A/B Test Idea: Use the loss aversion psychological tactic

Loss aversion is a psychological phenomenon in which people are more motivated to act if they think they are going to lose out on something – or are made aware that they already are loosing out in their current situation – more than if the issue is framed as what they stand to gain.

Why? The pain of losing is ‘felt’ about twice as much as the pleasure of gaining.

How does it apply to e-commerce?

By pointing out that a customer may miss out on a deal or might lose out financially by shopping elsewhere, businesses can provoke powerful emotions associated with loss aversion and thus increase conversion rates.

Examples

Some concrete examples include:

• A count of how many items are left in stock.
• Create a sense of urgency by limited time offers: “only 4 days left to purchase this item at this price”
• “Price Drop” or “Savings” label to increase perception of value

Why we think this is a Good A/B Test:

Loss aversion is a subtle cue and powerful psychological tactic that can be leveraged to influence the buying decision, and isn’t particularly complex to implement to execute as you can swap out copy and/or imagery without having to write a line of code.