More prominent money-back guarantee: -9.2% purchases
Test run byDRIP AgencyCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsMaking a money-back guarantee more prominent cut purchases by 9.2%.
DRIP Agency ran the test for a DTC beauty-tech brand and published it as a case study.
The variant was stopped and never rolled out.
- Purchases: -9.2% against the control. This was a clear loss.
- The variant was stopped and not rolled out.
- Significance and sample size were not shared.
The change
The variant turns the money-back guarantee into a more prominent block.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The page showed the brand's existing money-back guarantee in its usual, less prominent form.
Variant
The guarantee became a more prominent block, meant to reduce the feeling of risk before buying.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- A large guarantee block can make shoppers think about failure. It may suggest the product often doesn't work, which raises doubt instead of lowering it.
- The product page was already long, so another big block may have added clutter and pushed key content down.
- DRIP's next step was shorter trust cues, which suggests the size of the block, not the guarantee itself, was the issue. That is our reading.
Caveats: Significance and sample size were not shared, and the page type was not stated. The loss was enough for the team to stop the test.
Who ran it
DRIP Agency ran this test for a DTC beauty-tech brand and published the results (DRIP Agency case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on DRIP Agency →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we make the money-back guarantee more prominent, then purchases will rise because shoppers feel less risk. Test it against a short trust line too, since a big block can backfire.
- Primary metric
- Purchases (conversion rate)
- Guardrails
- Revenue per visitor
- Return or refund rate
- Add-to-cart rate
- Who should test it
- Brands selling products where results are uncertain, such as beauty, health or devices. Try a short guarantee line near the buy button before a big block. Be careful if the guarantee already shows clearly, since this test shows more emphasis can hurt.
Questions
Can a money-back guarantee hurt conversions?
Yes. In this test a more prominent guarantee cut purchases 9.2%.
Too much focus on refunds can make shoppers think about the product failing.
Where should a guarantee go on a product page?
A short line near the buy button is a common start.
Test any bigger block against it rather than assuming more emphasis helps.
Why do some trust signals lower sales?
They can raise a worry the shopper didn't have, or add clutter.
Trust cues work best when they are short and answer a real concern.
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