion.
The required duration depends on traffic, order volume, conversion rate, and expected test impact. For lower-volume stores, a high-confidence implementation can be more practical than an underpowered A/B test.
Does increasing AOV always increase revenue?
No. A higher AOV can coincide with lower conversion rate and weaker revenue per visitor. Conversely, AOV can decrease while conversion rate and revenue per visitor increase.
For this reason, craftberry evaluates AOV tests using AOV, conversion rate, and revenue per visitor together. Revenue per visitor provides a stronger indication of whether the change creates additional value from existing traffic.
How craftberry approaches Shopify AOV optimization
Growing AOV is often cheaper than raising customer acquisition costs for every new customer, capturing more value from repeat customers.
With 800+ Shopify projects, craftberry uses customer and order data to identify the strongest opportunity, then tests the offer across product pages, bundles, carts, subscriptions, and other high-intent points to boost revenue from existing traffic.
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Preslav Nikov is the Founder and CEO of craftberry, Shopify Premier agency. A developer turned enterprise strategist, he has guided 800+ successful digital storefront launches and migrations since 2015, driving over $450M in client sales. Recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, his frameworks power global leaders like vivo, Shelly Group, Pepper, and Midi Health. Find Preslav on LinkedIn to stay connected.
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