7 Discount Campaigns That Increase Average Order Value on Shopify (and How to Set Them Up)

Guest post by Hype, the team behind Shopify apps for discounts, bundles, cart drawers and post-purchase upsells. Lokalize and Hype are partners.

A discount can make customers spend more or spend less. It depends on how you set it up.

If you give "20% off everything", most people buy what they already wanted and pay less. If you say "spend $100 and save $15", many people add one more item to reach $100. Same discount budget, very different result.

We have set up sales campaigns for many Shopify stores, from skincare and clothing to outdoor gear and brands that sell in several countries. Along the way we have tried a fair number of discount apps. This guide shares what we learned about using discounts to grow order value, and which setups work best.

What is average order value (AOV)?

Average order value is how much a customer spends in one order, on average.

AOV = Total sales ÷ Number of orders

Say your store made $20,000 from 400 orders last month. Your AOV is $50.

Now imagine each customer adds just $10 more. With the same visitors and the same number of orders, you make $4,000 more a month. That is why AOV matters: it grows sales without paying for more traffic.

Why some discounts raise AOV, and others lower it

• Discounts that lower AOV: the same cut on every order, big or small. The cart stays the same size. The total gets smaller.
• Discounts that raise AOV: the reward only unlocks when the shopper does something extra, like spending a set amount or adding a second item.

The second kind works because people like reaching a goal. When a shopper is $12 away from a free gift, adding a small item feels like a win, not an extra cost.

So the size of the discount matters less than the rule behind it.

7 discount campaigns that help increase AOV

Each campaign below does one job. Pick the one that fits what you want shoppers to do. Running too many at once usually confuses people.

1. Spend more, save more (tiered rewards)

This is the simplest way to raise order value. You give shoppers a target to reach.

Example for a store where the average order is $60:

• Spend $75, save $5
• Spend $100, save $15
• Spend $150, get a free gift

How to pick the target: start from your current average order, not a round number. A first target about 20–30% above your average is a good place to start. If it is too low, almost every order qualifies and you give away money for nothing. If it is too high, shoppers ignore it.

Also look at your prices. If most products cost $28, a $75 target needs three items. That can feel like a lot. An $80 target, with a few $10 add-ons easy to find, feels much easier.

Show progress. Shoppers add more when they can see how close they are. A simple "You're $12 away from $15 off" message in the cart does a lot of the work. If your store needs a cart drawer with progress goals, Hype's cart drawer app is one option built for this.

Common mistake: the banner says "Spend $100, save $15", but products that should not count are still counted, or the saving does not show up. Make sure the rule and the message match.

2. Free gift with purchase

A free gift feels valuable to the shopper, even when it costs you little.

Example: Spend $75 and get a free travel pouch.

The gifts that work best are small, useful, and linked to what the customer is buying. A sample-size serum with skincare. A cleaning cloth with glasses. Socks with running shoes. They also let customers try a product they may buy at full price later.

Before you start, decide:

• How much the shopper must spend, and on which products
• What the gift is, and how many you have in stock
• Who can get it
• When the offer starts and ends
• Whether it works with other discounts

Keep an eye on gift stock. If it runs out, pause the offer or change the gift before you keep promoting it. A gift that never arrives hurts trust more than having no offer.

One tip from our own setups: add the gift to the cart automatically. When shoppers have to find and add the gift themselves, many forget. Native Shopify discounts don't do this well, which is one reason we started using Hype Discounts for gift campaigns.

3. Buy One, Get One (BOGO) and buy from one range, save on another

BOGO offers get people to buy more items in one order. For order value, the most useful version links two different product ranges.

Common ways to set it up:

• Buy one, get one free
• Buy two, get the third at a discount
• Buy one product, get a different product free
• Buy from one collection, save on a product from another

A skincare store could run: "Buy any two cleansers and get a travel-size moisturiser free." This sells more cleansers and gets the moisturiser into new hands.

Write the rules in plain words. Shoppers should know which products count, whether they must add the free item themselves, and what is left out. Most BOGO complaints come from unclear wording, not from the offer itself.

If your goal is to sell set combinations all the time, not just during a sale, a bundle often works better than a BOGO. Hype also has a separate bundles app for fixed sets and mix-and-match offers.

4. VIP and private offers

Your best customers already spend more. A private offer for them, like early access or a bigger reward, can push their orders higher without discounting for everyone.

Good groups for private offers:

• Repeat customers and loyalty members
• Email or SMS subscribers
• Wholesale buyers
• Staff
• Customers invited to an early sale

A popular format is a VIP early sale: chosen customers get in one day before everyone else, often with a spend-more reward on top.

The offer must reach only that group. Don't show a VIP discount on your public homepage. Share it by email, a private link or a gated page. Before launch, test with one customer account that should get the offer and one that should not.

5. Different targets for different countries

If you sell in more than one country, one target rarely fits all of them. Prices, shipping costs and spending habits change from market to market.

