An order bump is a small add-on offered on the checkout page itself, as a box the buyer ticks before paying. Tick it and the add-on joins the same order and is charged in the same payment: no extra page, no second card form.
It is the cheapest offer in a funnel to add, because the buyer is already on the page with the card out. I'd put one on every checkout that has a natural small add-on, and leave it off the ones that don't.
I spent nine years as CTO of a direct-response company, and the custom checkout was one of the systems I built there. The part of it that got the least attention in meetings was a one-line box under the order summary. It was also the easiest money on the page, which is exactly why it deserves more care than it usually gets. Most bumps I see are an afterthought: a vague "special offer", a price that makes no sense next to the product, and a box that's sometimes already ticked.
This guide covers what an order bump is, how it differs from the other offers in a funnel, what makes one worth ticking, and how to measure it without fooling yourself.
Order bump vs upsell, downsell and cross-sell
The order bump is one of four offers that raise the value of a sale. They get used interchangeably, but each sits at a different moment and is judged by a different number. The bump is the only one that happens before the payment.
| Offer | Where the buyer sees it | How they accept | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order bump | On the checkout, before paying | Tick a box; same order, same payment | A travel pack with the supplement |
| Upsell | On its own page, after paying | One click, the card is reused | Six bottles instead of one |
| Downsell | After the upsell is declined | One click | Three bottles instead of six |
| Cross-sell | After the purchase, often by email | A new order | A meal plan a week later |
The practical difference is what the buyer is risking. On the checkout they haven't paid yet, so anything that makes the order feel bigger or more complicated can cost you the main sale. After the payment, the main sale is safe and the upsell can ask for more. That's why I keep bumps small and let the upsell do the heavy lifting. The upsell guide covers the post-purchase side in detail.
Where the order bump sits in the funnel
The bump lives on the checkout, between the payment details and the buy button. In a typical sales funnel the order is: the sales page (or a VSL) sells the main offer, the checkout takes the payment and carries the bump, then the upsell and downsell pages follow, then the thank-you page.
Because it rides on the first payment, the bump reaches every buyer, including the ones who will decline every upsell after it. On a one-page checkout it usually sits under the order summary. On a two-step checkout, put it on the step with the buy button, where the buyer is about to commit, never on the step that asks for the shipping address.
What makes a good order bump
A good bump is small, obvious and easy to say yes to. Four things decide it: the price next to the main product, how well it fits the order, the copy, and where the box sits.
- A price well below the core offer. Ticking the box should not feel like a second buying decision. SamCart's guide suggests pricing the bump at 20 to 40% of the main product (SamCart). That's a sensible starting range for a full-price product. Low-ticket front ends are the exception: when a $7 ebook exists to get the first sale, a $17 bump can bring in more than the front end itself, because the buyer was never judging the order by the $7.
- It completes the order. A refill, a travel size, a faster result, protection for what they just bought. If you need a paragraph to explain why it belongs, it belongs in the follow-up emails.
- One line of copy that answers "why now". A short headline, one or two sentences, the price. "Add a 14-sachet travel pack for $17 so your routine doesn't stop when you travel" does more than "Special one-time offer!".
- The box sits next to the decision. Directly above the buy button or under the order summary, with the price visible, and the total updating when it's ticked.
- The box starts unticked. The buyer opts in. In the EU this is the law: consent to an extra payment can't be inferred from a pre-ticked box, and a buyer charged that way is entitled to a refund (Consumer Rights Directive, Article 22). Everywhere else, a pre-ticked bump buys you refunds and chargebacks, and those cost more than the bump earned.
Order bump examples by vertical
The pattern holds across niches: something small that makes the main purchase work better, faster or longer. Prices below are illustrative, not results.
| Vertical | Main offer | Order bump | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supplement | An $89 bottle of a daily formula | A $17 travel pack of sachets | Same product, keeps the routine going away from home |
| Online course | A $149 course | A $27 template or swipe pack | Shortens the gap between watching and doing |
| Info product | A $7 ebook | A $17 audiobook or quick-start video | The same content, in the format they'll actually finish |
| Ecommerce | A $39 phone case | A $9 screen protector or shipping protection | Protects what they just bought; no explanation needed |
| Software or membership | A monthly plan | A one-time setup or onboarding call | Gets them to the first result sooner |
What the bad examples have in common is distance from the main offer. A course bump on a supplement checkout, a second unrelated product "because it's our bestseller", or a subscription hidden in a bump box. That last one is the fastest way I know to turn a good offer into a dispute problem, and on a card account that matters well beyond the one order (why chargebacks matter for your MID).
