# Cart drawer instead of add-to-cart banner: +16% conversion rate

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Cart (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Cart drawers & slide carts, Free shipping thresholds & shipping price, Trust badges & security seals
- Test run by: [Convertibles](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/convertibles/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://convertibles.dev/blogs/case-studies/cart-drawer-vs-notification-banner-case-study
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/high-ticket-equipment-cart-drawer-vs-banner/

Replacing a theme's add-to-cart notification banner with a full cart drawer lifted conversion rate from 0.382% to 0.444% (+16%) and revenue per visitor by 18%. Convertibles ran this test for a high-ticket equipment brand with an average order value of about $700. The drawer was a bundle of four changes shipped together, and the result did not reach 95% confidence.

## Result

**+16% conversion rate**

- Conversion rate: 0.382% to 0.444%, a 16% lift.
- Revenue per visitor: +18%. Average order value was flat overall (+1%).
- Probability to beat control was 86-92%, below the usual 95% bar, so treat this as directional.
- Mobile: conversion +26% but average order value -21%, so mobile revenue per visitor was flat.
- Desktop: conversion +6%, average order value +33% and revenue per visitor +41%, on only 78 orders.

## Control

Adding an item showed the theme's default notification banner, which confirmed the item and then went away. Shoppers checked out from the separate cart page.

## Variant

Adding an item opened a full cart drawer (full-screen on mobile) with editable items and a direct checkout button. It also had a $100 free shipping progress bar, savings shown per item, and three trust signals for service, warranty and after-sales support. No product recommendations were added.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- On mobile, the drawer removed the trip to the cart page. More people bought, but that trip may have been where they added more items.
- On desktop, the free shipping bar and savings display likely gave shoppers a reason to add items. The agency suspects the shipping bar most but could not isolate it.
- Even on a store where people buy one costly item, seeing the cart total and a shipping threshold seems to change basket size.

## Caveats

Four changes were bundled, so the test can't say which one drove the lift. It ran 6 weeks on 84,005 visitors but only 347 orders, below 95% confidence, and the device splits rest on 109 and 78 orders.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we replace the add-to-cart banner with a cart drawer that shows the cart, a free shipping bar and a direct checkout button, then revenue per visitor will rise because shoppers see their total and have a reason to add more.
- Primary metric: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Average order value by device
- Guardrail: Conversion rate by device
- Guardrail: Cart page clicks on recommendations
- Who should test it: Stores still using a theme's add-to-cart banner, especially with desktop traffic and a free shipping threshold. If your cart page already converts well or sells add-ons, skipping it may cost you order value.

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Credit: Convertibles ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/high-ticket-equipment-cart-drawer-vs-banner/).
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.