Social media platforms Instagram and Pinterest offer marketers the highest average order value (AOV) compared to Facebook and Snapchat despite delivering smaller amounts of traffic.

The study, by e-commerce platform Nosto, which tracked the source of 1.19bn visits on mobile and orders from fashion retailers with annual sales of $50m or more, found that paid social delivered a higher AOV compared to organic search results.

The data found there was a large gap between the AOV on paid and unpaid media for Pinterest and Instagram but the gap on the Facebook platform was much smaller.

Despite Facebook having a small AOV, it had the highest conversion rate on social media and generated the most orders overall.

Watch the video below on how to increase your AOV

“The high average order value the study demonstrates for Instagram and Pinterest shows the potential they have within fashion retail, particularly as both are adding new features to support e-commerce,” says Jim Lofgren, CEO, Nosto.

“However, right now their low direct traffic and lower conversion rates means there is a risk that they become destinations purely for branding plays. Instagram has managed to drive brand awareness for fashion brands by allowing them to leverage influencers, but can Instagram and Pinterest manage to sustainably drive e-commerce revenue?”   

See the data on AOVs across social media platforms below