Example targets set for each market, not converted:

These numbers should come from each market's own average order and margins, not a currency converter. A converted number can land just above or below a normal cart and miss the point.

Test each market on its own: the currency shown, the products that count, the target, the saving and the final checkout total.

This is the area where we found the biggest gap in most discount apps. Setting different values per market, with exact product rules, is hard to do with Shopify's built-in discounts. Hype Discounts handled it cleanly for us. The outdoor brand RAIDE used it to run market-specific pricing and a VIP early sale across more than ten markets for Black Friday. Their case study is worth a read if you sell internationally.

6. Discount links that open the right page

A discount link applies the offer as soon as the shopper lands on your store. How much it helps order value depends on where it sends them.

Send shoppers to the products the offer covers, not your homepage. If the offer is "Spend $100 on jackets, save $15", the link should open the jackets collection with the saving ready.

Discount links work well in:

• Emails and SMS
• WhatsApp and support chats
• Social posts and influencer campaigns
• Landing pages and QR codes

Add tracking tags (UTMs) so you can see which channel brought the bigger orders. Then open the link in a private browser window before you share it. Check that it opens the right page, applies the right offer, and does not work for people who should not get it.

7. Show the sale price before checkout

A saving that only appears at checkout does not help a shopper decide to add more. A saving they can see while browsing does.

Compare two product pages:

• $50, with a small note: "20% off at checkout"
• $40, shown right on the product next to the crossed-out $50

The second makes it easier to add another item, because the shopper sees the real cost as they go.

Shopify doesn't show discounted prices on product pages by default. Hype Discounts has a feature called Live Pricing that does this for shoppers who qualify, while Shopify still applies the real discount at checkout. We've used it most for VIP sales and product launches.

Whatever tool you use, test it on your live theme first. Check product pages, collection pages, product options, quick-view pop-ups, search results, the cart and checkout. The price shown while browsing and the final total must always match.

How to tell if your campaign really raised AOV

A bigger average order during a sale does not always mean the campaign worked. Check these numbers together:

Compare with the same weeks last year, or a similar period with no sale. One sign we always look for: lots of orders landing just above the target. That means the target is changing how people shop.

Before you launch: a quick checklist

Write your offer down before you open any app. Answer these eight questions:

1. What should the customer do?
2. What do they get?
3. Which products count?
4. Which products don't count?
5. Which customers and countries can use it?
6. Can it be used with other discounts?
7. When does it start and end?
8. Where will customers see it?

Then test with real carts:

• A cart just below the target
• A cart exactly at the target
• A cart above the target
• A cart with a product that shouldn't count
• Different quantities and product options
• A customer who should get it, and one who shouldn't
• The checkout total matches the banner

Don't run several offers that overlap without testing them together. If a shopper can't explain what they'll get and why, the offer is too complicated.

Which discount app we recommend, and why

Shopify's built-in discounts are fine for simple codes. They get harder to manage when you need exact product rules, per-country targets, automatic gifts, or sale prices shown before checkout. That is when most stores add an app.

We have tried several of the well-known discount apps across client stores. Most are good at one or two things. Few handle everything an order-value campaign needs without workarounds or a second app.

The one we now set up first is Hype Discounts. It is not one of the biggest names in the App Store yet, which is why we think it's underrated. In our experience, it stands out for three reasons:

• It covers the whole list in one app. Spend targets, free gifts, BOGO, VIP offers, per-country offers, discount links and visible sale prices.
• The rule and the message stay in sync. What the banner promises is what shoppers get at checkout. That protects both order value and trust.
• The price is fair for what you get. It is free for stores with up to 100 paid orders a month, so you can test a campaign before paying. Paid plans start at $39 a month, and Hype also offers all four of its apps together for $49 a month.

It is not the only option, and every store is different. But for stores that want to grow order value with clear, well-targeted offers, it is the app we keep coming back to.

Frequently asked questions

Do discounts increase or decrease average order value?

Both are possible. A flat discount on everything usually lowers AOV, because people pay less for the same cart. A discount with a condition, like a spend target, a free gift or a bundle, usually raises it, because the reward needs a bigger cart.

Which discount campaign increases AOV the most?

Spend-more-save-more offers and free gifts with purchase usually have the biggest effect, because they give shoppers a clear amount to reach. BOGO offers that link two product ranges help when you want more items per order.

How do I set the right spend target?

Start with your current average order. Set the first target about 20–30% higher. Make sure one realistic add-on item can close the gap. After a week, check how many orders hit the target and adjust.

Should the spend target be the same in every country?

No. Set each country's target from its own prices, shipping costs and normal order size. A straight currency conversion often lands at an odd number that doesn't fit how people shop there.

Why show the sale price before checkout?

Shoppers decide what to add while browsing, not at checkout. Seeing the real price on product and collection pages makes it easier to add one more item, and avoids surprises at the end.

How do I know if my discount campaign worked?

Compare AOV, items per order, profit per order and conversion rate with a normal period. A higher AOV with lower profit or fewer orders may not be a real win.