How to create a checkout experiment

This guide shows you exactly how to set up and run a checkout test using Elevate. We'll cover everything from creating your test to analyzing the results, so you can figure out what checkout elements work best for your store.

Step 1: Create an Experiment

Begin by accessing your Elevate A/B Testing dashboard. From there, look for the 'Experiments' section in the main menu. Once you've found it, click on 'New Experiment' and select 'Checkout Experiment' from the available options to start your journey.

Step 2: Define Your Test

Every successful experiment starts with clear documentation. Give your experiment a descriptive name that helps you identify it at a glance, such as "Trust Badge Checkout Test" or "Q4 Upsell Experiment." While optional, we strongly recommend adding a detailed description explaining what you're testing and writing out your hypothesis. Your hypothesis should clearly state what outcome you expect and why you expect it. This documentation will prove invaluable when analyzing your results later.

Step 3: Select Checkout Components

Choose which checkout elements you want to test. You can select from five component types:

• Checkout Banners: Add urgency or scarcity messaging to encourage immediate purchase

• Customer Testimonials: Build trust with social proof at the critical purchase moment

• Payment Methods: Display payment options to reduce friction

• Upsells: Increase order value with automated product recommendations or manually selected products

• Trust/Security Badges: Eliminate last-minute doubts with custom icons and text in horizontal or vertical layouts

Customize your chosen components with your own messaging, products, and visual styling. Your control variation will be your current checkout experience without these additions.

Step 4: Configure Traffic Distribution

By default, your traffic will be split evenly between your control checkout and your test variation. For example, if you have two variations, each will get 50% of your traffic. You can adjust these percentages however you want - just make sure they add up to 100%.

Step 5: Set Your Experiment Goal

What do you want to measure? Pick a main goal that will determine your winning variant. You can choose from our recommended metrics: revenue per visitor, conversion rate, average order value, checkout completion rate, or checkout start rate. Don't worry - we'll still track all other metrics for you, but your main goal helps us identify when your test has a clear winner.

Step 6: Add Audience Targeting (Optional)

You can optionally add audience targeting to refine who sees your experiment. Target based on:

• Devices: Choose between mobile, desktop, or both.

• Visitor Types: Distinguish between new and returning visitors.

• Traffic Sources: Filter traffic based on specific marketing channels or any UTM parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content, and others).

• Locations: Target specific countries or regions.

These filters allow you to run more precise tests and get targeted insights from different customer segments.

Step 7: Create Your Experiment

With your setup complete, click 'Create Experiment' to move into the review phase. The system will perform initial checks to ensure everything is configured correctly before moving to the next step.

Step 8: Enable Checkout Extension

To display your checkout experiment, you need to enable the extension in Shopify's Checkout Editor. Here's what you'll do:

1. Open the Shopify Checkout Editor

2. Locate the Elevate extensions for the experiment in the extensions list

3. Enable the extension and click Save

4. Feel free to watch the walkthrough tutorial for more info

You can click the "Enable Extension in Shopify" button to go directly to the settings page. The checkout components will display with preview text and won't show to customers unless a test is running. Position the components wherever you want them to appear on your checkout page. Once you've enabled the extension in Shopify, return to Elevate and click "I Enabled the Checkout extension" to proceed.

Step 9: Launch Your Experiment

You're ready to launch! Simply click the "Launch Experiment" button to begin testing your checkout components. Your experiment will start collecting data immediately, and you can monitor the results in real-time through your dashboard.

Next Steps

Once your experiment is live, keep an eye on its performance through your dashboard. Let the experiment run until you have enough data to make confident decisions about your checkout optimization.