# Story-led advertorial vs product page: +71.8% revenue per visitor

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Landing page (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Advertorials, listicles & presell pages, Headlines, product titles & copy
- Test run by: [Vasta](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/vasta/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://vasta.me/e-commerce-case-studies/bjj-case-study-933cc-4a834-f7f24
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/bjj-fanatics-advertorial-vs-pdp/

Sending traffic to a story-led advertorial instead of a standard product page raised revenue per visitor by 71.8% for BJJ Fanatics. Vasta ran this 50/50 split test over about two and a half weeks. The product, price and traffic stayed the same; only the way the offer was told changed.

## Result

**+71.8% revenue per visitor**

- Revenue per visitor: +71.8%.
- Average order value: +46.5%. The front-end product was free, so this comes from paid add-ons.
- Conversion rate: +14.2%.
- Add-to-cart rate: +8.8%.

## Control

A clean product page for a free four-part training program from coach John Danaher, with the call to action above the fold and a standard buy-now layout.

## Variant

An advertorial page that opens with the problem of training alone, introduces John Danaher, explains why the Danaher method differs, and only then shows the offer.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Cold visitors may not yet believe they need the product, and the story built that belief before the ask.
- Reframing solo drills as real skill-building raised the perceived value of the program and its add-ons.
- Introducing a credible coach early gave readers a reason to trust the method.
- A product page assumes the visitor already knows what they want, which suits warm traffic better.

## Caveats

The test ran for about 2.5 weeks and sample size was not shared. The main offer was free, so revenue gains come from add-ons and may not carry over to a paid front-end product.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we send cold traffic to a problem-first advertorial instead of a product page, then revenue per visitor will rise because readers are sold on the idea before they see the offer.
- Primary metric: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Guardrail: Refund rate
- Who should test it: Brands buying cold traffic for a product that needs explaining, especially free or low-cost entry offers with upsells. Shoppers who already know what they want may prefer a direct product page.

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Credit: Vasta ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/bjj-fanatics-advertorial-vs-pdp/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.