Smaller sale prices on product cards: +8.7% CR, not significant
Test run byClean CommitCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsShowing sale prices in smaller type than the struck-through original, on collection cards and product pages, lifted conversion rate 8.7% and revenue per visitor 10.0%.
Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library.
We count it as inconclusive because it did not reach statistical significance.
- Conversion rate: +8.7%, with a 90.2% probability of beating the original. Not significant across 27,383 visitors.
- Revenue per visitor: +10.0%, and orders +8.1%.
- Mobile drove the gain: conversion rate +9.9% and revenue per visitor +13.6% on mobile.
- Flag: add-to-cart rate fell 7.2%. Fewer shoppers added items, but more of those who did went on to buy.
The change
Product cards show the sale price in smaller type than the original price.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Collection cards and product pages showed the sale price in standard type next to the struck-through original.
Variant
The sale price was restyled to appear smaller than the original price, on product cards in collections and on product pages.
Why it likely came out this way
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Research on price perception suggests a number in smaller type is judged to be lower, which can make a sale feel better.
- Collection cards are where shoppers compare many prices fast, so a visual cue there may matter more.
- The drop in add-to-cart is hard to explain. It may mean fewer casual adds and more committed buyers, or it may be noise.
Caveats: Not statistically significant across 27,383 visitors, and add-to-cart fell 7.2%. This looks like a separate run of the same idea as Clean Commit's 3.0% product page test.
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 sale prices in smaller type than the original on product cards and product pages, then conversion will rise because the discounted price feels lower.
- Primary metric
- Conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Add-to-cart rate
- Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it
- Stores with many discounted items on collection pages, especially with mostly mobile traffic. Skip it if you rarely discount or if small text would hurt readability.
Questions
Why make a sale price smaller?
Some pricing research suggests people judge numbers in smaller type to be lower.
The aim is to make the discount feel bigger.
Is an 8.7% lift with 90% probability a win?
Not by a strict standard. It is a promising signal, but it did not reach significance, so a rerun is needed before rolling it out.
Why did add-to-cart fall while orders rose?
The source does not explain it. One reading is that fewer shoppers added items casually while more committed shoppers finished checkout.
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