30 Best Examples of Nudge Marketing in eCommerce

Looking for a more sustainable way to grab visitors’ attention on your store, other than with discounts and freebies? Well, this is why nudge marketing has become a go-to psychology hack for getting the desired action on your eCommerce store.

Nudge marketing is a long-term marketing strategy that encourages visitors to make fast purchasing decisions through subtle or direct prompts.

Nudges influence buying decisions by leveraging psychological biases while making the choice feel more natural for the buyer. 

From giant eCommerce stores like Amazon to the smaller online stores, nudge marketing has helped increase customer engagement, acquisition, and retention when done right.

In this article, we’ll be sharing 30 examples of how brands are using nudge marketing to increase sales.

30 best nudge marketing examples in eCommerce

1. Nike’s Smart Notification

Notifications are the first thing anyone thinks of when we mention nudge marketing strategies. In general, notifications can be disruptive and if not implemented well, can create a bad user experience.

In this example, Nike uses a smart notification that tells you just how popular this stock is by showing off how many have been sold. They also nudge you to join other cool shoppers in buying this product while it's still trendy.

This type of nudge is especially great for products where trends are a major influence on whether a customer makes a purchase or not. You can use this nudge for clothing, beauty products, and even gadgets. A great example is how customers always want to be one of the first people to try out a new Apple gadget.

Maintain a good user experience while implementing smart notification nudges;

• Ensure your notifications are dismissable
• Make your content persuasive. If possible add social proof or statistics
• Position it at a location that doesn’t disrupt the other elements of your page
• Use behavioral insights to decipher smart delivery timing

2. Biolite Energy’s Recommendation Nudge

Biolite understands how important reviews are in nudging customers and so they don’t stop at showing off the conventional review stars. They go the extra mile to show that all reviewers are not just satisfied with the product, but that they also recommend it.

On your eCommerce store, you can place your user-generated recommendations across your homepage, product pages, and even on your customer’s cart just before the checkout. These are pivotal areas that’ll help nudge a prospective customer into making that final purchase.

Biolite uses this type of nudge marketing on their product page.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re collecting and displaying this type of recommendation nudge;

• Don’t just use random figures, have actual people recommend the product
• Make it authentic by showing off customer details like their name and if they are a verified buyer of the item
• Make it easy to review by adding a rating option along with a section for text
• Give room for your reviewers to upload user-generated content like pictures or videos

3. Nerdwax’s Upsell Nudge

Nerdwax uses nudge marketing to upsell a high-value pack on their product pages just before the checkout.

Nerdwax goes into detail by showing what the high-value pack contains as well as how much you’d typically save by opting for this bundle. They also make it very easy to add this stock to cart with a bright yellow CTA.

You can adopt this strategy for your eCommerce store by placing an upsell nudge on the product page or in their cart right before the checkout.

When working on your upsell nudge, here are a few tips to keep in mind;

• Add an incentive to clearly highlight the benefits of opting for the upsell
• Don’t be too pushy with your upsell e.g showing it as a pop-up right when they land on a page
• Ensure the upsells are personalized to fit into whatever product they’d want to purchase
• Keep the price of your upsell within a reasonable amount. No more than 25% of the initial purchase price.

4. Amazon’s Default Options

Study shows that shoppers believe that the default is either the best option or a very good suggestion they should go ahead with. While they are not very obvious, defaults are a very useful nudge marketing strategy because choosing a different option means the user has to make a conscious effort to take an action.

In our example below, Amazon chooses a default shipping date for customers interested in delivery. And although priority shipping offers a faster delivery date, the regular shipping option is the default. Chances are, customers will gear towards this option because it’s significantly cheaper. 

Some other ways you can use default options across your eCommerce store includes;

• Choosing a specific color or size of a product
• When opting in for deals and offers
• For choosing between complex options that require expertise
• Personalizing the user experience based on their previous shopping behavior across your website

5. Amazon’s Urgency Nudge

In our example below, Amazon shows off their collection and adds a label underneath specific products to tell interested customers that it’s a limited-time deal as opposed to the other deals of the day.

