# Whole Bean preselected as default grind: +4.54% conversion rate

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Product page (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Variant, size & option selectors
- Test run by: [Blend Commerce](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/blend-commerce/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://blendcommerce.com/blogs/our-work/stone-creek-cro-case-study-12-months
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/stone-creek-coffee-default-whole-bean-grind/

Preselecting Whole Bean as the default grind on Stone Creek Coffee's product pages lifted conversion rate by 4.54%. Blend Commerce ran this A/B test for the coffee roaster. Subscription orders per visitor rose 25.74%, while average order value dipped 2.78%.

## Result

**+4.54% conversion rate**

- Conversion rate: +4.54%.
- Revenue per visitor: +1.63%, a smaller gain than conversion because orders got slightly smaller.
- Reached-checkout rate: +7.99%.
- Subscription orders per visitor: +25.74%, and subscription revenue per visitor: +45.07%.
- Average order value: -2.78%, a small negative to watch.

## Control

The grind option showed an unselected placeholder. Shoppers had to choose a grind before they could buy.

## Variant

Whole Bean was selected by default. Shoppers who wanted a different grind could still change it.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- A required choice with nothing selected is an extra step. A sensible default removes it for shoppers who want the common option.
- Subscription buyers may be the most likely to want whole beans, which could explain the large subscription lift.
- The option stayed easy to change, so shoppers who grind differently were not blocked.

## Caveats

Sample size, test length and statistical confidence were not shared. The default only helps if most buyers actually want Whole Bean; wrong-grind orders and returns were not reported.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we preselect the most popular option on a required product choice, then conversion will rise because shoppers who want that option skip a step.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Guardrail: Wrong-variant returns or support tickets
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it: Stores with a required option where one choice clearly dominates sales, such as grind, size or flavour. Avoid it when choices are split evenly or a wrong pick is costly, like clothing sizes or parts fitment.

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Credit: Blend Commerce ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/stone-creek-coffee-default-whole-bean-grind/).
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.