How to Find AOV in Google Analytics 4

Trying to find your Average Order Value (AOV) in Google Analytics 4 feels like searching for a tool in a toolbox that’s been completely reorganized. If you’ve clicked through GA4’s standard reports looking for that familiar AOV metric you remember from Universal Analytics, you’re not alone, and you’re not missing anything obvious. This article will show you exactly where to find the data you need and how to build your own AOV metric for quick checks and deep-dive analysis.

What is Average Order Value (AOV) and Why Does It Matter?

Before we jump into the "how," let's quickly review the "what" and "why." Average Order Value is a critical e-commerce metric that measures the average dollar amount spent each time a customer places an order on your website. The formula is refreshingly simple:

Total Revenue / Total Number of Orders = Average Order Value

Tracking your AOV is essential for understanding the health of your online store. A rising AOV signals that customers are spending more per transaction, which boosts your revenue without needing more customers. It helps you assess the effectiveness of your pricing, promotion, and upselling strategies. For example, if you introduce product bundling or a "free shipping over $75" offer, you should see a direct impact on your AOV.

The Big Change: Why AOV Isn't a Standard Metric in GA4

One of the first things marketers notice when moving from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 is the absence of a pre-built AOV metric. This wasn't an oversight by Google, it reflects a fundamental shift in how GA4 is designed.

Universal Analytics was built around "sessions" and "users." It provided many pre-calculated, session-based metrics like AOV right out of the box. GA4, on the other hand, is built on a more flexible and granular "event-based" model. Nearly everything is tracked as an event - a page view, a scroll, a button click, and most importantly, a purchase.

Because of this, GA4 gives you the fundamental building blocks - like Total Revenue and Transactions - and empowers you to combine them in ways that make the most sense for your business. It’s a bit more work upfront, but it ultimately provides much more power and flexibility. Let’s build our AOV metric.

Method 1: Quickly Calculate AOV Using Standard Reports

This is the fastest method and perfect for a quick, high-level check. You won’t be saving this metric for later use, but it gets you the number you need in under a minute.

Here’s how to do it step-by-step:

1. Navigate to the Monetization Report: From the left-hand navigation menu in GA4, go to Reports > Monetization > Ecommerce purchases.

2. Set Your Date Range: In the top-right corner, select the date range you want to analyze. This could be last quarter, last month, or a custom range corresponding to a specific marketing campaign.

3. Find Your Building Blocks: Look at the summary cards at the top of the report. You need two numbers: Total revenue and a metric now called Ecommerce purchases (this is the new name for "Transactions").

4. Do the Simple Math: Pull out your calculator (or a new browser tab) and divide your Total revenue by the number of Ecommerce purchases.

For example, if the report shows:

• Total revenue: $75,450

• Ecommerce purchases: 622

Simply calculate: $75,450 / 622 = $121.30 AOV

This method is quick, easy, and great for grabbing a single AOV number. But if you want to analyze AOV by traffic source, campaign, or device on an ongoing basis, you’ll want to use the much more powerful Exploration reports.

Method 2: Create a Permanent AOV Metric in Explorations

GA4's Explorations are where you can perform true custom analysis. By creating a “Calculated Metric” for AOV here, you can save it, reuse it, and slice and dice your data to uncover much deeper insights. This takes a few more clicks, but you only have to do it once.

Step 1: Set Up a New Exploration

In the left-hand navigation, click on the Explore tab. Start a new exploration by choosing the Free form template.

Step 2: Add Your Primary Metrics

An exploration is a blank canvas. The first step is to import the data you need into the Variables column.

• Next to the METRICS section, click the plus sign (+).

• A search box will appear. Type "Total revenue" and check the box next to it.

• Next, search for "Ecommerce purchases" and check the box next to that metric too.

• Click the blue Import button in the top right.

Step 3: Build Your Calculated Metric

Now, let’s create AOV. This is the magic step.

• Again, in the METRICS section, click the plus sign (+).

• At the top of the pane that opens, click Calculated metric.

• Name your metric: Call it "Average Order Value."

• Enter the formula: In the formula box, start typing {{Total revenue}}. GA4 will auto-suggest the metric as you type. Then, type a forward slash for division (/) and start typing {{Ecommerce purchases}}. Pick it from the list. Your final formula should look like this:

• Set the Unit of measurement: Use the dropdown menu to select Currency. This ensures your AOV is displayed with a dollar sign and correct formatting.

• Click the blue Create button. You now have a reusable AOV metric!

Step 4: Use Your New AOV Metric in the Report

Your new "Average Order Value" metric now appears under "METRICS" in the Variables column. To see it in action, drag and drop it from the Variables column to the Values box in the Tab Settings column. GA4 will instantly display your site-wide AOV for the selected date range.

Advanced AOV Analysis: Uncovering Deeper Insights

Just knowing your overall AOV is a start. The real power comes from segmenting that metric to understand customer behavior more deeply. Here are a few ways to slice your data in the same Exploration report.

Finding AOV by Traffic Channel

Do customers coming from paid ads spend more or less than those from organic search? Here's how to find out:

1. In the Variables column, click the plus sign next to DIMENSIONS.

2. Search for and import Session default channel group.

3. Drag Session default channel group from the Variables column into the Rows box in Tab Settings.

Your report will now display your AOV broken down by channels like Organic Search, Paid Search, Direct, and Email, giving you better insight into channel quality and return on ad spend.

Finding AOV by Device

You can also quickly see if users on desktop purchase more than users on mobile. This might highlight issues with your mobile checkout process.

1. Import the Device category dimension into your exploration.

2. Drag it into the Rows box (you can replace the channel group or add it alongside it).

If you see a significantly lower AOV on mobile, it might be a sign to optimize the mobile shopping experience to encourage users to add more items to their cart.

Final Thoughts

While Google Analytics 4 doesn't hand you Average Order Value on a silver platter, it gives you the tools to create it yourself. You can either perform a quick manual calculation for a high-level overview or build a more permanent, reusable AOV metric in an Exploration report to analyze performance across traffic sources, devices, and campaigns.

Of course, building these reports across all your different marketing and sales platforms still takes time. We created Graphed because we believe getting answers from your data shouldn't involve hunting through menus and manually building reports. By connecting Google Analytics, Shopify, and your ad platforms to our tool, you can simply ask things like, "What's our AOV from Facebook Ads compared to Google Ads last month?" and instantly get a real-time dashboard that answers your question. No formulas, no exploring, just insights.