This limited label is a nudge that’ll push interested customers into buying almost immediately because they will not want to miss out on this stock.

Your urgency nudge marketing strategy could be placed anywhere. As a pop-up, on the home page, specific product pages, or across your catalogs.

When creating an urgency nudge, here are a few pro tips to keep in mind:

• Leverage seasonal discounts like Black Friday, Christmas, etc
• You can show how much is left in stock to help customers see that they are not alone
• Add a countdown timer to show how much time is left
• Show the number of customers actually checking out this offer
• In your copy, use key phrases that suggest a sense of urgency. Words like limited, hurry now, etc

Short on time? Here's a quick video with all the brilliant examples:

6. Beardbrand’s Highlighted Nudge

As part of their holiday campaigns, Beardbrand offers free shipping which they don’t exactly phrase as free shipping.

However, they understand that a large percentage of their visitors might not be interested in reading this section so they created a subtle nudge with a yellow highlighted text to get them to read through it.

You can use this type of nudge when you want a customer to review a manual, handbook, discount offers, loyalty program, or other additional content you deem important.

The best way to implement this type of nudge marketing strategy is to position it on the product page where your customers are still very interested in knowing more about a particular item.

When creating a highlighted text nudge, ensure that you;

• Use a distinctive highlight color that is attention-grabbing and also complements other colors on your page
• Have a punchy headline that makes your prospective customers curious
• Keep your additional text short, direct, and highly relevant to the product

7. Patagonia’s Overlay Nudge

Patagonia has a different store dedicated to revamping old clothing and giving it out. They apply a strong nudge marketing strategy to advertise this section to their customers. As an incentive, they offer some trade-in credit in exchange for any old clothing.

For visitors who might be uninterested, there’s a back button that makes a good user experience.

You can use this type of nudge to encourage signups, show off details about a product, advertise other product lines, or even promote a discount offer. The great thing about interactive overlays like this is that they can be shown anywhere.

However, to ensure your overlay doesn’t affect your user experience, you should;

• Study shopping behavior to identify the perfect time to show your pop-up
• Make the cancel button obvious so users can easily navigate away from your overlay
• Keep your content simple. Too much of it can cause cognitive overload
• Let your CTA be clear and easily distinguishable

8. Patagonia’s Activism Appeal Nudge

People generally love being part of a greater cause and this is why Patagonia uses this appeal to create trust symbols that’ll nudge customers to make that final click. 

Through their nudge marketing strategy, they appeal to customers’ sense of activism and emotions by making them see that their purchase will make a difference to the world.

You can use this type of nudge when your eCommerce store has a community or loyalty program. Place them across your homepage, about page, product page, checkout page and even on the order confirmation.

To effectively use this type of overlay;

• Find a brand philosophy to capitalize on
• Add verifiable trust icons to support your claim
• Rather than giving out too much info on your nudge, add a link that takes interested customers to the details of your claim
• Use figures to support your appeal

9. SkinnyMe’s Price Anchoring Nudge

SkinnyMe uses a price anchor as their nudge marketing strategy. They show off the before and after price discount for this product. After comparing both prices, customers will be more inclined to purchase this product because they’ll want to maximize the discounts they’ll get from this sale.

You can use this on specific products during clearance sales or other kinds of discounts. Position this on the pricing page or on your catalog page. They can also be used across ads on your digital channels.

Here are a few tips you should keep in mind when using a price anchor nudge;

• Ensure that both prices are placed together side by side
• The higher price anchor should be struck through so customers can differentiate between the discounted price and the original price
• Don’t overuse this type of nudge on the same product. If it’s always on discount, the discount will lose its appeal
• If possible, across other areas of your store, give your customers a timeline on when prices will revert to normal. This will emphasize the urgency of this discount.

10. SkinnyMe’s Community Nudge

SkinnyMe's focuses their nudge marketing strategy in the review section. If you see their reviews, there are a lot of transformation pictures from their community. Prospective clients can see the real-life results through a before and after comparison of previous customers.

