# A/B test: show payment methods below the buy button

> If you show the payment method icons (card, PayPal, wallets, bank transfer) below the add-to-cart button, then more people will carry on to checkout, because knowing they can pay the way they like removes one reason to leave.

- Source: https://bixlow.com/en/ideas/payment-methods-below-button
- Language: en
- Updated: 2026-11-02
- Publisher: Bixlow

## Why it might work

Some people will not type their card details into a store they don't know. Full stop. If they can pay with PayPal or their phone wallet, they buy; if they don't see that option, they don't even try. And most of them only find out which methods you accept at the last step of checkout.

A row of small icons under the button settles that on the product page. Nothing about the payment process changes: you just tell people earlier what you already offer.


## 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. Show only the methods you really accept at checkout, in the order your customers use them most.
2. In the variant, add the row of icons right under the add-to-cart button, greyed out or in colour, but small.
3. Give each icon alt text with the method's name.
4. Run it on every product page, for all traffic.


## What to measure

|  | Metric |
| --- | --- |
| Primary metric | Orders per visitor |
| Metric that must not get worse | Add-to-carts |
| Where it is measured | Visitors who saw any product page |


> **When I would not test it.** If you only take cards, a row with a single icon adds little. And if your audience is mostly repeat customers, they already know how to pay in your store. The test makes more sense when lots of new people arrive.


## FAQ

### Which methods should I show?

The ones you accept, not one more. If you show PayPal and it is missing at checkout, you have turned a reassurance into a complaint.

### What about "secure payment" badges?

That is another test. Put them in the same variant and you won't know whether the payment icons or the badge did the work.

### Why not measure add-to-carts only?

Because the effect you are after is people actually paying. Add-to-carts can rise without orders rising, and then it did not help.

## Further reading

- [Previous idea: shipping cost next to the price](https://bixlow.com/en/ideas/shipping-cost-next-to-price)
- [What an A/B test is](https://bixlow.com/en/glossary/ab-test)
- [The A/B testing platform](https://bixlow.com/en/platform/ab-testing)