Increasing average order value (AOV) means getting more from the customers you’re already attracting, rather than relying solely on bringing more traffic to your store. And during Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM), small changes to your offers, shopping experience, and customer journey can quickly add up.

The best part is that these strategies don’t have to stop when BFCM ends. The tactics you use to encourage bigger baskets over the weekend - from bundles and loyalty rewards to free shipping thresholds and personalized recommendations - can become part of your wider strategy for increasing AOV year-round.

In this article, we’ll cover the most effective ways to increase AOV during the Black Friday weekend, while building strategies that continue to drive higher-value orders long after the sales weekend is over.

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How to Increase AOV Across Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday

1 - Get a Mobile App For Your Shopify Store

During Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday, the customer journey is more competitive than ever. Shoppers are browsing dozens of stores, comparing prices, jumping between browser tabs, and looking for the best deal before making a purchase. Having a dedicated Shopify mobile app gives you a way to take customers out of that competitive browsing environment and bring them into a shopping experience that’s entirely focused on your brand.

A recent study found that brands achieve anywhere from a 10% - 120% increase in AOV, alongside 40% - 1000% higher conversion rates in-app compared to web. While results vary between brands, the potential is huge - particularly during a high-intent shopping period like Black Friday.

So, what makes a mobile app especially valuable for increasing AOV?

Faster, smoother shopping experience

BFCM shoppers are often making quick, impulse-driven purchase decisions. If your store is slow, difficult to navigate, or requires too many steps to checkout, there’s a good chance they’ll move on to another retailer.

A Shopify mobile app creates a faster, smoother experience from browsing through to checkout, meaning customers are naturally inclined to spend more. Saved customer details, preferred payment methods, and a streamlined purchasing journey all help remove any possible friction when customers are ready to buy.

And to reiterate this point, because shoppers aren’t constantly flicking between browser tabs and competing stores, you have a much better opportunity to keep their attention on your products and offers.

Create app-exclusive BFCM offers and bundles

Your mobile app can also become the destination for exclusive Black Friday deals.

You could create app-only bundles, tiered discounts, or exclusive Black Friday deals that aren’t available on your website. You could even offer an additional incentive to shoppers who download the app during BFCM, such as an extra discount, free delivery, or a free gift.

There’s also giving customers an incentive to spend more to unlock a better deal. For example, instead of offering 25% off everything, you could create app-exclusive tiered discounts such as:

Spend $75 → 25% off
Spend $100 → 30% off
Spend $150 → 40% off
BFCM bundle → $150+ worth of products for $100

Use push notifications to bring shoppers back

By having a mobile app for your Shopify store, you get access to a powerful marketing tool - push notifications. They are highly engaging, cutting through the Black Friday noise by appearing directly on a customer’s device like a text message.

You can use them throughout the BFCM weekend to promote AOV-boosting offers like: limited time app-exclusive deals, bundles, flash sales, low-stock products, BOGO offers, new deal launches, abandoned cart reminders, and more.

That ability to both engage and re-engage shoppers throughout the weekend is incredibly valuable.

Personalized product recommendations

Black Friday shoppers are already in buying mode, which makes it a great opportunity to increase the value of every order through relevant product recommendations.

A mobile app can use browsing and purchase behavior to surface complementary products, recently viewed products, and relevant add-ons throughout the shopping journey.

For example, if someone adds a pair of shoes to their basket, you could recommend socks or matching accessories to boost AOV. This makes upselling feel less like a sales tactic and more like helping customers find the best possible deal (we’ll discuss more upselling tactics later in the article!)

Saved preferences and payment details

Obviously, you wouldn't want to spend all of this effort getting customers to add more to their basket and increase your AOV, only for them to abandon their purchase because the checkout experience is slow or frustrating.

Shopify mobile apps make checkout faster and easier by saving customer preferences and payment details. The less friction there is at checkout, the more likely customers are to complete their purchase - and the easier it is to increase total spend and bring them back for another purchase.

Intrigued? Book a call with a member of our team at StoreLab to learn more about getting started on your app journey, or feel free to read our article, What are the 5 key advantages of a dedicated mobile app for Shopify stores?, if you still need more convincing.

2 - Use Upsell, Cross-Sell, & Bundle Strategies

Upsells, cross-sells, and bundles are some of the more effective ways to increase average order value as a whole, but especially during key shopping events like Black Friday & Cyber Monday. With customers already in a buying mindset and actively looking for the best deals, you have a solid opportunity to persuade them to add more to their basket.

The key is to make these offers relevant, timely, and feel like a better deal rather than simply pushing more products at visitors.

Product page upsells & cross-sells

When it comes to upselling on the product page, you could offer an upgraded version of a product for a small additional cost, or highlight a premium option with a bigger Black Friday discount. When the extra spend feels worthwhile, customers are more likely to increase their basket value.

Cross-sells work best when they help customers get more from their purchase. For example, if someone is buying a dress, recommend matching shoes or accessories with a BOGO discount.

