How to increase AOV with email marketing: 9 tricks that make every order bigger

If you’re asking how to increase AOV with email marketing, you’re already thinking the right way. Every extra dollar in the basket comes from a customer you’ve already paid to get. No new ads, no new clicks. Just a bigger order.

Email is perfect for this because you know what’s in the cart, what they bought before and what they browsed. The trick is using that to suggest one more thing at the right moment, without throwing discounts at people who’d have paid full price anyway.

Tricks first. Then the maths, two worked examples and how to tell whether it worked.

The AOV maths in one line

That last line is why AOV is such a strong lever. Orders stay the same, so a 5% lift in AOV is a 5% lift in revenue. And because shipping, payment fees and packing are mostly per order, it often lifts profit by more. My break-even ROAS formula post shows how a bigger order also lowers the ROAS you need on ads.

How to increase AOV with email marketing: 9 tricks

1. Set a free-shipping threshold just above your AOV

Shipping cost is a top reason people bail. Baymard’s checkout research found that, once you remove the “just browsing” crowd, 40% of US shoppers abandoned because extra costs like shipping, tax and fees were too high. A threshold turns that pain into a reason to add an item.

In Shopify, edit a shipping option in Settings > Shipping and delivery, select Offer free shipping and enter the minimum order amount. Shopify’s shipping guide walks through it. Put the threshold slightly above your current AOV, so a typical order needs one small extra item.

2. Say the threshold in every email

A threshold nobody knows about does nothing. Put “Free shipping over $X” in the header of your campaigns, your welcome series and your post-purchase emails. It sets the target before people even reach the cart.

3. Show the exact gap in cart emails

In your Klaviyo abandoned cart flow, split by cart value. Below the threshold? “You’re $8 away from free shipping,” plus two or three low-priced add-ons that close the gap. Above it? Skip the nudge and just get them back to checkout.

Pick add-ons priced around the gap, not five times it. Someone $8 short won’t add a $60 item to save $6 on shipping.

4. Build bundles from what people already buy together

Don’t guess. Your orders already tell you which products share a cart. Klaviyo’s product analysis lesson describes a beauty brand that noticed customers buying brow gel with mascara, then bundled and promoted the pair to raise AOV. No Klaviyo add-on? Export Shopify orders and count which product pairs show up together most.

Then launch the bundle with a campaign to past buyers of either product, and feature it in cart and browse emails for the single item.

5. Use spend tiers, not flat % off

“15% off everything” works the same on a $20 order as a $200 one, so it rarely makes baskets bigger. “$10 off $75” or “$25 off $150” gives people a target. Run the numbers in example 2 below before you pick tiers.

6. Gift with purchase above a line

A free sample or small accessory above a spend line often costs you less than a discount and feels better to the customer. It works well on sale days, where a % off is already eating your margin.

7. Sell the bigger size in reorder emails

Someone reordering the same product for the third time is a perfect candidate for the 3-pack or the large size. Add that option to your replenishment emails. It’s a bigger order and fewer shipments for you.

8. Make the next order bigger, not just the first

Post-purchase cross-sells grow repeat-order AOV: the case after the camera, the moisturiser after the serum. Klaviyo even has a Next best product cross-sell flow that triggers on a predicted Best cross-sell date, though it needs Advanced KDP or Personalization, which aren’t in the standard plan. A normal Placed Order flow with a hand-picked block works fine to start. My post-purchase flow examples show the timing.

9. Show premium picks to your big spenders

Segment customers by their own past order value. People who already spend well above your AOV should see premium products, bigger bundles and new arrivals first. Bargain hunters get the value bundle. Same campaign, two versions, both nearer to what each group actually spends.

Margin check: AOV is not the goal, profit is

This is where AOV campaigns go wrong. Free shipping plus a bundle discount plus a welcome code on the same order can push AOV up and profit down. A few rules:

• Check your shipping cost against the threshold. If the average parcel costs you a lot relative to a threshold-level order, the free shipping may cost more than the extra item earns.
• Watch discount stacking. Shopify’s free shipping discount rules count products at their discounted price toward a minimum when discounts can combine. A code can quietly drop people back under the line, or let a cheap order qualify.
• Track contribution margin per order alongside AOV. Get your numbers from the profit margin calculator.

Worked examples

Where to put AOV tactics in your Klaviyo flows

How to tell if it’s working

• Compare AOV of email-attributed orders with your store average, before and after.
• Look at items per order, not just AOV. A price rise can lift AOV with no change in behaviour.
• Track margin per order and the share of orders just above the threshold. A spike right above the line means the threshold is doing its job.
• Use a holdout. Send a small random group the version without the gap message or tier, then compare. My guide to Klaviyo A/B test sample size shows how many people you need.

Bigger orders also raise what each subscriber is worth: see how much an email subscriber is worth and the customer lifetime value calculator. And if you want the whole picture, check what share of revenue should come from email.

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