@CROguy_
@stoykovallex1
@Rubendgrf
@joshtCROWhat counts as an upsell
This collection covers cart and cart drawer upsells, add-to-cart popups, 'Frequently Bought Together' bundles, checkbox upsells and order bumps at checkout, post-purchase offers, and product sections like Best Sellers. Some results are take rates rather than A/B lifts, which are noted below.
The win/loss record
17 measured results, 17 marked won, no recorded losses. Several report only a take rate or a revenue figure without a control, so the record is less solid than it looks.
Where upsells were tested
- Cart: 6 tests
- Product page: 5 tests
- Checkout: 4 tests
- Post-purchase and other: 1 test each
Biggest wins and their numbers
Choosing the right upsell product
- Milos, leather strap vs mystery box in the cart drawer: +15.26% RPV, +18.19% CVR, -2.48% AOV (+$28,912/month)
- Dave Diederen, two different upsell products in the same add-to-cart popup: +4.37% CVR, +7.80% RPV, +3.28% AOV
- Milos, changed the order of cart upsells: positive lift, no number given
Product page
Ruben's one-click 10% extra discount banner above add-to-cart gained +28% RPV on 32k visitors and 1,000+ orders in one week. Alex Stoykov's one-click tape and solvent bundle gained +10.87% RPV and +8.09% CVR.
Dave Diederen's Best Sellers section at the bottom of the product page reported +$488,000 a year.
Want results like this on your store?
Dave Diederen at Syntra Labs. Dave builds and tests Shopify stores at Syntra Labs, and shares most results in public.
Cart
Oliver Kenyon's arrows on cart upsells plus a delivery window line reported +$127,867/month, and a gift wrapping prompt in the cart reported +$58,860/month.
Checkout and post-purchase
- Kasper Dolk, checkbox upsell in a Shopify Plus checkout: 50% take rate for fashion clients
- Kasper Dolk, custom order bump: 15-20% take rate, $100-200k extra profit
- Dave Diederen, 1-click post-purchase upsell: 16.64% acceptance, $16.50 per accepted offer
Take rates show demand for the offer, not whether total revenue per visitor went up.
Tests that lost or were flat
None were recorded as lost. The closest to flat is Kasper Dolk's upsells vs no upsells, with about 398.6k visitors per arm: CVR 1.50% to 1.52%, RPV $1.46 to $1.49 (+1.86%), AOV unchanged. It still added an estimated $26,471/month, but the lift was small.
Two wins came from doing less. Oliver Kenyon unticked a pre-ticked damage cover in the cart, which led to fewer cover purchases and more camera purchases. Oliver's slide cart redesign removed a $25 pre-checkout upsell and reported +$31,000/month, though trust elements changed too.
Design patterns that won
- Offer a cheap, relevant add-on that fits the main product.
- Make it one click from the product page or cart.
- Test the upsell product itself, not just the widget.
- Don't pre-tick add-ons; let shoppers choose.
How to add upsells on Shopify
Product page and cart upsells usually come from an upsell app or theme recommendation blocks. Checkbox upsells inside checkout need Shopify Plus checkout extensibility, and post-purchase offers need a post-purchase app.
How to test it on your store
Hypothesis: replacing the current cart upsell with a cheaper, more relevant add-on will raise revenue per visitor. Use RPV as the main metric, not take rate, and expect small lifts: the cleanest test here moved RPV +1.86%, so you need a lot of traffic. Size it with the sample size calculator.
Questions
Do upsells increase revenue?
Usually a little. Kasper Dolk's upsells vs no upsells test, with about 398.6k visitors per arm, raised revenue per visitor +1.86% with AOV unchanged. Picking a better upsell product moved more: Milos's cart drawer swap gained +15.26% RPV.
Where should I put an upsell?
All placements here won: product page, cart, checkout and post-purchase. The biggest measured lift was Ruben's one-click 10% extra discount banner above add-to-cart on the product page (+28% RPV).
What take rate can I expect from a checkout upsell?
Kasper Dolk reported a 50% take rate for a checkbox upsell with fashion clients and 15-20% for a custom order bump. Dave Diederen's post-purchase upsell was accepted 16.64% of the time.