The Problem
The Method
The Findings
At Skullcandy, creating premium audio experiences is core to their business. Their headphones and earbuds deliver the sound quality that music lovers expect. But operationally, they were managing costs related to package protection issues. Every lost, stolen, or damaged shipment required replacing products at full retail value and handling customer inquiries.
When they came across SavedBy's shipping protection solution, they saw an opportunity to transfer these costs and customer service responsibilities. SavedBy would cover replacement orders at full retail value and handle related customer service. The question was whether adding this option to their checkout would impact conversion performance.
The Challenge
Skullcandy's concern was straightforward: any addition to the checkout flow could create friction for customers. Even though SavedBy had no cost to the merchant, the team wanted to understand how customers would respond to additional checkout fees or charges before implementing across their site.
According to Will Jones from SavedBy, "Merchants have apprehension about adding anything to cart and checkout. Even though SavedBy only produces cash to the bottom line with no cost, they still have concerns about CVR effects."
This represents a common scenario for merchants evaluating new checkout features—balancing operational benefits against potential conversion impact.
The Approach
Skullcandy set up a theme test using Shoplift's platform, splitting traffic evenly between two experiences. This was their first time testing any product in the shipping protection category—they had no legacy solution in place for comparison.
Here's how the test worked:
Control Group (50% of traffic): Visitors saw Skullcandy's original cart experience with no SavedBy features prominently displayed.
Variant Group (50% of traffic): Visitors encountered SavedBy's shipping protection integrated into their cart experience. Following SavedBy's recommendations, these customers saw two distinct checkout buttons: a primary button with shipping protection already applied at the full cost, and a secondary button to proceed without protection at a lower price.
Universal Checkout Options: Regardless of which initial experience visitors saw, both groups had access to a checkbox on the actual checkout page where they could enable or disable package protection. For variant visitors who clicked the primary cart button, this checkbox started in the checked position.
SavedBy integrated directly through Shopify's native cart and checkout system, requiring no custom development. The test ran for just under seven days across 200,000+ total visitors, covering all visitor segments—new visitors, returning customers, mobile users, desktop browsers, and traffic from every major source including direct, paid ads, organic search, email, and SMS.
The Results
The data showed results that exceeded Skullcandy's expectations across multiple key metrics:
- Conversion rate improved by 10.2%
- Revenue per visitor increased by 13.1%
- Average order value saw a 2.6% increase, but wasn’t statistically significant
Skullcandy's goal was to maintain their existing conversion rate while gaining the operational benefits. The test revealed that customers responded positively to having shipping protection options available. The significant improvements in both conversion rate and revenue per visitor suggested that the prominent placement of shipping protection in the cart experience provided value that customers appreciated. “The most important thing was that our conversion rate didn’t take a hit,” said Sam Chambers, Senior Manager of Ecommerce at Skullcandy, “As long as that stays true, this is an easy win.”
“The most important thing was that our conversion rate didn’t take a hit. As long as that stays true, this is an easy win.”
The results were consistent across different customer segments and traffic sources. Shoplift's comprehensive tracking capabilities allowed Skullcandy to analyze performance across these various segments, providing confidence that the conversion improvement wasn't limited to specific customer types. The consistency of positive results across the entire customer base validated that featuring shipping protection options was broadly appealing to their audience.
What's Next
Based on these results, Skullcandy implemented SavedBy's shipping protection across their site. They've transformed what was once a cost center, dealing with lost, stolen, and damaged packages, into an additional revenue stream. The company now operates with higher conversion rates while eliminating substantial risks related to shipping issues.
SavedBy continues to handle replacement orders and customer service for shipping problems. The implementation addressed concerns across Skullcandy's Ecommerce, Customer Service, and Operations teams regarding package-related issues.
Key Takeaways
Skullcandy's test demonstrates that checkout additions don't automatically hurt conversion rates. In this case, offering shipping protection options appeared to provide value that customers appreciated, resulting in improved conversion performance alongside the operational benefits.
The testing approach allowed Skullcandy to validate the impact before making site-wide changes, providing data to inform their decision rather than relying on assumptions about customer behavior.
Ready to test shipping protection for your store? Exclusively for SavedBy customers, you can "try before you buy" SavedBy with a full white glove setup with no implementation fee and a 30-day trial of Shoplift, plus revenue sharing for qualifying merchants. If Skullcandy can boost conversions by 10.2% while eliminating shipping losses, imagine what the right test could reveal for your business.
