What is AOV in marketing?

Average order value (AOV) is revenue divided by orders. An order is one checkout, even if the cart holds two pairs of shoes. Let's take a shoe workshop in Mexico as an example. They make leather shoes and sell them online to Mexico and the United States. The shoe workshop took $90,000 from 500 orders in June. 90,000 divided by 500 is a $180 average order value. Say whether you mean paid orders, all orders, or net of returns. Average order value is not lifetime value, which is what a customer spends across every order they ever place.

How do you calculate average order value?

Divide revenue by the number of orders in the same date range. An order is one checkout. Let's take a shoe workshop in Mexico as an example. They make leather shoes and sell them online to Mexico and the United States. The shoe workshop's $90,000 on 500 checkouts is a $180 average order value (AOV). Do not divide by customers unless you mean average revenue per customer, which is a different metric (some people ordered twice). Do not use first-order value and call it average order value for the whole base.

Glossary

AOV (Average order value)

AOV is how much money a typical checkout brings in. AOV stands for average order value. If 10 people buy and you take in $500, AOV is $50. It is the size of one basket, not how often people come back, and not what a customer is worth over their whole life.

Theodor Lindfors, Founding Marketer · September 1, 2026

Formula

AOV = revenue / number of orders

How to calculate AOV

Let's take a shoe workshop in Mexico as an example. They make leather shoes and sell them online to Mexico and the United States. The shoe workshop has dozens of styles, colors, and sizes. A pair usually costs between $160 and $220, so the typical basket is already a high ticket compared with a grocery item.

An order is one checkout, even if the cart holds two pairs. Revenue is the money from those checkouts, using the definition finance uses (the shoe workshop uses net of discounts, before returns are fully settled). In June the shoe workshop took $90,000 from 500 orders. 90,000 divided by 500 is $180. That is the shoe workshop's average order value (AOV). Some people bought one pair at $160. Some bought two pairs, or added a $20 care cream, and hit $240. The average landed at $180.

If the shoe workshop divided $90,000 by 400 unique customers (100 of the 500 June orders were second purchases that month), it would get $225. That is average revenue per customer, not average order value (AOV). Do not mix the two. Average order value divides by checkouts. Average revenue per customer divides by people.

Why AOV matters

Average order value (AOV) sets how hard you can bid. Let's take a shoe workshop in Mexico as an example. They make leather shoes and sell them online to Mexico and the United States. The shoe workshop's $180 average order value can support a higher CPA (cost per acquisition: what they pay in ads for one order) than a $40 case of drinks. Bundles, shipping thresholds, and upsells move average order value. Offering a second pair at a small discount, or a $20 care kit at checkout, is often cheaper than buying more traffic.

Average order value (AOV) is an input to LTV (lifetime value: what a customer spends across every order), not a substitute. People who buy one $220 pair from the shoe workshop once are not automatically a better customer than people who come back for a second pair next year. Average order value is the size of this basket. Lifetime value is the relationship.

How to read AOV

Split new versus returning, and paid versus organic (people who found the site without clicking an ad). Paid can look like it raises average order value (AOV) when it is really attracting one-time gift buyers who grab two pairs in December. A blended average order value is a headline. Let's take a shoe workshop in Mexico as an example. They make leather shoes and sell them online to Mexico and the United States. The shoe workshop's United States gift orders in December sit well above the Mexico everyday average order value.

Watch average order value (AOV) next to order count and conversion rate (the share of visitors who place an order). Celebrating average order value up while orders collapse usually means you scared off the smaller baskets. ROAS (return on ad spend: attributed sales divided by ad spend) will also move when the shoe workshop's $180 average order value moves, even if the shoe workshop did not get more customers.

Common AOV mistakes

These mistakes show up when a shoe workshop in Mexico that sells leather shoes online mixes checkouts with customers, or celebrates a bigger basket while fewer people buy.

Dividing revenue by customers and calling it average order value (AOV). An order is one checkout. The shoe workshop's 400 buyers and 500 June orders are different denominators. $90,000 divided by 500 orders is $180. $90,000 divided by 400 people is $225, which is average revenue per customer.
Celebrating average order value (AOV) up while order count collapsed. A $300 average on 50 orders is not healthier than the shoe workshop's $180 average on 500 June orders.

Lemonado

How Lemonado helps with average order value

Average order value (AOV) lives in revenue data, not in the ads manager. It is revenue divided by the number of orders, which tells you how large a typical basket is. Lemonado connects ads to Stripe and the rest of the stack, so average order value can sit next to spend instead of in a finance export.

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