State a real shipping delay in the header bar, not just at checkout
Allbirds states a real shipping delay in the header bar itself, so the shopper knows before checkout instead of discovering it at the moment they're about to pay.
What it is
The top announcement bar states a real, current shipping delay, "Due to increased demand, orders may take up to 2 weeks to ship", on every page, instead of leaving the shopper to discover it for the first time on the shipping-estimate line at checkout.
Why it works
A shipping delay a shopper learns about for the first time at checkout reads differently than the same delay disclosed before they have invested any time browsing: at checkout it looks like the number that was withheld until the moment of commitment, which is the kind of surprise that makes a shopper suspicious of the rest of the order details, not just the delivery date. Stating it upfront, before the shopper has picked a single product, means the delay is something they already know and accepted by the time they reach checkout, so it cannot reframe the total as untrustworthy at the one moment that matters most.
How to test it
- Hypothesis
- Disclosing a real shipping delay in the header announcement bar will lift checkout completion rate, because shoppers who reach checkout have already accepted the delay instead of discovering it for the first time at the moment they're about to pay.
- Primary metric
- Checkout completion rate (sessions that start checkout)
- Guardrail metric
- Homepage bounce rate, which could rise if shoppers shopping for a deadline-sensitive occasion leave as soon as they see the delay instead of continuing to browse
Related ideas
Want this tested on your store?
We run the experiment, call the result honestly, and get paid on what it adds.
See the performance program