'Bought in the last day' count for returning shoppers: +4.1% revenue
Test run byVisuallyTesting and CRO tool
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsBenchmade Knife Co. showed returning shoppers how many times a product had been bought in the last day, and revenue went up 4.1%, with 15.2% more items per purchase.
Visually ran the test on the premium knife brand's product pages and published it as a Visually case study.
- Revenue: +4.1% among returning shoppers in the test.
- Items per purchase: +15.2%, so people who bought added more to their orders.
- Only returning shoppers saw the count, so the result may not carry over to first-time visitors.
- Sample size, test length and statistical confidence were not shared.
The change
Returning shoppers also see a count of purchases in the last day. Exact placement was not shared.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The product page used reviews as its only social proof.
Variant
Returning shoppers also saw a live count of how many times the product had been bought in the last day.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Returning shoppers are already thinking about buying. Seeing that others bought the same item recently can help them decide.
- A recent count feels current in a way that older reviews don't.
- The rise in items per purchase suggests the signal made people more confident buying more than one item. This is our reading; the source doesn't explain it.
Caveats: Shown to returning shoppers only. This comes from a testing vendor's own case study, and sample size, test length and significance were not shared.
Who ran it
Visually ran this test for Benchmade Knife Co. and published the results (Visually case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Visually →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show returning shoppers how many times a product was bought in the last day, then more of them will buy because recent purchases reassure them that others trust the product.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per visitor among returning shoppers
- Guardrails
- Conversion rate
- Return rate
- Items per order
- Who should test it
- Stores with enough daily sales for the numbers to look healthy. For slow-selling products a low count like 'bought 1 time' may hurt, so set a minimum before you show it.
Questions
Does showing recent purchases increase sales?
It did for Benchmade, where returning shoppers who saw a last-day purchase count drove 4.1% more revenue.
It works best when the numbers are real and high enough to impress.
Should I show purchase counts to everyone or only returning visitors?
Benchmade tested it only with returning shoppers, who are closer to buying.
If you show it to new visitors as well, test that separately.
Is it OK to fake purchase counts?
No. Fake numbers can break consumer protection rules and cost you trust once people notice. Only show real data.
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