Upsell and cross-sell modal on product page: +9.7% conversion
Test run byClean CommitCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsAdding a modal that suggested a pricier alternative and add-on products showed a 9.7% rise in conversion rate, but there was no significance figure, so we count it as inconclusive.
Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and labelled it a positive signal.
Average order value, the goal metric, rose only 2.6%.
- Conversion rate: +9.7%, and orders: +9.9%. Promising, but not shown to be significant.
- Revenue per visitor: +12.6%, mostly from more orders rather than bigger ones.
- Average order value: +2.6%. This was the goal metric, and it barely moved.
- Nearly all 18,583 visitors were on desktop, so the result says little about mobile.
The change
The variant adds a modal offering a pricier alternative and complementary add-ons.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The product page had no upsell modal.
Variant
A modal suggested a higher-priced alternative to the chosen item and offered complementary products as add-ons.
Why it likely came out this way
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- The modal may have acted as a confirmation step that nudged undecided shoppers to complete a purchase.
- Few shoppers seem to have traded up or added items, which fits the small change in order value.
- On desktop a modal is less intrusive than on a phone, which may have kept it from hurting conversions.
Caveats: About 18,583 visitors, nearly all on desktop, and no significance figure was given. Duration was not shared.
Who ran it
Clean Commit ran this test for a Shopify store (anonymized) and published the results (Clean Commit A/B test library). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Clean Commit →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show a modal suggesting a higher-priced alternative and complementary add-ons, then average order value will rise because some shoppers will trade up or add another item.
- Primary metric
- Average order value
- Guardrails
- Conversion rate
- Revenue per visitor
- Mobile conversion rate
- Who should test it
- Stores with clear good-better-best ranges or natural add-ons. Be careful on mobile-heavy stores, where a modal can feel like an interruption.
Questions
Do upsell modals raise average order value?
Only slightly in this test: order value rose 2.6%.
The bigger change was in conversion rate, and neither was shown to be significant.
Can an upsell popup hurt conversions?
It can if it gets in the way, especially on mobile.
Watch conversion rate as a guardrail whenever you add a modal.
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