How to measure order bump take rate
Take rate is the share of checkout orders that include the bump. It's the first number to read, but it can't tell you on its own whether the bump is paying, because a bump can raise take rate and lower checkout conversion at the same time.
| Metric | Formula | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Bump take rate | orders with the bump ÷ checkout orders | Whether the offer fits the people buying |
| Checkout conversion rate | checkout orders ÷ checkout visitors | Whether the bump is costing you main sales |
| Average order value | checkout revenue ÷ checkout orders | What the bump adds to each order |
| Revenue per checkout visitor | checkout revenue ÷ checkout visitors | The two effects combined, in one number |
| Bump refund rate | bump refunds ÷ bump orders | Whether the tick was a real yes |
Revenue per checkout visitor is the one I'd decide on. If it goes up, the bump earns its place even when take rate looks modest. If it goes down, the bump is costing you main sales, however good its take rate looks.
About benchmarks: the figure you'll see most is SamCart's, which says bumps convert at 30 to 40% on average across its sellers' $7B+ in processed transactions (SamCart). It's a vendor's own number, published without a method, and it averages every kind of offer, price and traffic together. I wouldn't set a target from it. The fair comparison is your own previous bump on the same checkout, ideally as a split test, sized with the sample size calculator before you start.
Common order bump mistakes
- Pre-ticking the box. It inflates take rate for a week and refunds for a month.
- A bump that is a second product decision. If the bump costs as much as the main offer, it competes with it.
- Hiding a subscription in the bump. A recurring charge belongs in plain sight, stated as recurring, or not in a bump at all.
- Stacking bumps. Each extra box is one more thing to read before the buy button. Start with one and add a second only if checkout conversion holds.
- Copy that says nothing. "Yes, add this special offer!" tells the buyer neither what it is nor why it matters now.
- Judging it on take rate alone. Read it with checkout conversion and revenue per checkout visitor, as above.
- Repeating the bump as the first upsell. Someone who ticked the box shouldn't be pitched the same thing again one page later.
Order bumps in ElasticFunnels
When we built the checkout into ElasticFunnels, we made the bump a product of its own, with its own price and its own sales, because a bump that's only a line of HTML can't be measured, tested or refunded properly. The rest follows from that choice.
- A bump is a product. In Settings › Products, a product with its Classification set to Bump can be offered as a bump. Its price always comes from the product, and its sales are counted apart from the main product's.
- It goes on the checkout with a page event. A Set Checkout Bumps node in the checkout's page events picks the bump product and sets its title, one-line description, an optional image and the message shown once it's added. The page design doesn't change. Add a second bump on the same node when you're ready to test one.
- One order, one payment. The bump is added to the order as its own line and paid with the main product. In reports, bump revenue counts toward the Main Order Value, not as upsell revenue, so it never inflates your upsell take rate.
- You can split test it. A Split Test node in the same page events with a Set Checkout Bumps node on each branch tests two bumps, or the same bump at two prices, on one checkout URL. See split testing under one URL.
- Coupons are your call. Each coupon has an Applies on bump offers setting.
- After the checkout, one-click upsells and downsells work on Stripe, NMI and PayPal checkouts (upsells and order bumps, custom checkouts).
Every feature is on every plan, bumps included.
Want to watch it step by step? Create the bump product, add it to your checkout with a Set Checkout Bumps node and check it live, with a short clip for every click: How to add an order bump.
- If I had to choose between a better bump and a better upsell on a new funnel, I'd fix the bump first. Every buyer sees it, and it costs one line of copy.
- I'd never ship a pre-ticked bump, whatever the jurisdiction. The refunds arrive after you've already counted the revenue.
- A bump with a high take rate and a falling checkout conversion rate is a bad bump. Trust revenue per checkout visitor over the take rate.
- When a bump takes very well, treat it as a signal for the upsell. The buyers are telling you what they want more of.
The order bump is the smallest offer in the funnel and the one that reaches every buyer. Treat it like a real offer, with a price that makes sense, a sentence that earns the tick and a test that proves it, and it will quietly pay for a lot of the traffic behind it.
