Free gift progress line in cart drawer: +$50,099/month in revenue
Test run byConvertiblesCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsOne line at the top of the cart drawer telling shoppers how many free gifts they had unlocked, and how to get more, added a reported $50,099 a month.
Convertibles ran this test for an 8-figure slime brand with a seven-tier free gift program.
Three richer versions, including one that led with free shipping, did not beat it.
- Revenue: +$50,099 a month for the single progress line, as reported by the agency.
- Repeating the gift message in the upsell headline did not beat the single line.
- Adding thumbnails of unlocked gifts at the bottom of the drawer did not beat it.
- Leading with a free shipping threshold instead of the gifts lost to the gift framing.
The change
One free gift progress line was added to the top of the drawer.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The cart drawer showed the item, an upsell shelf and the checkout button. It said nothing about the free gift program, which only appeared on product pages.
Variant
A single block at the top of the drawer with a gift icon: 'You've got 4 Free Gifts!' and 'Add 1 more slime to get more Free Gifts.' The upsell shelf below stayed the same.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- The drawer is where shoppers choose between checking out and adding one more item, so the offer is most useful there.
- Telling shoppers what they have already earned, and that the next tier is one slime away, makes the next step feel small.
- Extra visuals and repeated messages may have pulled attention away from the one action that mattered.
- Free gifts are specific to this brand, while free shipping is something many shoppers already expect.
Caveats: No sample size, duration or confidence level was published, and the revenue figure is reported by the agency.
Who ran it
Convertibles ran this test for an 8-figure slime brand and published the results (Convertibles case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Convertibles →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show tiered reward progress and the next step at the top of the cart drawer, then more shoppers will add another item because they can see what they have earned and how close the next tier is.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per visitor among shoppers who open the cart
- Guardrails
- Conversion rate
- Items per order
- Cart abandonment rate
- Who should test it
- Stores with a tiered offer (gifts, quantity discounts, bundle savings) where the next tier is a small step. It fits poorly for single high-priced items, or for drawers already crowded with banners.
Questions
Should a reward message sit at the top or bottom of the cart drawer?
Top, in this test. It is the first thing shoppers see when the drawer opens.
Is free shipping or a free gift a better cart incentive?
For this brand, leading with free gifts beat leading with free shipping.
Lead with whichever offer is most specific to you.
How specific should progress messages be?
Specific enough to act on, such as naming how many gifts are unlocked and that one more item gets the next tier.
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