> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/checkout-testing/create-a-checkout-experiment.md).

# Create a Checkout Experiment

Step by step setup for a Checkout Experiment in Elevate A/B Testing, covering all seven creation steps, enabling the checkout extension in Shopify, and verifying the experiment after launch.

***

This page walks through the seven steps of the **New Checkout Experiment** flow, the checkout extension you enable afterwards, and how to verify the experiment once it is live.

### Before you start

| Prerequisite           | Detail                                                                                                                                                      |
| ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Shopify Plus           | Checkout Experiments run on Shopify Plus only. This is a Shopify platform restriction.                                                                      |
| Checkout Editor access | You need permission to edit the checkout in Shopify, because each component's extension is enabled there.                                                   |
| Variations             | Up to five, including the control.                                                                                                                          |
| A hypothesis           | Know which component you are adding or changing and what you expect it to do. Checkout traffic is small, so a vague test rarely produces a readable result. |

There is no live preview before launch. The preview panel in the app renders the component as it will appear, but the only way to see the experiment on your real checkout is to launch it and start a checkout yourself. Plan for that before you launch: see [Preview and QA Checkout Experiments](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/test/checkout/preview-and-qa).

### Step 1: General Info

1. Go to **Experiments** and select **New Experiment**, then choose the Checkout Experiment type.
2. Enter an **Experiment name**. This is the only required field. Name it for what it tests, such as "Checkout trust badges vs none," so it is readable in your results list months later.
3. Add a **Description** and a **Hypothesis** if you want them. Both are optional. The hypothesis is the field you will thank yourself for when you read the results.
4. Add **Assets** if useful. You can drop in images and documents up to 10 MB and videos up to 100 MB, for reference material such as mockups.
5. Under **What do you want to measure?**, select your experiment goal:

| Goal                    | Use it when                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Revenue per visitor** | The default recommendation. It captures both conversion and order value in one number.                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| **Conversion rate**     | You care only about completing more checkouts, not about order size.                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| **Average order value** | You are testing an upsell or anything meant to increase basket size.                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| **Profit per visitor**  | You want margin rather than revenue. It is always selectable, but only choose it if you have added [GOGs](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/operate/experiment-setup/product-costs). Without cost data the profit figure will not reflect your real margin. |

Select **Browse all metrics** for the full list. The goal decides how the winner is chosen. Every other metric is still calculated and shown in your results.

6. Select **Continue**.

### Step 2: What component do you want to test?

Select one or more components. Each card shows a rendering of what that component looks like in checkout.

| Component                    | What it adds                                                           |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Checkout Banner**          | The main banner at the top of checkout, with a heading and description |
| **Trust & Security Badges**  | Trust signals and security certifications                              |
| **Accepted Payment Methods** | A titled row or column of payment icons                                |
| **Checkout Upsell**          | Product offers shown during checkout                                   |
| **Customer Testimonials**    | Customer reviews with star ratings                                     |

This selection is not binding. Every component appears again in Step 3, and you can toggle one on there without coming back.

If what you want to test is not listed, use **Don't see the component you need?** to send it to the team. Requests feed the development priority list, and several components are already in progress. See [Checkout Testing Overview](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/test/checkout/overview) for what is coming.

Select **Continue**.

### Step 3: Configure checkout

This is the main setup step. The tabs at the top are your variations: **Control** is A, **Variation 1** is B, and the plus button adds another, up to five including the control.

Each component has a toggle and an expandable panel. Turn on the components you want in that variation and configure them. The **Preview** panel on the right shows the component you are editing, and reads "Select a component to preview" until you open one.

Two things to understand before configuring:

* **The control is configurable.** Leave it with everything off to test a component against a checkout with nothing added, or configure it to test one version of a component against another.
* **The preview is a rendering, not your checkout.** It shows the component's own appearance. It does not show the component in place on your real checkout page.

#### Checkout Banner

| Setting              | What it controls                                                                                      |
| -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Banner Type**      | The banner's colour and icon treatment: **Auto**, **Info**, **Success**, **Critical**, or **Warning** |
| **Spacing**          | How much space the banner takes above and below                                                       |
| **Heading Text**     | The bold first line, with its own alignment control                                                   |
| **Description Text** | The supporting line beneath it, with its own alignment control                                        |

Match the banner type to the message. **Critical** and **Warning** carry alarm colouring, which works for genuine scarcity and works against you for a friendly reassurance message.

#### Trust & Security Badges

| Setting              | What it controls                                                    |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Display Settings** | **Vertical** stacks the badges, **Horizontal** places them in a row |
| **Alignment**        | How the group sits within its space                                 |
| **Padding**          | Space around the group                                              |
| **Badges**           | Up to three badges, each with an icon, a title, and a description   |

Use the pencil to edit a badge, the bin to remove one, the drag handle to reorder, and **Add a new badge** to add one. Order matters: the first badge takes the strongest position in both layouts.

