How do I test different pricing strategies and discount offers?

Testing Pricing Strategies and Discount Offers

Pricing tests are uniquely high-stakes in e-commerce: the right price point can dramatically improve unit economics, while the wrong one suppresses revenue or attracts low-LTV customers. The discipline required is to measure revenue per visitor, not just conversion rate - because higher prices at slightly lower conversion can outperform lower prices at higher conversion on total revenue.

Pricing Test Types

Pricing Test Methodology

• Traffic-split, not time-split: Never run a price test where $48 is shown in week 1 and $52 in week 2 - seasonal variation, traffic source changes, and news events all contaminate time-based tests
• Minimum 1,000 visitors per variant: Price tests need larger samples than copy tests because conversion variance is higher
• Test on a mid-traffic product first: Not your #1 bestseller (highest risk) and not your slowest mover (takes too long)
• Monitor return rate separately: A higher price that converts at similar rate but increases returns is not a winning test
• Check customer quality: In some markets, lower prices attract lower-LTV customers - monitor 90-day repeat purchase rates of test cohorts before declaring a winner

Discount Offer Testing with Growth Suite

Growth Suite's A/B Testing Module enables systematic testing of different discount offer types within Trigger Campaigns - for example, testing whether a "15% off your first order" offer converts better than a "free sample with your first order" offer for equivalent walk-away customer segments. Because Growth Suite targets only visitors showing exit intent or abandonment signals (not all visitors), these tests measure discount effectiveness on the specific customer segment where discounts are most relevant, producing more actionable data than blanket sitewide tests.