How to Increase Average Order Value Without Chasing More Traffic

The customers already on your site are the cheapest ones to grow.

Average order value (AOV) is your total revenue divided by the number of orders. If 100 orders bring in $5,000, your AOV is $50. Get that to $58 and you’ve added $800 without one extra visitor.

I spent over six years running eCommerce and marketing at an industrial hose company. I launched the site within six months with no industry background, then managed every part of it: SEO, PPC, product updates, and orders. Working directly with customers and the sales team taught me more about what they needed than any report did.

Most AOV advice is written for B2C stores. B2B buyers order differently: larger quantities, spec sheets, and often a call to sales before they commit. This covers both.

Here are the five places to start. Grab a coffee: none of this is complicated, but all of it adds up.

Offer the Upgrade Before They Add to Cart

An upsell is the better version of what the customer is already looking at. Bigger size, higher grade, longer warranty, or the bundle instead of the single item.

The key word is relevant. If someone is looking at a $40 item, showing them a $400 one feels like a sales pitch. Showing them the $55 version with a clear reason to upgrade feels like help.

What works:

• Keep the jump small. An upgrade in the range of 20 to 40 percent above the original price is an easier yes than doubling it.
• Say why it’s better. “Heavier gauge, lasts twice as long” beats “premium option.”
• Put it on the product page. A good/better/best comparison or a simple “Upgrade to” block near the add to cart button.
• Show quantity breaks. “Buy 3, save 10%” is an upsell too, and it works well for consumables and B2B buyers since they may purchase in larger quantities.

WooCommerce and Shopify both have built-in upsell settings, so start there before paying for an app.

At a swimshop I worked for, I added personalization as an option right on the product page: a swimmer’s name on their team cap, or a personalized backpack. It’s the same product they were already buying, just made theirs. That’s what makes it an easy upgrade.

Use “Also Bought” to Finish the Job

A cross-sell is the thing that goes with what they’re buying. The hose needs fittings. The tent needs stakes. The coffee needs a filter.

The best cross-sells answer a question the customer hasn’t asked yet: “What else do I need to make this work?” Anticipate what your customer needs before they check out.

Where to find the right pairings:

• Your order history. Export past orders and look for products that show up together again and again. That’s your real “also bought” list, not a guess.
• Your customer service inbox. If people keep emailing to ask what else they need, that’s a cross-sell waiting to happen.
• Returns. A return because something didn’t fit or was missing a part often points to a pairing you should be showing.

Where to show them:

• On the product page, below the add to cart button
• In the cart, as a short “Don’t forget” row
• In the order confirmation email for the next purchase

Keep it to two to four suggestions. More than that and it turns into noise.

At a hose company, I added related products to each product page with the differences between them spelled out, so customers could see which one fit their job. Each one linked to a catalog or spec sheet for the full details. Industrial buyers want the specs before they commit, and an easy side-by-side showed them what else they needed.

Build an Abandoned Cart Sequence That Doesn’t Nag

Most carts get abandoned. That doesn’t mean the customer said no. They got distracted, wanted to compare prices, or the shipping cost surprised them.

One reminder email is better than nothing. A short sequence of three is better than one.

A few things I’d hold to:

• Don’t lead with a discount. Customers learn fast. If email one always has a code, they’ll abandon on purpose.
• Write it like a person. “Still thinking it over?” lands better than “YOUR CART IS EXPIRING.”
• Make the button go straight back to the cart, not the homepage.
• Stop the sequence the moment they buy.

At the hose company, a lot of abandoned carts weren’t abandoned at all. Customers used the cart as a shopping list, then called in the order or worked it out with the sales team. For B2B, that changes the email: include a phone number and a way to reach sales, not just a button back to the cart. And before you count every abandoned cart as a lost sale, check it against your phone orders.

Find the Leaks in Your Checkout Funnel

Every step between add to cart and order placed is a chance to lose someone. The goal is to find where people drop off, then figure out why.

