Bulk-buy discount ribbon in the sidebar: no change in conversions
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsOffering bulk-buy discounts through a bright yellow ribbon in the right sidebar made no difference to conversions.
Paperstone, a UK online office supplies retailer, ran this site-wide test on its own site, and it was published as a VWO case study.
The team blamed banner blindness and retested the same offer with a new display, which won.
- Conversions: no difference between the two versions. This is a flat result.
- The team concluded that visitors had not noticed the offer, not that the discount itself was unwanted.
- A later retest of the same idea with a more visible display raised revenue by 16.85%.
The change
The variant adds bulk discounts, shown only as a yellow ribbon in the right sidebar.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The site offered no bulk-purchase discounts.
Variant
Popular products got bulk-buy discounts, promoted with a bright yellow ribbon in the right sidebar.
Why it likely came out this way
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Sidebars are where ads usually sit, so many visitors skip them. A bright ribbon there can look like an ad.
- Only some visitors were shopping for the discounted products, so any effect was diluted across all site traffic.
- A discount only works if shoppers see it near the moment they decide what and how much to buy.
Caveats: No sample size, test length or numbers were shared for this first test. The flat result is about how the offer was shown, and a later retest with a new display won.
Who ran it
Paperstone ran this test for Paperstone and published the results (VWO case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Paperstone →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show bulk discounts on popular products where shoppers choose quantity, then average order value will rise because buyers will see the saving when it matters.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per visitor
- Guardrails
- Average order value
- Gross margin per order
- Conversion rate
- Who should test it
- Stores selling items people buy in quantity, like office supplies or consumables. Before testing, check the offer sits near the price or quantity picker, not in a sidebar that looks like an ad.
Questions
What is banner blindness?
It's when visitors ignore parts of a page that look like ads, such as sidebars or bright boxes. Offers placed there often go unseen.
Should I give up on an idea after a flat test?
Not always. Check whether visitors actually saw the change.
Paperstone retested the same discount idea with a better display and it won.
Where should bulk discounts be shown?
Close to the price and quantity selector, where buyers decide how many to buy. A distant banner is easy to miss.
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