How to Write Order Bump Copy (The One-Paragraph Formula + AI Prompt)

A buyer is one thumb-tap from paying you. Above that button sits a checkbox with two sentences deciding whether they add a second item or skip it. Order bump copy works when it names the add-on as a benefit, shows the discount against a real price, and kills any doubt about effort, in two to three short sentences.

Order bump copy works in three short sentences: name the add-on as a clear benefit, not a SKU; state the discount against a real anchor price so the deal feels obvious; and confirm it's one click, added to the same order, no new payment step. Keep the whole block short enough to read in a glance.

Order bumps convert on reflex, not consideration. The buyer already said yes to the main offer, card halfway typed in, and that "yes" state doesn't last, it evaporates the moment your copy asks them to stop and think. What decides whether the box gets checked isn't the size of the discount, it's whether the buyer understands what they're getting and why it's easy, without pausing to work it out. Vague naming, pricing logic the buyer has to puzzle through, or copy that reads like a product description kills conversions a sharper three sentences would have caught.

What is an order bump, and why does the copy carry more weight than usual?

An order bump is the single add-on offer sitting on the order form itself, before the buyer finishes checking out, and its copy has to close the sale with no page and no second chance to explain.

It's not the same job as an upsell, which gets its own page after purchase with room for a headline and proof, while a bump gets just a checkbox and a line or two of copy. If you're not clear on how the two differ, read order bump vs. upsell before you write a word: copy built for an upsell slot reads bloated in a bump, and vice versa.

The constraint is the point. A buyer skimming a checkout page barely glances at a bump before deciding: do they want this, is it cheap enough not to think about, is it easy to add. Copy that persuades like a sales page loses to copy that just answers those three, fast.

What's the formula for order bump copy?

Order bump copy runs on three moves, always in this order: name the add-on as a benefit, anchor the discount to a real price, then remove the friction of buying it. Three sentences, one paragraph, nothing else.

1. Name the add-on as a benefit. Not the product's internal name, not a SKU, not "Bonus #4." "Add the 30-Day Ad Script Vault" beats "Add the Bonus Content Pack," because one tells the buyer what changes for them, the other tells them what's in a folder.

2. Anchor the discount to a real price. Show what it normally costs, then what they pay right now, in that order: "Normally $47. Add it for $9 today, only available on this page." The anchor has to be a number you'd actually charge standalone, not a figure invented to make the discount look bigger.

3. Remove the friction. Spell out exactly how little this costs in effort: "One click. No new card. Added straight to your order, delivered with your download."

Here's the formula against two different offers:

A digital template shop: "Add the 40 Canva Carousel Templates to your order. Normally $37, yours for $12 today only. One click, no new payment step, they land in your inbox with your main file."

A cohort course: "Add lifetime access to the private Q&A replay vault. Normally $97 for past cohorts, $19 as a one-time add today. One click, nothing else to fill out, it's ready the second you finish checkout."

Same three moves every time. Only the specifics change.

How do you name the add-on so it sells itself?

Name the add-on by the outcome it delivers, not the file format or the internal label sitting in your product folder. Buyers don't read a checkout page closely enough to translate "Template Pack B" into a reason to spend more money; you have to do that translation for them, in the name itself.

Lead with the outcome, not the object. "The Fill-In-The-Blank Email Templates" beats "Email Templates.zip." "The No-Code Automation Cheat Sheet" beats "Bonus PDF."

Keep it to one add-on, one name. Bundling three things into a bump forces the buyer to evaluate three items in the glance they'd give one. Tempted to stack extras? That's a bundle offer, not bump copy.

Match the name to what they just bought. A buyer who bought a course on cold email doesn't need convincing that a "Subject Line Swipe File" is relevant, the connection is obvious the moment they read it. If it needs a sentence of explanation, the add-on is wrong for a bump.

How do you write the discount line so the deal feels real?

State a price you'd genuinely charge for the add-on standalone, then show the bump price next to it: a discount only works when the anchor is believable. Buyers have seen enough inflated "was $997, now $27" pricing to distrust it on sight, and that distrust splashes onto the main offer too.

The anchor has to survive a follow-up question. If a buyer asked "would you actually sell this alone for $47," your honest answer needs to be yes. Keep both numbers round, too: "$47, now $9" reads cleaner than "$44.99, now $8.73."

Show both dollar figures, don't just say "50% off." A percentage makes the buyer do math. Two dollar figures don't. This is the same logic behind price anchoring and charm pricing: the brain compares the two numbers it can see, not the one it can't.

Say why the price is low, in four words or less. "Today only." "This order only." A paragraph justifying the discount reads as an apology, and apologies invite skepticism.

How do you kill friction in three sentences or less?

Tell the buyer directly that adding the bump costs no new effort: no new card entry, no new page, no new checkout. Unstated friction gets assumed to be worse than it is. If your copy doesn't say "one click" or "no new payment step," buyers will assume adding the item starts a second checkout, and skip it rather than find out.

Name the mechanism, not just the outcome. "Added to your order" tells them what happens. "You'll love this" doesn't.

The checkbox label matters as much as the body copy. "Yes, add this to my order" outperforms a bare "Add" next to a checkbox, because it repeats the commitment back in the buyer's own action, the same logic behind CTA button copy that gets clicks anywhere else on a page.