As a product that’ll warrant a lot of convincing before use, SkinnyMe uses this to nudge their visitors into actually trying the product to get their results.

This type of community-generated content is perfect for products that require a certain amount of trust before purchase. Think about beauty products, very expensive products, or products that are common across competitor stores. It answers the question; “why should I opt for your own product?”

When opting for this type of nudge, you should;

• Make it easy for verified shoppers to upload their media along with their reviews
• It should have a side by side comparison of how the product made their lives better
• Ensure that the review has additional information like name when they purchased the product, and a star rating
• Place these nudges underneath your product details on the product page so customers are encouraged to add to cart or even checkout

11. Amazon’s Scarcity Nudge

Yes, Amazon's on our list again. Only because they apply such great nudge marketing strategies.

In this example, Amazon uses scarcity as a nudge to drive more sales for this product. That’s why they immediately show a sense of urgency by stating that there’s only one copy left in stock. 

Since there’s only one left, any visitor browsing this product out of the fear of missing out would want to grab the last copy on the shelf.

You can use a scarcity nudge to publish time-sensitive offers or products with limited stock. It’s usually best to place these scarcity nudges on the product page so customers can immediately add them to cart.  

When using a scarcity nudge, here are a few tips to keep in mind;

• Use this nudge in moderation. Too much of it will give your store a bad impression
• Don’t be too pushy, remember it’s a nudge
• Show the numbers left in stock, they help make it a lot more believable
• Highlight the incentive for buying now

12. Under Armour’s Wishlist Nudge

To increase the percentage of returning visitors by helping their visitors save interests, UA nudges customers to use the wishlist feature through a dismissable banner.

With this simple nudge marketing strategy, they can provide an omnichannel user experience for their visitors and even create more personalized retargeting ads or cart reminder emails.

As a behavioral nudge, you can study customer shopping behavior before showing this banner. For example, is a customer leaving a product page almost immediately? Or trying to exit after looking at it for a long time? These are great instances where you can introduce a wishlist nudge.

A few things to keep in mind when designing your wishlist nudge;

• Ensure the wishlist works. It’ll be a shame if a customer saves an item and can’t find it on another device when they log back in
• Make your banner visible with a distinct color and font
• Don’t forget to add a remarkable CTA that redirects them to the signup page
• In your copy, highlight a benefit of using a wishlist or a reason why they should even consider it

13. ASOS In-Picture Nudge

With an in-picture nudge, ASOS subtly notifies customers of how high-demand this product is. Thereby nudging them to purchase immediately before it becomes low on stock. ASOS positions thier nudge in a non-intrusive way yet it’s directly on the product image where you can’t miss it.

Since customers tend to focus on the pictures of the product before deciding on whether they’d like to purchase it, it’s a great place to add a nudge. You can add this on popular items, fast selling, or products on clearance sales.

When adding an in-picture nudge, ensure you;

• Never allow it to obscure the product image itself. Your nudge should be subtle and not disruptive
• Use less than 6 words to drive your copy so it’s direct and short
• You can use social proof to make your nudge even urgent. But also keep it simple

14. IKEA Directional Nudge

To help their visitors identify certain functionalities of the homepage, IKEA uses subtle nudge marketing strategy through a directional arrow that nudges customers into clicking a specific area of the screen.

Directional cues can be used at any point in your eCommerce store. They are used to help your customers find certain navigation areas, especially important CTA’s. Your directional cues could be an arrow, your model looking at a specific area on your page, or lines even.

When using directional cues, you should;

• Ensure that your CTA stands out because all cues will lead to it
• Keep it simple, they are cues so don’t give in to the temptation of going overboard

15. IKEA Variant Nudge

We are loving IKEA's nudge marketing strategies. They nudge customers into checking out a variant that might better suit their interior style, IKEA shows off their vast variant stock directly on the product page. 

You can use this nudge across products like clothing, accessories, furniture like Ikea, or any other stock you have in multiple colors and sizes.

Your shop or catalog page is a great place to highlight this nudge so customers can easily see that there are many options. Your product page is another location where you can highlight your multiple variants.

