Average Order Value (AOV)

What is Average Order Value (AOV)?

Average order value (AOV) is the mean transaction amount across a set of purchases — calculated as total revenue divided by total number of orders — and the figure that determines the dollar value of percentage-based affiliate commissions independent of the commission rate itself.

Average Order Value (AOV) In Practice

AOV is the hidden variable in every percentage-commission calculation. A 5% commission rate on a $30 average order produces $1.50 per conversion. The same 5% on a $200 average order produces $10 per conversion — a 6.7x difference from the same rate. Understanding a program's typical AOV before promoting it is essential for accurate income projection. Affiliate referrals increase average order value by 21% compared to non-affiliate channels, because affiliates who produce review and comparison content attract buyers who are more research-driven and typically purchasing more deliberately. AOV is particularly important when comparing flat-bounty programs (which pay the same regardless of order size) to percentage-commission programs (which scale directly with what the customer spends). A flat $65 bounty from a hosting program outperforms a 5% commission on a $200 cart, but loses to 5% on a $1,400 cart. Know the typical order size before choosing between commission models.

Example of Average Order Value (AOV)