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Average order value and conversion rate combine to explain net revenue per visit when their populations match. Compare channels, check the arithmetic, and test whether larger baskets compensate for fewer orders.
Average order value and conversion rate explain how much buyers spend and how often visits produce orders. With a shared order population, average order value multiplied by an order-based conversion rate equals net revenue per visit. Reading them together shows whether larger baskets compensate for fewer purchases.
Average order value, or AOV, measures dollars per completed order. Shopify's explanation of AOV uses revenue divided by orders in the same period. The denominator is orders, not unique customers: one customer can place several orders.
Conversion rate measures how often an eligible starting population produces the selected outcome. This article uses completed orders divided by website visits. For a website report, label visits as sessions when that is the exported measure. Google Analytics describes a session as a period of interaction with a website or app; a session is not the same as a unique person.
| Measure | Formula | Business question |
|---|---|---|
| Average order value | Net merchandise revenue / Completed orders | How much net revenue does an order bring? |
| Order-based conversion rate | Completed orders / Eligible visits | How many orders does traffic produce? |
| Net revenue per visit | Net merchandise revenue / Eligible visits | How much revenue does traffic generate? |
Use the separate average order value page for the basket measure on its own. The wider distinction between a starting population and an ending stage is covered in stage conversion.
Bring a visit export with session date and channel, plus an order export with unique order ID, order date, originating session ID, assigned channel, status, merchandise sales, discounts, and refunds. Collapse order-line exports to distinct orders before counting them; several product lines do not become several purchases.
Use net merchandise revenue after discounts and attributable refunds for the example below. Exclude taxes and shipping. This is a stated reporting convention, not a claim that every commerce report uses the same revenue field. For instance, Google Analytics defines item revenue as item revenue excluding tax and shipping; do not assume a neighboring total-revenue field has identical scope.
Only completed, noncanceled orders enter the count. Attribute each order to the same channel classification used for its originating visit. Keep an unresolved group for unmatched orders and investigate it before drawing conclusions about a named channel.
An important distinction: some reports call the share of sessions with a purchase conversion rate. That differs from orders divided by sessions when a purchasing session can contain several orders. The worked example has one completed order per purchasing session, so both definitions coincide. Otherwise, use this fuller identity:
Net revenue per visit = AOV × Purchasing sessions / All visits × Orders / Purchasing sessions
Record which version the source report uses. A correct formula with mismatched denominators still produces a misleading comparison.
A US home-goods retailer compares January 2026 channels after applying the same refund cutoff to the orders. These figures are illustrative. Each included order has one assigned channel and one originating session.
| Channel | Eligible visits | Completed orders | Net revenue (USD) | AOV (USD) | Order conversion | Net revenue per visit (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid search | 10,000 | 300 | 36,000 | 120.00 | 3.00% | 3.60 |
| Organic search | 8,000 | 320 | 32,000 | 100.00 | 4.00% | 4.00 |
| 2,000 | 120 | 10,800 | 90.00 | 6.00% | 5.40 | |
| Total | 20,000 | 740 | 78,800 | 106.49 | 3.70% | 3.94 |
Paid search brings the largest basket: 36,000 / 300 = $120.00 per order. Email has the smallest basket at 10,800 / 120 = $90.00, but its higher purchase rate yields $5.40 per visit against paid search's $3.60. This does not establish profitability because acquisition costs and merchandise margins are outside the table.
With channel in A, visits in B, orders in C, and net revenue in D, calculate the measures in E, F, and G:
=IF(C2=0,"",D2/C2)
=IF(B2=0,"",C2/B2)
=IF(B2=0,"",D2/B2)
Format F as a percentage. Show dollars and percentages to two decimal places, but retain unrounded values in calculations.
AOV × Order conversion rate = Revenue / Orders × Orders / Visits = Revenue / Visits
Orders cancel because the same count appears in both measures. For paid search, $120.00 × 3.00% = $3.60 per visit. For the retailer total, unrounded AOV of 78,800 / 740 multiplied by 740 / 20,000 equals 78,800 / 20,000 = $3.94.
Calculate total AOV from total revenue divided by total orders. Calculate total conversion from total orders divided by total visits. Averaging channel percentages or channel AOVs gives each source equal weight even though their order and visit counts differ.
Reconcile the 740 orders to distinct eligible order IDs and the $78,800 to those orders' net merchandise revenue. The 20,000 visits must match the filtered visit export. This checks both the arithmetic and the population behind it.
The retailer considers a basket-building offer on paid search traffic. Hold eligible visits constant and compare the observed result with the original channel:
| Paid search result | Original | Basket-building offer |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible visits | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Completed orders | 300 | 260 |
| Net revenue (USD) | 36,000 | 33,800 |
| AOV (USD) | 120.00 | 130.00 |
| Order conversion | 3.00% | 2.60% |
| Net revenue per visit (USD) | 3.60 | 3.38 |
AOV rises, but net revenue falls by $2,200, or 6.11%, because the larger basket does not cover the lost orders. At $130.00 per order, matching the original $36,000 requires at least 277 orders: 36,000 / 130 = 276.92, rounded up to a whole order. That implies conversion of 2.77% and revenue of $36,010.
This is a revenue threshold, not a profit threshold. Compare merchandise costs, discounts, and acquisition spending before approving the offer. The gross profit margin calculation supplies the margin view, while order fill rate helps investigate whether availability or fulfillment changed customer outcomes.
The ecommerce owner uses the measures to evaluate offers and shopping changes. Marketing owns the traffic and channel definitions; finance owns the net-sales reconciliation. Agree on those definitions together before comparing a campaign result with a company sales report.
Covirage is not affiliated with Google or Shopify.
Bring your visit and order exports, a consistent channel definition, and your net-sales rules to Covirage. Covirage maps the columns; its tools compute and check AOV, order conversion, and revenue per visit, while the external AI model explains the results with every figure traced to its rows. Create a free Covirage account and bring a sample of your own data.
See revenue driver analysis for the related work on the inputs behind sales changes.
Yes. Larger baskets can be outweighed by fewer completed orders. Compare net revenue per visit and total visits alongside average order value. This separates the value of each order from how frequently traffic produces an order.
For a net-sales comparison, deduct discounts and refunds attributable to the included orders. Keep the treatment of taxes and shipping consistent. A refund recognized later can require restating the order cohort, so record the comparison's refund cutoff date.
It works directly when conversion is completed orders divided by visits. If conversion counts visits with a purchase, allow for multiple orders in a purchasing visit. The measures also need matching channel attribution, order eligibility, dates, and revenue scope.