Offer Test: Getting Started

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What is an offer test?

An offer test lets you test with discounts so you can measure how each one affects revenue, average order value, and conversion. See Offer types for the discounts you can test. ABConvert builds every offer as a Shopify automatic discount applied through Shopify Functions. Your existing discounts stay untouched, and an offer only applies to the visitors in the group it is set for.

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Offer types

You choose one offer type per group. The same five types are available to every group. Percentage offers can optionally set a maximum discount amount, which caps the dollar value the percentage can reach. You can also add a minimum requirement to any offer, either a minimum subtotal or a minimum quantity, so the discount applies only once the cart qualifies. Each type has its own settings, but the editor is the same: a live preview at the top summarizes the offer as you build it, and the Title you set is what shoppers see in the cart and checkout. When an offer’s scope is set to specific products or collections, you pick them from your catalog.

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When to use it

• Find the discount that pays for itself: Compare a discount group against a no-offer control to see whether the lift in conversion makes up for the lower margin.
• Increase average order value: Test a threshold discount (“spend $75, save$10”) to nudge cart size upward.
• Move more units: Test a volume discount to encourage multi-unit purchases on the products you want to sell through.
• Test free shipping: Compare free shipping against your standard rates to see which drives more completed orders.
• Compare two offers head to head: Set up a different offer in each test group to learn which promotion your shoppers respond to.

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When NOT to use it

• You are not testing the offer. If every visitor should receive the same permanent discount, create a standard Shopify discount instead.
• You need a manual discount code flow. Offer tests use Shopify automatic discounts, not codes shoppers type at checkout.
• You need to edit the offer after launch. You cannot change a test group’s offer once the test is live. Close the test and start a new one instead.
• You want to test storefront copy without changing the discount. Use a visual editor test for headlines, banners, images, or buttons.

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Set up an offer test

When you launch, ABConvert creates one Shopify automatic discount for the test and activates the script that assigns visitors. The status changes to Active once setup is complete. See Lifecycle for what each state means.

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Storefront widgets

You can attach an optional offer message to any group to promote the discount on your storefront. To add one, open the offer message component in the offer step and click Set up. The offer message renders as a badge anchored to a page corner, or as a banner. You can set its text, colors, and corner style, and choose whether shoppers can dismiss it. The text supports dynamic tokens such as the discount value, the cart subtotal, and the amount remaining to reach a threshold, so the same message updates as the cart changes.

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Discount combinations

ABConvert builds the whole test as one Shopify automatic discount. The Discount combinations controls decide whether it stacks with the other product, order, and shipping discounts in your store. Because it is a single discount, these settings apply to the whole test, not group by group. See Shopify’s discount combinations guide for which discounts can stack.

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How visitors experience an offer test

1. A visitor browses your store. ABConvert evaluates your targeting rules and assigns the visitor to a group. The assignment is sticky, so the visitor stays in the same group on later visits.
2. Shopify applies the discount for the visitor’s assigned group at the cart and checkout.
3. The visitor completes checkout. ABConvert credits the order to that group so you can compare performance across groups.

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Reading your results

ABConvert tracks every group across all metrics in the Analytics dashboard, not just the primary metric you chose. For an offer test, read two sides together: how much the offer lifted sales, and how much margin it gave away. How much did the offer lift sales? What did the offer cost? The dashboard’s Discount metric group quantifies the margin you gave away: Compare each group against the Control to decide whether a promotion earns its margin. A group can lift conversion and average order value while still lowering revenue per visitor if the discount is too deep, so weigh the lift against the discount cost. Profit metrics use your COGS configuration. See Key metrics for exact formulas and Analytics for how results reach significance.

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Common mistakes

• Editing the Shopify automatic discount manually. ABConvert creates and manages the automatic discount for the test. Do not edit or delete it in Shopify while the test is running.
• Forgetting discount combinations. Decide whether the offer should stack with your other product, order, and shipping discounts before launch.
• Reading lift without reading discount cost. A promotion can increase orders while lowering revenue per visitor or profit. Compare the lift against the discount metrics.
• Using one test to answer too many questions. If you need to know whether the discount or the message drove the result, test the offer and the storefront message separately.

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Offer test FAQs