Countdown timer outside the US: -35.61% revenue per visitor
Adding a countdown timer to a store selling outside the US cut revenue per visitor by 35.61% in the test Dave Diederen shared. Conversion rate fell 17.35% and average order value fell 22.09%. They say they saw the same pattern across countdown tests on more than 20 brands over two to three months.
- Revenue per visitor: -35.61% (£13.27 to £8.55). The range shown runs from -54% to -9%, so the drop is clear, and the timer had only a 0.39% chance of beating control.
- Conversion rate: -17.35% (1.41% to 1.17%). Fewer visitors placed an order. The range of -35% to +5% means this part is less certain.
- Average order value: -22.09% (£938.68 to £731.32). People who did buy spent less, which made the revenue loss much bigger than the conversion loss.
- Estimated impact in the testing tool: about 140 fewer orders and £270,063 less revenue a month. This is a negative result.
The change
The variant shows a generic countdown timer at the top of the site; exact design was not shown.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The store without a countdown timer.
Variant
The same store with a generic countdown timer added. The post points to timers placed in the announcement bar, but the screenshot does not show the design or what it counted down to.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- as Diederen argues, shoppers in many non-US markets see generic timers as pressure, and that pressure erodes trust in the offer.
- rushed shoppers may pick a cheaper option or skip extra items, which fits the large drop in order value.
- with a high order value (over £900 in control), buyers likely want time to think, so a fake deadline works against them.
Caveats: Only one test result is shown; the claim about 20+ brands comes from the post text, without data. Sample size, test length and the exact market were not shared, though the results are reported in pounds sterling.
Who ran it
Dave Diederen (@DaveDiederen) shared this test on X. The numbers and screenshots are theirs.
View the original post on X
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we remove the generic countdown timer for non-US shoppers, then revenue per visitor will rise because shoppers will feel less pressured and trust the offer more.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per visitor
- Guardrails
- Average order value
- Conversion rate
- Promo or discount code usage
- Who should test it
- Stores selling into European or other non-US markets that run a timer without a real deadline behind it. A timer tied to a genuine cut-off, such as a shipping deadline or a real sale end, is a different test and may behave differently.
Questions
Do countdown timers work in European markets?
In this test they did not. Revenue per visitor fell 35.61%, and Dave Diederen says they saw the same pattern across more than 20 brands outside the US.
Can a countdown timer lower average order value?
Yes. Here order value dropped 22.09%, which suggests rushed shoppers bought less or chose cheaper options.
When can urgency still work outside the US?
Diederen suggests urgency needs a real, believable reason, such as a genuine shipping cut-off, seasonal deadline or low stock. A generic timer with no reason behind it is what hurt here.
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