When designing a variant nudge;

• Let your customers understand the variant type you have in one glance. If it’s a color, display that color itself, and if it’s a size variant, show the letters that indicate that
• For colors try to show your customers an image of what the product will look like with the color
• When there are too many variants, avoid showing them all at once to prevent indecisiveness. At this point, show a few and add a link or dropdown for customers who’d like to see more.
• Always have a default variant

16. Kenwood’s Freebie Nudge

To nudge their customers into purchasing this product, Kenwood offers a free gift and positions a label highlighting this right beside the product image.

Like other product badges, your label should give something away about the product. For additional freebies, you should always ensure that your hint is clearly visible on the product page.

Because labels and badges can’t convey enough, always have another description hinting at what your free gifts might be.

When using a freebie nudge marketing strategy;

• Offer a relevant gift to your customers
• Show what the gift is at the checkout page to influence them there as well
• You can also add qualification criteria for instance purchases of a certain amount

17. Taylor Stitch Navigation Bar Nudge

Taylor Stitch is a wonderful nudge marketing example as it allows first-time customers to make a purchase to get a 20% discount with a sticky label positioned on the navigation bar.

Your navigation bar is one place every customer will interact with on your site so ensure that whatever nudge you’re displaying doesn’t affect the other links there. You can use a strip instead to highlight your offerings.

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When designing a navigation bar nudge;

• Keep your copy short and simple
• Ensure your navigation bar is sticky so they can keep seeing it even when they scroll away
• Always add a link or CTA that takes them to the details of the nudge

18. Taylor Stitch Progress Nudge

To encourage their customers to complete the checkout process, Taylor Stitch uses nudge marketing by including a progress bar so customers can see how far and how much they have left to check out in real-time.

A progress bar is used to increase user engagement on what could be regarded as a boring activity. So use them in areas of your eCommerce store that require multi-step activities like forms, order booking, etc.

Here are some pro tips for designing a progress bar;

• Use labels that inform them of the steps to take
• Ensure your bar is very visible. Preferably top fold
• Keep it moving with each step

19. Ntwrk’s Smart Notification Drop

While running a sale, Ntwrk utilized nudge marketing strategies to notify customers of upcoming deals. And so they created a smart notification that nudges customers to sign up for getting notified about newer deals similar to the ongoing one.

You can place these notifications on your homepage to immediately get your desired action.

For designing effective push notifications

• Keep the copy short. You can experiment with word and character counts
• Always add an icon to show the authenticity of the notification
• Ensure it’s a one-click event. After this, it should be dismissed

20. Burga’s Social Proof Nudge

On their product page, Burga uses social proof of the number of purchases and number of positive reviews to nudge their customers into adding the item to cart. The trust symbol ‘Trust Pilot’ also helps to reinforce the sense of reliability.

You can add social proof anywhere on your eCommerce store. From your homepage to the product page, cart, and even at the checkout page.

When using social proof as a nudge marketing strategy;

• Use trust symbols
• Always add figures to show how far your brand has gone
• You can use customer reviews to boost your ratings

21. Burga Product Recommendation Nudge

Burga nudges customers to increase their order value just before the checkout page by offering free shipping on certain conditions and accompanying additional gadgets.

The best place to add a product recommendation nudge is right on the product page or in their cart just before the checkout button.

When offering product recommendation nudges;

• Ensure the recommendations are highly relevant to the shopper
• Add an incentive for when they choose that recommendation
• Make it easy to add the recommended product to cart. Ideally, one click.

22. Burga’s Reassurance Nudge

In addition to their upsell, Burga offers reassurance to their customers with three checks that offer a wonderful customer experience. This serves as a nudge to get them to complete the checkout process.

Place these reassurance nudges just before your checkout button and on your checkout page. They are areas customers usually abandon a purchase.

