What is a Revenue per Visitor (RPV)?

How RPV Is Calculated

Two ways to get it, same answer:

The second one shows what RPV is made of: how many visitors buy, and how much each order is worth.

Why RPV Is Worth Watching

RPV tells you what one more visitor is worth. That matters when you pay for traffic. Say ad clicks cost $1.50 and those visitors bring in $1.32 each. Every click loses money, and you haven't even paid for the product yet.

It's also handy when a change pulls conversion rate and AOV opposite ways. A higher free shipping threshold can push order size up while fewer people check out. RPV shows which effect was bigger.

Getting RPV From Your Shopify Numbers

In your Shopify analytics, pick a date range and divide sales by online store sessions for that range. A few catches:

• Sessions aren't people. One shopper who comes back three times is three sessions, so this is really revenue per session. Fine for trends. Just don't compare it with another tool's per-visitor number.
• Match the channel. Sell in person or elsewhere too? Use online store sales only.
• Keep one revenue definition. Decide if shipping and tax count, then stick with it.

In our app, Growth Suite, an A/B test can aim for conversion rate, AOV or total revenue. Revenue is the closest to RPV. With an even traffic split, more revenue means higher RPV. If the split is uneven, divide each version's revenue by its own visitors first.

When a Higher RPV Means Less Profit

RPV counts sales, not what you keep. Discounts show this best. Take a made-up store selling the same basket in both columns, with $24 of product cost per order. It's an example, not a forecast of what a discount will do.

The discount wins on RPV by about 13 cents but makes about 2 cents less profit per visitor. That's $360 over the month. So read RPV next to a profit number, not alone. For how discounts shift conversion rate, AOV and what you keep, see our discount guide to net revenue per visitor.

RPV can also move when nothing on your store changed. A wave of cold social traffic can drag it down: same pages, different visitors. A few huge orders can lift it for a week. Before you credit or blame a change, compare RPV for the same traffic source over time.

RPV and AOV Aren't the Same Thing

Both are revenue divided by something, so people mix them up. AOV divides by orders, so only buyers count. RPV counts every visitor, including the many who left. That's how the April store had a $55 AOV but a $1.32 RPV. AOV can even rise while RPV falls, since bigger orders from fewer buyers can mean less money per visit.

Related Terms

• Conversion Rate: the share of visitors who place an order.
• Average Order Value (AOV): revenue divided by the number of orders.
• A/B Testing: splitting traffic between two versions to see which does better.
• Gross Profit: what's left from sales after product costs.
• Traffic Source: where a visitor came from, like ads or email.
• Store Visitor: anyone who lands on your store.