Shopify Price Increase A/B Test: Conversion Went Down, Revenue Went Up $37K
We raised a price 7.4% ($148 → $159) on almost a million visitors. Conversion fell, revenue rose $37,219 and profit about $48,000. Why, and how to test yours.
We raised the price on a live store by 7.4%. The conversion rate went down. Fewer people bought. And the store made $37,219 more.
If your agency, your dashboard or your own gut tells you conversion rate is the number that matters, this test will change how you look at your store. Below you’ll find every number, why it worked, the profit math, and the one metric you should watch instead.
This is my favourite test to show people, because almost everyone guesses wrong.
The setup
An apparel brand. The product sold at $148, and the price had never been tested. It had been set once and left alone, like it is on most stores.
Most CRO starts with design: buttons, colours, layouts. We start with money. Every test idea gets ranked by how much revenue it could move, and price is the biggest lever there is, because a small change hits every single order.
So we tested a small increase: $148 to $159, which is 7.4%. Big enough to matter, small enough that it doesn’t feel like a different offer.
We split the traffic 50/50. Half the visitors saw $148, half saw $159. Same page, same photos, same copy, same ads; only the price changed. And this wasn’t a small sample: close to half a million visitors in each group.
Before you read the results, take a guess. Did the higher price make the store more money, or less?
The results
| Metric | $148 (original) | $159 (+7.4%) |
|---|---|---|
| Visitors | 498,347 | 496,912 |
| Conversion rate | 1.31% | 1.27% |
| Average order value | $148 | $159 |
| Total sales | $966,195 | $1,003,414 |
| Revenue per visitor | $1.94 | $2.02 (+4%) |
The split worked: visitor numbers are basically identical. The conversion rate went down, from 1.31% to 1.27%. If that were the only number on your dashboard, you’d call this test a loser and kill it.
But every order was now worth $11 more, and total sales went from $966,195 to $1,003,414: $37,219 more with the higher price. Revenue per visitor rose from $1.94 to $2.02, up 4%.
So yes, slightly fewer people bought. But the people who bought paid more, and that more than made up for it.
Why the higher price didn’t scare people away
$159 still reads as “around a hundred and fifty dollars”. It’s the same mental price bracket. And someone buying a $150 piece of clothing is thinking about fit and fabric; eleven dollars is rarely what decides it.
Three things to take from this test
1. Conversion rate is not the goal. Revenue per visitor is.
Conversion rate only tells you how many people bought. Revenue per visitor tells you how much money every visitor is worth to you. You can win on one and lose on the other. This test lost on conversion rate and won on the number that actually pays your bills. (Same lesson in the AOV tests and the product description test.)
2. Fewer orders can be a good thing
Fewer orders means fewer boxes to pack, fewer support tickets and fewer returns, while you make more money. And the extra $11 on every order is almost pure margin, so on profit the gap is even bigger.
Say the product costs $50 to make and ship:
| $148 | $159 | |
|---|---|---|
| Kept per order | $98 | $109 |
| Orders | about 6,528 | about 6,311 |
| Profit | about $640,000 | about $688,000 |
That’s around $48,000 more profit, with about 217 fewer orders to handle.
3. Your price has probably never been tested
Most stores set a price once, by looking at competitors, and never touch it again. That’s a guess you live with on every single order.
Why this matters for your ads
A higher price also changes your ad economics. Every order now pays more of your ad cost, so the same cost per purchase leaves more profit, and you can afford to bid more for each customer. (How store changes lower your Meta cost per purchase.)
How to test your price
- Pick a best-seller with steady traffic.
- Read your reviews. If price rarely comes up as a complaint, you probably have room.
- Test a small increase, 5–10%, with a proper A/B testing tool.
- Don’t just change the price and compare it with last month. Last month had different traffic and different ads; that comparison tells you nothing.
- Avoid sales and Black Friday, and let the test run at least two full weeks.
- Judge the result on revenue per visitor, not conversion rate.
Frequently asked questions
Will raising prices lower my Shopify sales?
It can lower conversion rate slightly while raising revenue and profit. In this test, conversion fell from 1.31% to 1.27% but revenue per visitor rose 4%.
How do I A/B test prices on Shopify?
Use a proper A/B testing tool that splits traffic 50/50 between two prices. Don't compare with last month, avoid sale periods, run at least two full weeks and judge on revenue per visitor.
How much should I raise prices in a test?
Start with 5–10%: big enough to matter, small enough to stay in the same mental price bracket.
Alexander Skibinskiy
15+ years in digital marketing and e-commerce. Former head of growth at Karma and Luck, a nine-figure brand, where conversion rate grew 50% in one year of A/B testing. Founder of a seven-figure e-commerce brand; 100+ brands helped since 2015.
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