You could also use a “Shop the Look” feature (like Mango have done above) to let customers add multiple complementary products to their basket in one click.

Cart page add-ons

The cart is another great opportunity to increase AOV with small, relevant add-ons. Because customers have already dedicated what they want to buy, a simple discounted offer can be enough to encourage an extra purchase before checkout.

Products like lip liners, tote bags, sunglasses, and shoe protectors work really well here; this is because they add genuine value, and often increase AOV without a discount, but will be even more effective across Shopify Black Friday when they do have a discount.

Checkout page last-minute upsells

At checkout, keep offers simple and impulse-friendly. Think gift-wrapping, expedited shipping, or product warranty. Abbott Lyon does this really well, as you can see below.

These offers should be quick and easy to accept without slowing down the checkout process, which is crucial during Black Friday when customers are shopping with urgency.

BFCM-exclusive bundle offers

Bundles are a particularly powerful product strategy during the Black Friday weekend because shoppers are actively looking for ways to get more for their money. Create your bundles by packaging complementary products together at a clear saving compared to buying them individually.

This can turn a customer who intended to buy one product into a customer buying three or four because the bundle offers better overall value.

Post-purchase upsells

The opportunity to increase AOV doesn’t have to end at checkout. The post-purchase page is a super effective place to capture extra revenue. Offers like “Add this item to your order in the next 10 minutes - no extra cost” work because the customer has already committed and is still in a buying mindset.

3 - Highlight Free Shipping Thresholds

Unexpected shipping fees at checkout can be enough to make someone abandon their purchase. But if dissolving the shipping cost across every purchase during BFCM would hurt your margins too much, simply lowering your usual fee shipping threshold can still be a great way to increase Shopify AOV.

For example, if your usual free shipping threshold is $50, you could lower it to $30 or even $20 for the Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend. Customers are then more likely to add an extra item to their basket to unlock free delivery rather than pay a shipping fee.

Jewelry brand Abbott Lyon (as shown above) uses a subtle but effective free-shipping threshold reminder on its basket page. Here, customers are clearly shown that they’re just £11 away from qualifying for free shipping. They also make it easy to reach that threshold by offering quick-add options, such as gift wrapping.

That’s exactly why this tactic works so well: you’re essentially trading a small perceived value “loss” (the shipping cost) for a slightly higher basket value. There’s a few smart ways to make it even more effective:

Dynamic progress bar

Adding a dynamic progress bar across your store is one of the most visually persuasive formats. You could show customers exactly how close they are to free shipping by using copy on your bar like, “You’re only $8 away from free delivery”.

Tools on the Shopify App Store like Hextom make it simple to add this type of bar directly to your store, allowing you to display messaging that updates as customers get closer to progressive free-shipping thresholds.

When customers can clearly and visually see they’re close to the threshold, it becomes a target they’re encouraged to reach.

‍Product page reminders

Reinforce the incentive early in the shopping journey so customers know about the free shipping threshold before they reach checkout. A simple message alongside the product info like, “Free delivery on Black Friday orders over $30” can subtly influence customers to add more to their basket from the very start.

Announcement bar / sitewide header

Keep your free shipping threshold visible across your website and Shopify mobile app with a stick banner. The more consistently customers see it, the more likely they are to plan their spending around it.

‍Checkout page reinforcement

At checkout, remind customers when they’ve unlocked free shipping to build excitement. Messaging like, “You’ve unlocked free shipping 🎉” adds a small moment of satisfaction and reinforces the value they’re getting from their order.

Email & push notification follow-ups

This can be particularly effective for recovering abandoned carts. If a shopper abandons their cart while they’re just below your free shipping threshold, a simple email or push notification reminder like “You’re only $6 away from free shipping - complete your order now!” can bring them back.

Discover: How to reduce and recover Shopify abandoned carts across the Black Friday weekend

Free gift thresholds

Free gift thresholds work in much the same way - instead of, or alongside free shipping, you could offer a free gift when shoppers hit a certain spend level.

For instance:

Spend $25 → Get 1 free gift
Spend $45 → Get 2 free gifts

Both free shipping and free gift thresholds work because they reframe spending. Instead of “I’m spending more”, it becomes “I’m unlocking more value from their Black Friday sale”.

You can also use shipping upgrades at checkout to boost AOV by offering next-day or expedited delivery at a discounted rate during the BFCM weekend.

4 - Implement a Loyalty Program

If you don’t already have a loyalty program, the lead up to Black Friday is a great time to introduce one. And if you already have one, you can run a BFCM-specific loyalty points program to give customers an extra incentive to spend more, such as double points, bonus rewards, or member-only offers.

Loyalty programs are a sustainable way to increase AOV because they give customers a reason to keep coming back and a reason to spend a little more each time. In fact, 75% of consumers are willing to buy more products when they’re part of a loyalty program.

