What We Learned Analyzing Squarespace Stores with Order Value Distribution

The Challenge

Here's a mistake we see all the time with Squarespace merchants: they're obsessed with getting more traffic, more visitors, more eyes on their products—while completely ignoring what's happening with their typical order value.

Last month, I was on a call with a jewelry designer running a beautiful Squarespace store. She was frustrated. "I'm getting 2,000 visitors a month now," she told me, "up from 800 six months ago. But my revenue has barely moved. What am I doing wrong?"

I asked her a simple question: "What's your typical order value?"

Long pause. "Um... I'm not sure. Maybe $50? $60?"

We pulled up her order value distribution together, and what we found changed everything about her strategy. Her average order value wasn't $50 or $60—it was $38. But here's what really mattered: 68% of her orders were clustered between $25 and $45, while another 18% were over $100. She had two completely different customer segments buying from her, and she was treating them all the same.

This is the conversation I've had dozens of times now. Merchants pour energy into SEO, ads, and social media to drive traffic. But they don't actually know what their customers are spending or why. And that's leaving serious money on the table.

What the Data Revealed

After analyzing order value patterns across hundreds of Squarespace stores—from handmade goods to digital products to fashion—we started seeing consistent patterns that most merchants were missing.

First, the distribution is almost never what you expect. When we ask store owners to guess their typical order value, they're usually off by 20-40%. Sometimes they're overestimating because they remember the big exciting orders. Sometimes they're underestimating because they don't account for bundles or upsells actually working.

Second, most Squarespace stores have what we call "value clusters"—distinct groups of orders at different price points. A skincare brand we worked with had orders clustering around $28 (single products), $52 (two-item bundles), and $95 (full routines). These weren't random. They were telling a story about how customers were actually shopping.

Third—and this was the big one—the stores that were growing revenue fastest weren't necessarily getting more traffic. They were shifting their order value distribution upward by just $5 to $15 per order. That might not sound dramatic, but when you're processing 200 orders a month, that's an extra $1,000 to $3,000 in revenue from the same traffic you already have.

The Surprising Insight

Here's what surprised me most: the biggest mistakes weren't about pricing. They were about not understanding the distribution at all.

One common mistake: Setting free shipping thresholds blindly. I've seen so many stores set free shipping at $50 or $75 because "that's what other stores do." But when we looked at their actual order value distribution, their median order was $42. That free shipping threshold wasn't incentivizing anyone—it was just a random number floating above where most customers naturally spent.

When we helped them adjust the threshold to $48 (just above their median), suddenly 23% more customers added one more item to hit it. That one change increased their average order value by $6.30.

Another mistake: Product bundling that doesn't match actual behavior. A home goods store was promoting bundles at $89 and $129, trying to increase order values. Sounds smart, right? But their order distribution showed that 71% of customers spent between $35 and $55. The bundles were so far outside their comfort zone that almost no one was buying them. They were creating friction, not value.

We worked with them to create "micro-bundles" at $42 and $58—just slightly above where customers were already spending. Those sold like crazy because they felt like a natural next step, not a big commitment.

The insight here: Your order value distribution isn't just a metric to track. It's a map of your customers' buying behavior and price sensitivity. When you ignore it, every pricing decision you make is basically a guess.

Taking Action

So what should you actually do with this information? Here's what we've learned works:

Start by finding your clusters. Don't just calculate your average—that number hides more than it reveals. Look at the actual distribution. Are most orders tightly grouped? Are there multiple peaks? Is there a long tail of high-value orders? Each pattern tells you something different about your business.

Our Order Value Distribution analysis tool makes this easy. It connects directly to your Squarespace data and shows you exactly where your orders are clustering, what percentages fall into different ranges, and where the opportunities are.

Set thresholds strategically. Once you know where your orders cluster, you can set smart thresholds. Free shipping should sit just above your median, not way above it. Discount tiers should ladder customers from one cluster to the next. Gift-with-purchase offers should target the lower cluster to bump them up.

The jewelry designer I mentioned earlier? After seeing her distribution, she set free shipping at $48 (just above her main cluster) and created a "complete the set" offer at $85 (bridging the gap to her high-value cluster). Her average order value went from $38 to $51 in six weeks. Same traffic, 34% more revenue per order.

Test micro-increases. You don't need to double your prices or create massive bundles. The wins come from small, strategic nudges. Add a $12 product as an "add to cart" suggestion. Create a $5 upgrade option. Introduce a "customers also bought" section that shows items in the next price band up.

We've found that increasing your median order value by just 10-15% is incredibly achievable for most stores and creates a compounding effect on revenue that's way more sustainable than chasing traffic spikes.

Monitor the distribution over time. This isn't a one-and-done analysis. Your order value distribution changes as you introduce new products, run promotions, or shift your marketing. Check it monthly. Are you successfully moving customers up? Are new products creating new clusters? Is a promotion cannibalizing higher-value orders?

I like to think of it like cash flow analysis—you need to understand the timing and patterns, not just the totals. Speaking of which, if you're also trying to understand when money actually hits your bank account, our article on Stripe payout timing and cash flow analysis covers similar principles for the payment side of your business.

Results and Lessons Learned

After working with dozens of Squarespace merchants on this, I've seen some patterns in who succeeds and who struggles.

The merchants who get the best results are the ones who accept that their intuition about customer behavior might be wrong. They look at the data first, then make decisions. They're willing to test thresholds that feel "too low" or bundles that feel "too simple" because the distribution tells them that's where their customers actually are.

The ones who struggle are usually trying to force customers into a behavior that doesn't match the reality. They want everyone to spend $100, but their distribution clearly shows most customers are comfortable at $40-$50. Instead of meeting customers where they are and nudging them up gradually, they create big jumps that customers just won't take.

One lesson I've learned: Small, consistent improvements beat big, dramatic changes. A store that increases average order value by 2% every month will outperform a store that tries to jump 30% all at once and freaks out their customers.

Another lesson: This works for every business model. Whether you're selling physical products, digital downloads, services, or subscriptions through Squarespace, understanding your order value distribution gives you leverage. The specific tactics change, but the principle stays the same: know where your revenue clusters, then strategically shift it upward.

Ready to Understand Your Order Value?

Here's the truth: you can't optimize what you don't measure. And most Squarespace merchants are flying blind when it comes to understanding their typical order value and how it's distributed.

The good news? This is one of the easiest high-impact changes you can make. You're not trying to 10x your traffic or completely reinvent your product line. You're just trying to understand how your customers actually spend, then make small strategic adjustments to encourage them to spend slightly more.

We built our Order Value Distribution tool specifically for Squarespace merchants who want to skip the spreadsheet headaches and get straight to insights. Connect your store, and you'll immediately see where your orders cluster, what your median and mean values actually are, and where the opportunities exist to increase your average order size.

If you want to see how these kinds of data-driven approaches can transform your business, check out our tutorials section for step-by-step guides, or book a demo to see how we help Squarespace merchants turn their data into revenue.

And if you're not quite ready to dive in but want to learn more about using data to grow your ecommerce business, our analytics services page breaks down all the ways we help online merchants like you make smarter decisions.

Stop guessing what your customers spend. Start knowing—and start increasing it strategically.