# Return policy added to product pages: -6.0% conversion rate

- Outcome: Lost
- Page type: Product page (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Money-back guarantee & returns, Shipping & delivery messaging
- Test run by: [Clean Commit](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/clean-commit/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://cleancommit.io/ab-tests/return-policy-added-to-product-pages/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/cleancommit-return-policy-added-to-product-pages/

Adding the return policy to every product page, near the add-to-cart area, lowered conversion rate by 6.0% and revenue per visitor by 6.9%. Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library. The drop was not statistically significant, but it showed up on both mobile and desktop.

## Result

**-6.0% conversion rate**

- Conversion rate: -6.0%. The original had an 82.1% probability of performing better.
- Revenue per visitor: -6.9%, and orders -3.8%.
- Add-to-cart rate: +0.8%, roughly flat. The loss happened after shoppers added items.
- By device, conversion fell 7.1% on mobile and 4.6% on desktop.
- Flag: not statistically significant, so the true size of the drop is uncertain.

## Control

Product pages showed no return policy information near the buy area.

## Variant

Every product page showed the return policy, placed near the add-to-cart button or in the product details area.

## Why it likely lost (our reading)

- Bringing up returns at the moment of purchase may remind shoppers that the product might not work out.
- Extra text near the buy button adds reading and competes with the main action.
- If the policy had conditions or limits, showing them could add doubt rather than remove it.
- Add-to-cart held steady, so shoppers may have thought again about the policy later, before checking out.

## Caveats

The test ran for 19 days and did not reach statistical significance. Sample size was not shared, and the results are reported by the agency that ran the test.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show our return policy near add to cart, then conversion rate will rise because shoppers feel less risk in buying.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Add-to-cart rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Return rate on orders
- Who should test it: Stores with a clearly generous policy, such as free returns, where the terms read as a plus. If your policy has fees or tight windows, keeping it one click away may work better.

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Credit: Clean Commit ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/cleancommit-return-policy-added-to-product-pages/).
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.