You can use this psychology to encourage even bigger baskets over the sales weekend - if customers earn double points on purchases over $100, someone with $90 in their basket might be persuaded to add another product to unlock the extra reward.

If customers know that spending an extra $10 today gets them closer to a valuable reward, free product, or higher loyalty tier, that additional spend can feel much more worthwhile.

For it to actually work, though, the experience matters just as much as the rewards. A good loyalty program should be:

Fun and engaging rather than purely transactional.
Simple and easy to understand with no confusing rules.
Achievable and attainable, so rewards feel within reach.
Genuinely valuable, with rewards customers actually want.
Personalized, so offers feel relevant to each shopper.

Above is an example of the Miracle Botanicals loyalty program within their StoreLab mobile app - a loyalty experience that’s designed to be engaging, easy to understand, and intuitive for customers. Fancy your own app like Miracle Botanical’s? Get in touch with our mobile experts today to learn more!

When done well, a loyalty program can turn Black Friday from a one-off sale into the start of a long-term customer relationship, driving higher AOV across the weekend and building more repeat purchases afterwards.

5 - Post-Purchase Communication

Post-purchase communication is a great way to increase AOV during and after Black Friday because the customer has already made a purchase and is still highly engaged with your brand. You can use this buying momentum to encourage an additional or future purchase.

Studies show that post-purchase upselling communications can lead to a 5.6% uplift in AOV, which may initially seem small, but definitely compounds over time. (A win is a win!)

The key is to make your recommendations feel helpful rather than pushy. For example, if someone buys a pair of running shoes, you could show them a waterproof shoe protector with a follow up message saying, “Did you miss this? Add it to your order for 20% off.”

Shipping & delivery updates

Keep customers engaged while they wait for their order with relevant recommendations such as, “While you wait, customers who bought this also loved…” as this introduces complementary products without feeling too sales-heavy.

Post-delivery follow-up email

Once the customer has received their order, you can use email to recommend products that complement what they bought. “Love your new moisturizer? Here’s the complementary eye cream to get even more value out of your routine.”

Replenishment reminders

For products that need to be replaced or replenished, use the customer’s purchase history to bring them back at the right time. After Black Friday, you could also encourage them to try a larger bundle or upgrade their next purchase.

The key is timing and relevance. Rather than bombarding customers with more BFCM offers, you could use what they’ve already purchased to suggest products that genuinely add value. This can help turn one Black Friday purchase into another, while increasing the total amount each customer spends with your brand.

It also helps extend the value of Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday beyond the weekend. Instead of focusing solely on increasing the value of the first order, post-purchase communication gives you more opportunities to drive repeat purchases and higher customer value over time.

6 - Use Strategic Pricing & Offer Architecture

Your pricing and promotional strategy can have a direct impact on your average order value across the BFCM weekend, but the best approach depends on what you sell and how much your customers already typically spend.

To illustrate, if you sell higher-priced products, you might want to persuade customers to add two items to reach an AOV of $250. If you sell lower-priced products, it might be that customers need to add four or five items to reach an AOV of $100.

Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday is a great opportunity to structure your discounts around spending more, rather than simply discounting everything. Instead of offering 20% off sitewide, you could (like we discussed earlier) use tiered discounts such as:

Spend $50 → 25% off
Spend $100 → 35% off
Spend $150 → 40% off

You could also use buy more, save more offers (also known as BOGO offers), such as “Buy 2, get 10% off” or “Buy 3, get 20% off”, which naturally encourage customers to add additional products.

The key is to make the value of spending more obvious. Rather than simply asking customers to buy more, give them a clear financial reason to increase their order, whether that’s unlocking a bigger discount, getting a better bundle price, or reaching a higher-value offer.

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Final Thoughts

Here at StoreLab, we’ve seen firsthand that increasing average order value is crucial for achieving sustainable, long-term Shopify revenue growth. BFCM is a very valuable opportunity to see a boost in AOV, but the strategies you put in place shouldn’t stop working once the sales weekend is over.

That’s why growing Shopify AOV is a core part of our strategies and services. We focus on three key metrics through our StoreLab CAR framework:

Conversion Rate - the percentage of visitors who make a purchase.
Average Order Value (AOV) - how much customers spend per order.
Returning Customer Rate - how many customers come back to buy again.

These three metrics work together to determine how effectively your Shopify store can grow. Increasing AOV means generating more revenue from the customers you’re already attracting, while a strong returning customer rate helps turn those customers into long-term revenue.

At StoreLab, we help Shopify brands improve AOV through strategies including mobile app development, bundling and cross-sell logic, in-cart and post-purchase optimization, pricing and offer architecture, and more.

And if you’re looking to work with us to implement these strategies before BFCM, now is the time to get started. We typically get booked up ahead of the weekend, so the earlier you get in touch, the more time we have to identify opportunities, implement AOV strategies, and make sure your store is ready to maximize the sales weekend.

Book a call with one of our experts to learn more!