Here's how to use reassurance in your nudge marketing strategy;

• Use trust symbols
• Add check marks to emphasize your offers
• Keep your assurance short and easy to digest in one glance
• Ensure it addresses the fears a customer might have about completing an order

23. Skinnyteatox Upsell Pop-up Nudge

In their upsell strategy, Skinnyteatox nudges their customers to add more items to cart by gamifying the experience. They first start by creating a pop-up and make customers feel like they’ve unlocked more discounts because they chose to buy certain products.

This is great for every type of product and you can create this by using an add to cart trigger.

When upselling with a pop-up nudge, ensure that;

• The upsells are relevant to the customer purchase
• Adding to cart is seamless and just one click away
• Customers can easily exit your pop-up nudge if they are not interested 

24. Choosemuse Onboarding Nudge

On their product page, Choosemuse uses a chatbot to nudge their customers into checking out a video of what their latest product looks like. This video increases the purchasing intent of the customer by highlighting the importance and cool features of the product.

Chatbots are great as a nudge marketing strategy because you can use them in every area of your eCommerce store. They come in handy when you want your customer to check out a guide, loyalty program, available stock, size guide, etc.

When adding a chatbot nudge;

• Make your copy very personalized so it doesn’t feel like a chatbot
• Offer assistance in your messaging
• Make the pop-up dismissable and the dismiss icon should be visible

25. Koala’s Exit-Intent Overlay

To reduce the number of leaving visitors, Koala designed an exit-intent pop-up to cross-sell and collect leads. They use a discount in the form of a question to nudge these website visitors into entering their contact information.

You can use an exit-intent overlay to collect leads, data, information from your site visitors. However, you should always use smart timing to only show this pop-up when a visitor has intentions of leaving your store.

When designing your exit overlay;

• Have one clear offering or incentive on your pop-up
• Your CTA should be clear and simple
• Ensure that ways to exit the pop-up are visible

26. Daily Harvest's Benefit Nudge

Consumers are always looking for functional benefits when it comes to products. This is driven by their desire to be ‘in the know’ and get more out of their money and time.

That's why this product label from Daily Harvest is so appealing.

It prompts them to understand how the functionality of the product aligns with their lifestyle. When you look at this functional value, it’s easy for them to see just how it’ll help improve their situation and contribute towards the end goal.

Here are some tips for using this type of nudge marketing:

• Stick to three or fewer core benefits. Why? People like being able to analyze products & make decisions at a glimpse. The more the benefits, the more overwhelmed they’ll likely become.
• Try and incorporate some sort of visual element that highlights that benefit. In this picture, you can see how the three functional aspects reflect on the beverage.
• Look into iconography. Convey more meaning with fewer words. Avoid cognitive overload with this simple technique.

27. Taylor Stitch’s Loyalty Nudge

We all know that a good percentage of people love joining loyalty programs and being rewarded for being active customers. 

So, why not incorporate that into your strategy for nudge marketing?

Build a customized exit-intent overlay that nudges customers to be engaged with the brand. From there, you can then use retargeting strategies to get them to convert.

Here are some tips for building a loyalty program and including that as a part of your nudge marketing program:

• Ensure the pop-up’s X button is clearly visible - for obvious reasons.
• Make the referral program easy to join and share.
• Make the next steps obvious. The loyalty program isn’t the end goal, right? So, channel that exit-intent pop-up, that program nudge, into something greater. Incorporate retargeting programs with sales alerts, recommended products, social proof, etc.

Keep Reading: 14 eCommerce Loyalty Programs Backed By Science (Examples)

28. ASICS’ Badge Nudge

Product badges are a good way to nudge your customers without taking up too much cognitive load.

The use of badges can often be one of the most fundamental parts of a product's user experience.

A badge is an on-screen icon that indicates additional information about a product. It can be simple, like the one you see below on ASICS, or it can take on different shapes and sizes to reflect the nature of that product's content.

How do you use product badges properly?

• Use no more than one badge per product. Stick to what’s absolutely essential and will draw attention. In the example above, ASICS knows that the reflective surface helps this shoe stand apart from the rest.
• Use a contrasting color. Like with everything else, this helps build a distinction.
• Avoid using a badge on every single product. Remember: nothing’s truly special if everything has something special about it.

