Post-purchase upsell: one more unit beat two, $5.32 vs $3.91 per visit
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsOffering two more Boomstick Trios after checkout, instead of one, cut upsell revenue from $5.32 to $3.91 per page visit.
Ezra Firestone ran this test on the BOOM! by Cindy Joseph store, and it was published on the Zipify blog. Both offers carried the same 21% discount.
- Revenue per upsell page visit: $5.32 for one unit vs $3.91 for two. The two-unit bundle lost by $1.41 per visit.
- Take rate: 8.2% for one unit vs 3.25% for two. The bigger offer was accepted far less often, and the higher order value did not make up for it.
- Visitor counts and confidence levels were not shared in the post.
The change
Same discount, but the variant offers two more units instead of one.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
After checkout, buyers of the Boomstick Trio saw a one-click offer to add one more Trio at 21% off.
Variant
The same upsell page offered two more Trios at the same 21% off. Traffic was split 50/50 by the upsell app.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Right after paying, buyers have already decided how much of the product they want. One more unit is a small, easy yes.
- Two units roughly doubles the extra spend, which turns a quick add-on into a new buying decision.
- The discount was the same in both, so the bigger bundle offered no extra reason to spend more.
Caveats: Run by Zipify's founder on the founder's own store and published by Zipify, which sells the upsell app. Sample size and statistical confidence were not shared.
Who ran it
Ezra Firestone ran this test for BOOM! by Cindy Joseph and published the results (Zipify blog). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Ezra Firestone →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we offer one more unit of the product just bought instead of a two-unit bundle, then revenue per upsell visit will rise because a smaller add-on is an easier yes right after checkout.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per upsell page visit
- Guardrails
- Upsell take rate
- Refund or cancellation rate on upsell orders
- Downsell revenue per visit
- Who should test it
- Stores with a post-purchase upsell on a repeat-use product such as cosmetics or consumables. A bigger bundle may do better when the product is cheap enough that two units still feel like a small add-on.
Questions
Should a post-purchase upsell offer more of the same product?
In this store's tests, one more of the product just bought was the strongest first upsell.
It is a simple offer that needs no new decision about a different item.
Why measure revenue per visit instead of conversion rate?
A pricier offer can convert less and still earn more.
Revenue per visit captures both take rate and order value in one number.
Do bundles ever win as upsells?
They can, but here a two-unit bundle at the same discount lost clearly.
If you test one, give buyers a reason to take the larger amount.
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