Average Return Order Value Metric
How-to Guide
Author:
Holger Lierse
Changed on:
16 Sept 2025
Key Points
- Average dollar value per completed return order for the selected time period.
Steps
What it measures
Average dollar value per return order for the selected time period.
When to use this metric
- Monitor the financial impact of returns on revenue
- Assess return patterns by order value segments
- Evaluate the effectiveness of return policies
- Guide return prevention strategies
How to interpret
- Good performance: Return values are low relative to average order values
- Potential issues: High return values may indicate quality or expectation issues
- Benchmark guidance: Should be significantly lower than average order value
Key considerations
- High-value returns have disproportionate financial impact
- Return processing costs are often fixed regardless of value
- Customer service recovery is critical for high-value returns
- Currency symbols may not be meaningful when viewing multiple retailers in different countries
- Only includes completed return orders
- Revenue timing is based on return order completion, not refund processing
Technical details
Formula:
SUM(returnOrder.totalAmount) / COUNT(returnOrders) where status = {COMPLETE_STATUS} within the selected time period
Configurable elements:
- COMPLETE_STATUS: Status definitions for complete fulfillments (default: COMPLETE)
