# A/B test: a "free shipping" badge on product cards

> If you flag on each product card the items that clear the free shipping threshold on their own, then average order value will rise, because shoppers see at a glance which products save them the shipping fee.

- Source: https://bixlow.com/en/ideas/free-shipping-badge-on-product-cards
- Language: en
- Updated: 2026-11-02
- Publisher: Bixlow

## Why it might work

Someone torn between two pairs of trainers, one at €45 and one at €55, does the maths. If you ship free over €49, the real gap is not €10, it is €10 minus the €4.95 shipping fee. But they only know that if they remember the threshold and do the subtraction.

A small "Free shipping" label on the €55 card does the subtraction for them. It is not a discount or a promotion: it is information you already had and were not showing.


## How to set it up

In Bixlow you describe the change to the agent, it builds it on your site and launches it as an A/B test once you approve it.

1. Set the rule: the badge shows on products priced at or above the threshold.
2. In the variant, add it to the product card near the price, small and in your brand colour.
3. Apply it on every category listing and on search results.
4. Run it for all traffic. If the threshold changes mid-test, stop and start again.


## What to measure

|  | Metric |
| --- | --- |
| Primary metric | Average order value |
| Metric that must not get worse | Orders per visitor |
| Where it is measured | Orders from visitors who went through a listing |


> **When I would not test it.** If nearly your whole catalogue sits above the threshold, every card gets the badge and it stops meaning anything. If almost nothing clears it, it shows on two stray products. It works when your prices fall on both sides of the line.


## FAQ

### Won't it push people towards expensive items only?

It may nudge up people who were close to the threshold, which is the point. If orders drop, the badge is making the cheaper items look like the worse deal.

### Card or product page?

This test is on the listing card, where people compare. Adding it to the product page as well is a separate change.

### What about products just under the threshold?

They get no badge. Helping those is a different idea: suggesting a cheap add-on in the cart that closes the gap.

## Further reading

- [Previous idea: bestsellers before new arrivals](https://bixlow.com/en/ideas/bestsellers-before-new-arrivals)
- [How to write a CRO hypothesis](https://bixlow.com/en/glossary/cro-hypothesis)
- [Sample size calculator](https://bixlow.com/en/tools/sample-size-calculator)