#### Accepted Payment Methods

| Setting             | What it controls                                                    |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Section Title**   | The line above the icons, with alignment, size, and colour controls |
| **Icons Alignment** | How the icon row sits within its space                              |
| **Payment Icons**   | The methods shown, in order                                         |

Reorder icons with the drag handle and add more with **Add More Payment methods**. There is no three item cap here. List the methods your customers actually use, and put the ones that reassure them first.

#### Checkout Upsell

| Setting                                        | What it controls                                                                                                               |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Offered Products**                           | **Auto Recommended Products** uses Shopify's recommendation system. **Offer Specific Products** lets you choose them yourself. |
| **Layout**                                     | **Vertical** or **Horizontal**                                                                                                 |
| **Number of products**                         | Up to three offers                                                                                                             |
| **Title** and **Subtitle**                     | The heading and supporting line, each with alignment, size, and colour controls                                                |
| **Button text**                                | The label on the add button                                                                                                    |
| **Display button with outline style**          | Switches the button from solid to outlined                                                                                     |
| **Show compare at price**                      | Shows the crossed out original price where one is set                                                                          |
| **Load new offers after an offer is accepted** | Replaces an accepted offer with another product                                                                                |
| **Keep product visible after adding to cart**  | Leaves an accepted product in the list rather than removing it                                                                 |
| **Confirmation message**                       | Shown once every offered product has been added to the cart                                                                    |

If you are testing an upsell, set your goal to **Average order value** or **Revenue per visitor** in Step 1. Measuring an upsell by conversion rate alone will miss the effect it was built to produce.

#### Customer Testimonials

| Setting                       | What it controls                                                                              |
| ----------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Layout**                    | **Stacked** shows reviews one under another, **Carousel** rotates them                        |
| **Star Icon Size**            | The size of the rating stars                                                                  |
| **Star Icon Tone**            | The colour treatment of the stars                                                             |
| **Number of visible reviews** | How many show at once                                                                         |
| **Testimonials**              | Up to three, each with a **Review Title**, **Reviewer Name**, **Rating**, and **Review Text** |

Use real reviews. A testimonial that reads as invented undercuts the trust the component exists to build.

Select **Continue** when every variation is configured.

### Step 4: Traffic Allocation

Use the slider to set how much traffic each variation receives. The default is an even split, and the percentages must total 100.

**Isolate traffic for this experiment** is optional and off by default. Turning it on dedicates a percentage of your traffic exclusively to this experiment, so those visitors join no other experiment. See [Traffic Isolation](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/operate/experiment-setup/traffic-isolation) for when that is worth the traffic it costs.

Select **Continue**.

### Step 5: Audiences

Narrow who is eligible, or leave everything at its default to include all visitors.

| Control            | Options                                                  |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Device Type**    | All Devices, Desktop, Tablet, Mobile                     |
| **Visitor Type**   | All Visitors, New Visitors Only, Returning Visitors Only |
| **UTM Parameters** | utm\_source, utm\_medium, utm\_campaign, utm\_content    |
| **Traffic**        | Source and Country                                       |

**Create Custom Audience** builds a reusable segment. See [Audience Targeting](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/operate/experiment-setup/audience-targeting) for the full set of options.

Be conservative here. A Checkout Experiment already sees only the visitors who reached checkout, and every filter you add cuts that further. Narrow the audience only when the hypothesis genuinely depends on it, such as a mobile only trust message.

Select **Continue**.

### Step 6: Enhance Your Variations (Optional)

Your variations are already set at this point. These three toggles layer additional changes on top, and most checkout experiments need none of them.

| Option                          | Use it when                                                    |
| ------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Content Editing Changes**     | You also want to change text or images elsewhere per variation |
| **Custom Code**                 | You need JavaScript or CSS changes per variation               |
| **Click-Through Rate Tracking** | You want to track clicks on specific buttons or links          |

Skip anything you do not need and select **Continue**.

### Step 7: Review Experiment

Check the experiment name, goal, and every variation's configuration. Then select **Create Preview Experiment**.

The experiment is created but not live. It moves to the Experiment Review screen, where you enable the checkout extension.

### Enable the checkout extension

Shopify requires each component's extension to be switched on in the Checkout Editor before it can render. This is a per component, per store step: once you have enabled the Checkout Banner extension on your store, later experiments using the Checkout Banner skip it. A component you have never used before needs enabling the first time.

1. On the **Enable Checkout Extension** screen, select **Enable Extension in Shopify**. This opens the Shopify Checkout Editor.
2. Find the Elevate A/B Testing extensions for this experiment in the extensions list.
3. Enable the extension and save.
4. Return to Elevate A/B Testing and select **I Enabled the Checkout extension**.
5. Select **Launch Experiment**.

A walkthrough video sits beside these steps on the same screen if you would rather watch it.

If you skip this, the experiment can be created but the components will not appear at checkout for anyone.

### Related

* [Checkout Testing Overview](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/test/checkout/overview): what this type can and cannot test, and how checkout metrics are counted.
* [Preview and QA Checkout Experiments](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/test/checkout/preview-and-qa): how to verify each variation renders correctly.
* [Ending an Experiment](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/operate/experiment-setup/ending-an-experiment): how to end a Checkout Experiment and what happens afterwards.