Ahead #1 | How 1 sentence on your product page boosts orders by 9%

Imagine this:

A customer is hesitating. A €80 dress. Beautiful. Her exact style — but still, she doesn't click.

Then she reads one line under the buy button:
"Pay in 4 installments of €20"

Suddenly it feels manageable. Less final. Less painful.
She clicks ‘Buy’. The order goes through.

Familiar?

BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) has become standard in e-commerce. Klarna, Afterpay and others dominate thousands of checkouts.

But the real question isn’t what happens.
It’s: Does it actually work — and for whom?

Now, for the first time, there’s a clear scientific answer.

What does the data say?

A team of marketing scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Leeds studied the impact of BNPL at a large US fashion retailer.

Here’s what they found:

• Customers who used BNPL completed purchases 9% more often

• They spent 10% more per order

And that’s just the beginning.

About the study

Setting:
In a peer-reviewed 2024 study, a major US fashion retailer implemented BNPL in October 2020. The retailer remains anonymous by request.

Method:

• 25,000 customers who started using BNPL

• Compared to 25,000 customers who did not

• 52 weeks of customer transaction data

• Analyzed using a difference-in-differences (DiD) model

Additional evidence:
The researchers also conducted three online experiments with 1,390 participants across categories like party goods, t-shirts, and airline tickets.

These experiments were designed to test the psychological mechanisms behind BNPL’s impact.

But here’s the interesting part…

Not every customer responds the same way to BNPL.

In fact, for some segments it doesn’t work — or even works against you.

That’s where smart e-commerce marketers make the difference.

In the Premium edition, you’ll learn exactly how to turn BNPL into measurable webshop profit — including test-ready tips for segmentation, targeting and copy.

Premium Edition

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The psychology behind BNPL: why it works

What makes installment payments so effective?
It’s not that the product seems cheaper.
And it’s not that customers are fooled by the split payment format.

It works because it aligns with how people manage money in real life.
The research shows two clear psychological effects:

1. The price feels lighter
When something costs €80, people instantly think: that’s expensive.
But when you say “4× €20”, it feels lighter — even though they know the total is the same. It lowers the friction.

2. More control over their money
Spreading payments gives customers a greater sense of financial stability. It fits better into their mental monthly budget — which makes them more likely to buy.

These two effects reinforce each other.

Lower barrier → greater perceived control → less hesitation → higher purchase rates.

This isn’t guesswork.
The study shows this pattern repeating across thousands of customers.

What BNPL is not:

BNPL does not make the product more attractive.
Customers don’t believe they’re getting a better deal.
And they don’t feel tricked.

The power lies in simplicity:
The payment simply feels more manageable.

It doesn’t only work for impulse buys.
Even for a flight that departs six weeks from now, BNPL has an effect.

It’s not about immediate gratification — it’s about feeling financial flexibility at the moment of decision.

Who benefits the most?

The biggest increase in purchases comes from:

• Customers placing smaller orders (under €75)

• People already used to paying in installments (e.g. credit card users)

And importantly:
This effect is not temporary.
In the six months after their first BNPL payment, customers continued to return and spend more.

What can you do as an e-commerce manager or marketer?

Here are five direct applications you can test today:

1. Test BNPL on low-AOV product categories
Think fashion, accessories or beauty. These often benefit most from lowered financial resistance.

2. Segment based on payment behaviour (if possible)
Use Klaviyo or a CDP to target customers with many credit card purchases using BNPL messaging.

3. Add “Pay in 4 installments of…” to your product page
Mention not just the total price, but the installment price — right under the buy button.

4. Don’t promote BNPL to high-AOV customers
The data shows: for customers used to larger orders, BNPL makes little difference.

5. Track impact on retention and CLV
Include BNPL in your A/B tests — but don’t just look at conversion. In this study, the impact lasted for months.

Note: Not all customer groups benefit.
Young or financially vulnerable customers may be harmed — use this tactic responsibly.

Reference

Maesen, S., & Ang, D. (2024).
Buy Now, Pay Later: Impact of Installment Payments on Customer Purchases.
Journal of Marketing, 89(3), 13–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429241282414

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