An order bump is a small extra offer placed on the checkout page, just above the pay button. The buyer has already decided to purchase. The bump asks one more question: "Do you also want this, for a little more?" A tick box adds it to the order. No new page, no second payment, no extra form.

It concerns anyone who sells through a checkout: a coach selling a 197 euro program, a designer selling a $29 template pack, a small brand selling candles. It is one of the cheapest ways to earn more per buyer, because it uses the moment when the buyer's card is already out and the trust is already there.

What is an order bump?

An order bump is a one-click addition to an order, presented inside the checkout before payment. It has four traits:

  • It sits on the checkout page, not before it and not after it.
  • It is small compared with the main purchase, usually 10% to 50% of its price.
  • It is closely related to what the buyer is already buying.
  • It needs one action to accept, typically a tick box with a short headline and one or two lines of copy.

An order bump is not an upsell. An upsell proposes a bigger or better version, often on a separate page after the first payment ("upgrade to the full coaching package"). It is not quite a cross-sell either. A cross-sell recommends complementary products while the buyer browses, on the product page or in the cart, and the buyer can ignore it before reaching checkout. The order bump is a cross-sell compressed into a single tick box at the last step.

Related vocabulary you will see: "checkout bump", "one-click add-on", "pre-purchase offer", and "OTO" (one-time offer), which usually refers to a post-purchase upsell page rather than a bump.

Why it matters

The order bump raises average order value without new traffic, new ads or new products. It works because the hardest decision, "should I buy at all", is already made. The bump asks a much smaller question.

A worked example. A creator sells a $49 photo editing course and gets 300 orders a month. She adds a bump: her preset pack for $19, normally sold at $29 on its own. If 25% of buyers tick the box:

  • 300 orders x 25% = 75 bumps a month
  • 75 x $19 = $1,425 extra revenue a month
  • Average order value goes from $49 to $53.75, up almost 10%

The preset pack is a digital file. Delivering it costs nothing. So nearly all of that $1,425 is margin, and it came from a single tick box on a page buyers were already visiting. Over a year, that is about $17,000 for one afternoon of setup.

The risk goes the other way too. A bump that distracts, confuses or feels pushy can lower the conversion rate of the checkout itself. Losing 2% of main sales to gain a few bumps is a bad trade.

How it works

The mechanism is simple. What makes it work is the choice of offer and the wording.

  • The buyer lands on checkout with the main product in the order.
  • A highlighted box appears near the payment button, often with a dashed border or a contrasting background.
  • The headline names the offer and the benefit in a few words: "Add the 12 Lightroom presets used in the course".
  • One or two lines explain why now: a reduced price available only here, or a clear link to the main product.
  • The buyer ticks the box, the total updates instantly, and one payment covers both items.
  • Delivery is automatic for digital products, or the item ships with the same parcel for physical goods.

The take rate is the number of orders with the bump divided by the total number of orders. It is the one metric to watch, along with the checkout conversion rate before and after adding the bump.

Benchmarks and examples

Take rates vary with price, relevance and wording. As rough ranges from creator and small-store checkouts:

  • Tightly matched digital bumps (a workbook with a course, presets with a photo course): 20% to 40%.
  • Physical add-ons (refills, a care kit, a gift wrap option): 10% to 25%.
  • Loosely related or expensive bumps: under 10%.

Typical situations:

  • A fitness coach selling a 12-week plan at 97 euros adds a meal plan at 27 euros.
  • A Notion template seller at $19 adds a video walkthrough of the setup at $9.
  • A ceramic mug brand adds a second mug at 30% off, framed as "one for a friend".
  • A course creator at 197 euros adds lifetime access to future updates at 37 euros.

As a rule, keep the bump under a third of the main price. Above half, most buyers stop and think, and a checkout is the wrong place to make people think.

Common mistakes

  • Offering something unrelated. A candle bump on a course checkout feels random. Relevance drives the take rate more than the discount does.
  • Pre-ticking the box. Adding the item by default and hoping nobody notices creates refunds, chargebacks and angry emails. In the EU, pre-ticked paid add-ons are not allowed under consumer law.
  • Stacking several bumps. Three tick boxes turn a checkout into a menu. One bump, clearly written, beats three.
  • Pricing it too close to the main product. A $40 bump on a $49 product is a second purchase decision, not a bump.
  • Never measuring the effect on checkout completion. A bump that lifts order value but lowers completed payments may be costing you money.

Best practices

  • Complete the main purchase. Offer the thing that makes the main product faster, easier or more useful: templates for a course, a travel pouch for a skincare set.
  • Give it a checkout-only price. "Normally $29, $19 when added now" gives a reason to act at that moment, as long as it is true.
  • Write the headline as a benefit. "Get the swipe file I use for every launch" beats "Add Swipe File".
  • Keep the copy to two lines. The buyer is about to pay. Do not make them read a paragraph.
  • Make it digital when you can. Zero delivery cost means the bump is almost pure margin.
  • Track take rate and checkout conversion together for at least 100 orders before judging a change.

In Roctify

Roctify does not include a native order bump or tick-box add-on at checkout. What you can do today is build the same logic with shipped features. Create a bundle as its own product ("Course + preset pack") at a price below the two items bought separately, and show it next to the single product in your store and on your link-in-bio page. Every product lives in one shared catalog, so the bundle appears in both places, and digital files are delivered automatically after payment.

You can also offer the add-on after the sale. With email marketing (Creator plan and up), send buyers of the main product a campaign with a discount code for the companion item. With Pro, reports and exports show which products are bought together, which tells you what a good add-on would be. And with 0% transaction fees on every plan, every extra euro or dollar of order value stays with you, minus only the payment provider's processing fee.

FAQ

What is a good take rate for an order bump?

For a well-matched digital add-on priced at 20% to 40% of the main product, 20% to 30% is a solid result. Physical add-ons usually sit lower, around 10% to 20%. Below 10%, test a more relevant offer or a clearer headline before lowering the price.

Is an order bump the same as an upsell?

No. An order bump is a small add-on accepted with one tick box on the checkout page, before payment. An upsell usually proposes a larger or premium version, often on a separate page after the first payment. Many sellers use both, but they answer different questions.

Can an order bump hurt my sales?

Yes, if it distracts or confuses. An expensive, unrelated or pre-ticked bump can make buyers hesitate or abandon the checkout. Compare checkout completion before and after adding it, and remove the bump if completed orders drop.