Price comparison box below Add to Basket: +10.67% conversion rate
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsA 'Price Comparison' box below the Add to Basket button showed a 10.67% higher conversion rate, but add-to-basket clicks were inconclusive, so we treat the test as inconclusive overall.
Paperstone, a UK office supplies retailer, ran this test itself; the write-up came from George Harris, its Director of eCommerce, and was published as a VWO case study.
It was a retest after a first version that put competitor prices above the button and leaned negative.
- Conversion rate: +10.67%, which the source reports at 95% confidence.
- Add to basket clicks: inconclusive, with no clear difference. This was one of the two goals the team set.
- Over 12,100 unique visitors, split 50/50.
- We list the test as inconclusive: the two goals disagreed, and the sales gain sits right at the edge of the usual confidence bar.
The change
A 'Price Comparison' box with highlighted savings added below Add to Basket
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Product pages showed only Paperstone's own price, with nothing comparing it to other sellers.
Variant
A formal-looking box titled 'Price Comparison' sat below the Add to Basket button. It showed Paperstone's price next to competitors' prices and highlighted the saving.
Why it likely came out this way
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Moving the comparison below the button kept Add to Basket in its usual spot, which fixed a likely problem from the first test.
- Showing the saving next to Paperstone's own price made the benefit quick to read.
- The plainer, formal design may have avoided the banner blindness the team suspected in the first version.
- Three things changed at once, so it's hard to say which one mattered.
Caveats: Only visitors to the 5,000 product pages with competitor data were included, and the variant changed position, layout and styling together. Add-to-basket was inconclusive and test length was not shared, so we count the result as inconclusive.
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 a clear price comparison below the Add to Basket button, then more visitors will buy because they can see the saving without leaving the page.
- Primary metric
- Order conversion rate on pages with competitor data
- Guardrails
- Add-to-basket rate
- Exit rate from product pages
- Gross margin per order
- Who should test it
- Price-led retailers with accurate, regularly updated competitor prices on a large share of products. If you are not clearly cheaper, or the data goes stale fast, a comparison can backfire.
Questions
Where should a price comparison go on a product page?
Paperstone's two tests suggest below the main button rather than above it.
The first version above the button leaned negative; the second, below it, showed a sales lift.
Why is this result counted as inconclusive?
The sales lift was reported at 95% confidence, but add-to-basket clicks showed no clear change.
With the two goals disagreeing, we don't treat it as a proven win.
Should a price comparison show the saving?
Showing your price next to rivals' and highlighting the difference makes the benefit easier to see.
It was one of three changes in this version.
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