Cut anything that sounds like a new decision. "Choose your preferred format" reintroduces the exact friction you're removing. If the add-on needs a choice, it's not a one-click bump, restructure the offer first.

What should you bump, before you write a single word of copy?

Pick an add-on that's obviously related to what they just bought, cheap enough to feel like a no-brainer, and simple enough to deliver without an extra decision from you or them. Copy can't rescue the wrong offer: if it fails these checks, fix the offer before you touch the sentences.

Obviously related. The buyer should see the connection before they finish reading the name. A worksheet that speeds up the course they just bought works. A random ebook on a different topic doesn't, no matter how good the copy is.

Priced like an impulse, not a decision. A bump priced near the main offer forces the buyer to think. Rule of thumb: price it well under half the main offer. That's separate from how you stack bonuses into the main offer, which is about making the core deal bigger, not pricing a standalone add-on.

Deliverable without a new step. If fulfilling it requires a manual email, a calendar booking, or a form, it's not one-click yet, and your friction-killing copy will be lying. Automate delivery first, or don't promise "instant."

What do strong and weak order bump copy look like side by side?

Weak bump copy describes the product; strong bump copy states the benefit, the price logic, and the ease, and nothing else.

Weak: "Bonus Content Pack: Includes 12 additional resources to help you succeed. Get it now for a special price!"
This names nothing specific, the discount has no anchor, and "special price" could mean anything.

Strong: "Add the 12-Prompt Client Onboarding Pack to your order. Normally $37, yours for $9 today only. One click, delivered with your main file, no new payment step."
Same underlying product, but now the buyer knows exactly what they get, what they save, and how little it costs them to say yes.

Notice what the strong version leaves out: no adjectives doing the persuading ("amazing," "incredible," "game-changing"), no fascination-style bullet lists, and no more than three sentences. The strength comes from specificity, not enthusiasm.

Use this prompt to draft order bump copy fast

You still need to plug in real numbers and check every price claim, but this prompt turns the formula into a full first draft, plus checkbox copy, in one pass.

You are a direct response copywriter who specializes in checkout-page order bumps for digital products.

Write order bump copy for this add-on:

Add-on: [WHAT IT IS, IN PLAIN LANGUAGE]
Attached to: [MAIN PRODUCT THEY'RE ALREADY BUYING]
Real standalone price: [$ YOU'D ACTUALLY CHARGE FOR THIS ALONE]
Bump price (what they pay today): [$ AMOUNT]
Delivery mechanism: [e.g. "instant download," "available in app," "emailed within 1 hour"]
Tone: [e.g. "direct and plain," "playful," "no-nonsense operator"]

Rules:
1. Exactly 3 sentences, in order: name the add-on as a specific benefit (not a product label), state the discount as two real dollar figures (standalone, then bump price), then remove friction by naming the delivery mechanism and confirming no new payment step.
2. No adjectives doing the persuading for you (no "amazing," "incredible," "game-changing," "exclusive").
3. Don't invent a standalone price if I didn't give you one, ask instead.
4. Also write 3 short checkbox label variations (under 8 words each), restating the action ("Yes, add my [ADD-ON]" style).
5. Output as plain text, no markdown, no bullet symbols, ready to paste into a checkout builder.

Give me 3 full versions (body copy plus checkbox labels) so I can test them against each other.

Where this breaks

This formula assumes your checkout already supports one-click add-ons: adding a second item without forcing a second payment flow. If it can't, don't write "one click" copy, the first buyer who hits a second card form will trust you less on the next page, not more.

It also assumes the add-on is genuinely worth the anchor price you're naming. Copy can make a real $47 value feel urgent and easy. It can't make a $5 PDF feel like a $47 value, and buyers who've bought digital products before have a rough sense of what things cost.

Three sentences is the right length for a checkbox, not for a full post-purchase upsell page with room for a headline and proof. Cramming that page into bump-style brevity, or bloating a bump into paragraph copy, both leave money on the table. And if you haven't settled what belongs at the bump stage versus later in the sequence, fix that first: sharp copy on the wrong offer, in the wrong slot, still underperforms.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should order bump copy be?

Two to three sentences, roughly 25 to 45 words, plus a checkbox label under 8 words. More than that and the add-on is too complicated for a bump, and belongs on its own upsell page.

Does the order bump discount have to be a real discount?

Yes. The anchor needs to be a price you'd actually charge if the item sold on its own. Buyers burned by inflated "was" prices elsewhere will discount yours on sight, and that skepticism carries over to the main offer.

What's the difference between order bump copy and upsell copy?

Order bump copy lives on the order form, before checkout completes, with a checkbox and a sentence or two. Upsell copy gets its own page after purchase, with room for a headline, proof, and a full pitch. Write bump copy for a glance; write upsell copy for a slower read.

Can you use urgency or scarcity in order bump copy?

A short, honest qualifier works, like "today only" or "this order only." A countdown timer on a $9 add-on reads as desperate, not persuasive. Order bumps convert on ease more than urgency: lead with clarity, add a real limit only if one exists.

Test three sentences before you test anything else

Order bump copy is one of the cheapest things on a funnel to test, and one of the fastest to read results on. Swap the three sentences, leave the offer and price alone, and you'll know within a run of checkouts which version wins, no redesign required.

If you want to build and test order bumps, pricing, and offer stacks alongside operators doing this on live funnels every week, that's the work happening inside the Asset Academy Skool community.