Case Study: Electronic Arts achieves 43.4% increase in SimCity pre-order revenue with Optimizely

Removing promotional offer increases SimCity pre-order revenue by 43.4%

Electronic Arts’ Maxis division, preparing the high-profile 2013 SimCity launch, aimed to maximize online pre-order revenue but faced a puzzling challenge: a prominent promotional banner on the SimCity pre-order page (and in paid ads) pushed the “Pre-Order/Buy Now” button down the page and wasn’t driving the expected lift in conversions.

Using Optimizely, the team ran A/B tests of several page and ad variations—including one that removed the promotional banner—tracking clicks on the Pre-Order button and routing 100% of traffic to the experiment. Removing the promotion moved the CTA higher, raising the conversion rate from 5.8% to 10.2% and increasing pre-order revenue by 43.4%; mirroring the change in paid media further boosted results.

Electronic Arts

Mike Burk

Senior Online Product Manager, Maxis