What Is Revenue Per Visitor (RPV)?
RPV combines conversion rate and AOV into a single metric. It's the most complete measure of your store's commercial efficiency.
Key Takeaways
- RPV = Total Revenue ÷ Total Visitors.
- RPV captures both conversion rate and AOV in a single number.
- RPV is the best single metric for comparing the performance of traffic-driving channels.
The formula
Revenue per Visitor is total revenue divided by total visitors (or sessions) in a period. If your store generates £100,000 from 50,000 visitors, your RPV is £2.00. This means every visitor to your store is worth £2 in revenue on average — a useful number for comparing against customer acquisition costs.
Why RPV beats conversion rate alone
Conversion rate can be gamed — discount heavily to convert more people, and conversion rate rises while revenue per order falls. RPV captures both dimensions: if a campaign converts more people at lower AOV, RPV may stay flat or decline. It gives you an honest picture of commercial performance across different conditions.
Using RPV to evaluate channels
Different traffic sources produce different RPV. Organic search visitors may convert at 3% with £60 AOV (RPV £1.80). Paid social visitors may convert at 1.5% with £70 AOV (RPV £1.05). If you're spending £0.50 per visitor on paid social and generating £1.05, the margin is thin. If the same spend produces £1.80 from organic, organic investment is far more efficient.
Improving RPV
RPV improves through any combination of: higher conversion rate (CRO), higher AOV (bundling, upsells, thresholds), or better traffic quality (targeting higher-intent audiences). The highest-leverage move depends on your current performance — AskBiz can identify which component (conversion or order value) is most dragging on your RPV relative to your sector.