29. Adidas’s Anchoring Nudge

Price anchoring is a pricing method where a certain price point serves as a reference point to determine the actual price of your products, which in turn influences how customers perceive the value of that product.

In this ad, Adidas uses a very simple visual cue as a price anchor drawing a strong distinction for the product in feature.

Here’s how you can use price anchoring in your favor:

• Keep it simple. Use visual cues - they’re important because they subtly convey the price distinction and build upon the psychological value of this technique.
• The lower price doesn’t always have to be THAT much lower. It’s all about how you communicate the perceived value.
• Dynamic pricing can be helpful when it comes to anchoring.  

30. Sephora’s Product Recommendation Widget

Finding the right products can be challenging for some customers. That's where a product recommendation widget comes in handy.

From the customer's perspective, it takes into consideration personal choices and plans out products they would've otherwise needed effort to pick.

From the business perspective, it helps you understand your customers, determine the segment of customers who may be interested in certain products or solutions, and direct them to it therein increasing conversions over the long run. 

Here’s how to get the most out of your product recommendation widget:

• Use 5 - 7 form fields. Any more and customers will likely lose interest.
• Offer a full spectrum of products at the end. With fashion brands, offer an outfit instead of just one or two pieces. Increases the perceived value.
• Ensure the products at the end are easily clickable and can be added to the cart. Important and valuable add!

BONUS: Frequently Asked Questions

What is a nudging strategy?

Nudge marketing is a relatively new concept that is becoming increasingly popular with businesses. Essentially, it is a way of using psychology to influence customer behavior.

There are a few key things to know about nudge marketing in order to make it effective.

First, you need to understand what motivates your customers.

Second, you need to create an environment that makes it easy for customers to make the desired behavior.

Finally, you need to deliver your message in a way that is compelling and trustworthy.

If you can do all of these things, you’ll be well on your way to success with nudge marketing. 

What is nudge marketing?

Nudge marketing is a way of using psychology to influence customer behavior. It is based on the idea that people can be “nudged” into making certain choices or taking certain actions.

For example, a business might use nudge marketing to get customers to buy more products. They might do this by placing items in strategic locations, offering discounts, or using other methods to make the desired behavior more attractive.

What are the benefits of nudge marketing?

There are several benefits of nudge marketing.

• It can be an effective way to reach and engage consumers.
• Nudge marketing can be used to influence consumer behavior.
• By understanding how people make decisions, nudge marketers can design more strategic campaigns.
• It is relatively inexpensive and easy to implement.
• Nudge marketing can be used in a variety of settings, including online and offline.
• Nudges can also be an effective way to boost sales and encourage customers to take desired actions.
• It can also be used to increase brand awareness or to change customer perceptions.

What are some common techniques used in nudge marketing?

Some common techniques used in nudge marketing include social proof, loss aversion, and anchoring.

• Social Proof

This technique relies on people’s natural tendency to follow the crowd. When people see others doing something, they are more likely to do it themselves.

• Loss Aversion

This technique plays on people’s fear of loss. People are more likely to take action to avoid losses than to achieve gains.

• Anchoring

This technique involves presenting people with a starting point from which they then make decisions. The starting point (or anchor) can influence people’s subsequent judgments and decisions.

How does nudge marketing work?

Nudge marketing works by using psychological principles to influence people's choices.

For example, one common tactic is to use positive reinforcement to encourage people to make the desired choice.

For instance, a company might offer a discount for choosing an environmentally friendly option.

There are a lot of potential applications for nudge marketing, and it can be used to achieve a variety of different goals.

For example, nudge marketing can be used to increase sales, encourage people to sign up for a service, or even get people to vote.

Wrapping up

Whether you’d want to create a subtle or a strong nudge, any of the examples we’ve discussed above can be implemented across your eCommerce store. 

Remember that a good nudge often acts as a guide in the sense that it gives the customers an option to choose. So when designing yours, ensure that it isn’t intrusive. Rather, it should help make the user journey even more seamless across your store.