Step 1: Find the drop-off. In GA4, the funnel exploration report shows how many people move from product view to add to cart to begin checkout to purchase. The biggest drop between two steps is where you start.

Step 2: Watch what happens. Numbers tell you where. Session recordings tell you why. Microsoft Clarity and Hotjar both show rage clicks, dead clicks, and where people give up.

Step 3: Fix the usual suspects.

• Surprise costs. Shipping or fees that only show up at the last step. Show them early or offer a free shipping threshold.
• Forced account creation. Let people check out as a guest.
• Too many form fields. If you don’t need it to ship the order, cut it out. If most orders ship to the billing address, make that the default.
• Coupon code box. A big empty promo field sends people off to search for codes. Make it a small link instead. Or hide it until you’re running a promotion. Customers used to call us asking for a code, so we took the box off and only added it back during sales.
• Payment options. No PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay can stop a mobile buyer cold, especially in the B2C space.
• B2B buyers. Add a request a quote or email this cart option. Plenty of B2B customers build the cart online, then finish the order with sales.
• Mobile problems. Test your own checkout on your phone. Buttons too small, fields that zoom in, pop-ups covering the page. And do this every quarter so that you catch issues before they cost you orders.
• Trust gaps. Missing return policy, no contact info, no security badge near payment, or no reviews.

A free shipping threshold does double duty: it removes a surprise cost and pushes AOV up. Set it a little above your current AOV so customers add one more thing to qualify. If you ship by freight and small parcel, set a separate threshold for each.

Name Products and Categories the Way Customers Search

This one gets overlooked. A lot of product catalogs are named the way the warehouse talks, not the way the customer does. Part numbers, internal codes, and industry shorthand make sense inside the building. Nobody outside it is searching for them.

If the customer can’t find it, they can’t add it to the cart. And they definitely can’t find the upgrade or the add-on.

Where to find the words customers actually use:

• Your site search. GA4 can track what people type into your search bar. Searches that return zero results are a to-do list. Many site search plugins show this too, right in your website dashboard, with no GA4 setup.
• Google Search Console. The queries report shows the terms bringing people to your product and category pages. Automating the GSC reporting with live-data into Google Looker is also a no brainer.
• Keyword tools. SEMrush or Ahrefs for search volume and the phrasing people use.
• Customer emails and calls. How customers describe a product when they ask about it is gold.
• Competitors. Look at how competitors name their products, categories, and filters. Borrow what matches how customers search, then make it yours.

What to update:

• Product titles. Lead with what it is in plain words, then the specifics: size, material, model number. Leading with a brand name doesn’t always matter to the customer and other times a regional product name is better. Think Soda vs Pop vs Coke.
• Category names. “Garden Hoses” over “Flexible Conduit Products”, unless your company is in a very technical space.
• Descriptions. Answer the questions people ask before they buy.
• Filters. Let people narrow by the attributes they care about: size, color, material, use.
• Synonyms. Make sure your site search knows that “hose clamp” and “hose clip” mean the same thing. Test your site’s search with a few synonyms. If it misses them, it’s time for a better search tool.

Better naming helps SEO, but it also helps AOV. When related products and upgrades use clear, matching language, customers see how things fit together.

At the swimshop, for customized team orders, we replaced the brand name in product titles with the team name. Team members weren’t searching for the manufacturer. They were searching for their team.

Where to Start

You don’t need to do all five at once. Pick one based on where the problem is:

1. Low add to cart rate? Start with product naming and upgrades on your top sellers.
2. Lots of carts, few orders? Fix the checkout leaks first, then set up the cart sequence.
3. Steady orders, small baskets? Add cross-sells and a free shipping threshold.

Know your current AOV before you change anything. Check it again 30 days after each change so you know what actually worked. Watch conversion rate and margin alongside it. A higher AOV that costs you orders or profit isn’t a win.

Need a second set of eyes on your store? [Let’s talk.] ☕