Country-localized checkout at Readers.com: +30% conversion rate
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsShowing each visitor a checkout matched to their country, with local shipping rates, delivery estimates and currency, lifted conversion rate by 30%.
One Click, the company behind Readers.com, ran this test and it was published as a VWO case study.
It was run as a segment-targeted personalization, and no sample size or significance was shared.
- Conversion rate: +30% for the localized checkout, as reported by One Click.
- The case study also mentions higher engagement, but gives no number for it.
- Sample size, test length and confidence level were not shared.
The change
The variant swaps generic shipping and pricing for country-specific rates, delivery time and currency.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Every visitor saw the same standard checkout page, whatever country they were shopping from.
Variant
The checkout changed based on the visitor's country. A shopper in Canada, for example, saw Canadian shipping rates, an estimated delivery time and prices in Canadian dollars.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- International shoppers often stop at checkout when they can't tell what shipping will cost or how long it will take. Local rates answer that up front.
- Prices in the shopper's own currency remove the mental math and the worry about exchange fees.
- A checkout that looks built for your country feels more trustworthy than one that assumes you live somewhere else.
Caveats: This ran as a personalization aimed at visitor segments by country, and no sample size, duration or significance was shared. The 30% figure is reported by the company and the testing vendor.
Who ran it
One Click ran this test for Readers.com (One Click) 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 One Click →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show international visitors checkout shipping rates, delivery estimates and currency for their own country, then more of them will complete checkout because cost and timing stop being a surprise.
- Primary metric
- Checkout conversion rate for non-domestic visitors
- Guardrails
- Average order value
- Refund or failed-delivery rate for international orders
- Payment errors at checkout
- Who should test it
- Stores with a real share of international traffic that already ship to those countries. If almost all your buyers are domestic, or you can't offer local shipping and currency, there is little to localize.
Questions
Should I show prices in the customer's local currency?
For stores with many international buyers, it is worth testing.
Local currency removes conversion math and makes the final cost clearer.
How do I localize checkout by country?
Most testing and personalization tools can target visitors by country based on IP location.
You then swap in that country's shipping rates, delivery estimates and currency for that segment.
Is a personalization the same as an A/B test?
Not always. A personalization shows content to a segment, and only counts as a fair test if part of that segment is held back on the original page for comparison.
Similar tests
@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen
Convertibles
Surefoot