# Sticky sale countdown banner in the header: +5.6% add-to-cart clicks

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Site-wide (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Countdown timers, Announcement bars
- Test run by: [IDEAL OF SWEDEN](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/ideal-of-sweden/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/ideal-of-sweden-increases-purchases-through-quick-tests/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/ideal-of-sweden-sticky-sale-countdown-banner/

A sticky countdown banner in the site header during the last three days of each sale phase raised add-to-cart clicks by 5.6% for IDEAL OF SWEDEN. The phone case and tech accessories brand ran the test with help from Wingify Services, and it was published as a VWO case study. The effect on purchases was not shared.

## Result

**+5.6% add-to-cart clicks**

- Add-to-cart clicks: +5.6%, and the variant was declared the winner.
- Some pages responded better than others; a page-by-page breakdown was not shared.
- Purchase and revenue impact was not reported, so we don't know how much of the extra cart activity turned into orders.

## Control

During sale periods, the site showed no countdown.

## Variant

A sticky countdown banner sat in the header for the last three days of each Black Month phase: Singles Day, hidden VIP Black Week access, Black Week and Cyber Monday. It ran on every page except checkout.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- A visible deadline gives shoppers a reason to act now instead of later.
- The banner also told more visitors that a sale was on at all.
- Showing it only in the final three days kept the urgency real rather than constant.

## Caveats

Sample size, duration and confidence level were not shared, and the metric is add-to-cart clicks rather than purchases. The test ran with help from the testing vendor's own services team.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show a sticky countdown to the end of a real sale, then more visitors will add items to their cart because the deadline creates urgency.
- Primary metric: Orders per visitor during the sale
- Guardrail: Add-to-cart rate
- Guardrail: Return rate on sale orders
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor after the sale ends
- Who should test it: Stores running time-limited sales with a genuine end date. Don't use fake or resetting timers; they can damage trust and break consumer protection rules.

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Credit: IDEAL OF SWEDEN ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/ideal-of-sweden-sticky-sale-countdown-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.