# Hiding cart upsells that covered items: +11.8% profit per session

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Cart (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Upsells & cross-sells, Cart drawers & slide carts
- Date shared: 2025
- Test run by: [Visually](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/visually/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://visually.io/public/case-studies/pvolve
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/pvolve-cart-hide-upsells/

Hiding the upsells in Pvolve's cart raised profit per session by 11.8%. Visually ran this test with Pvolve, a fitness brand that sells resistance equipment and streaming classes, and published it as a Visually case study. The old upsells partly blocked the items already in the cart.

## Result

**+11.8% profit per session**

- Profit per session: +11.8% with upsells hidden.
- Conversion rate and average order value for this test were not shared.
- Sample size, duration and confidence level were not shared.

## Control

The cart showed upsell products, and these partly covered the items the shopper had already added.

## Variant

The upsells were hidden, so the cart showed only the shopper's items and the path to checkout.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- The upsells got in the way of the cart contents. Removing them made the cart easier to review.
- Fewer distractions in the cart can mean fewer shoppers drop off before checkout.
- Any revenue lost from fewer add-ons seems to have been outweighed by more completed orders.

## Caveats

Visually reported the result in its own marketing case study. Sample size, test length and statistical confidence were not shared. The upsells in the control had a layout problem, so this does not show that well-placed upsells hurt.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we remove cart upsells that compete with or cover the cart items, then profit per session will rise because more shoppers will reach checkout.
- Primary metric: Profit per session
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Guardrail: Upsell attach rate
- Guardrail: Checkout start rate
- Who should test it: Stores with cart upsells that have never been tested, especially if they crowd the cart on mobile. Stores where upsells drive a large share of margin should test placement before removing them.

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Credit: Visually ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/pvolve-cart-hide-upsells/).
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.