Finding growth beyond paid search and seasonal peaks

NutsGroup, the challenger brand behind PaintNuts car touch-up paint, had already built strong visibility through paid search. But as seasonal sales slowed and Google spend reached its limits, the brand needed a new way to grow.

Discounting wasn’t an option – it risked cheapening the product. The challenge was clear: encourage customers to spend more without pushing prices down, and do it in a way that worked even with unpredictable factors like the weather.

Using pricing psychology to nudge customer choices

Our thinking was that if we could reshape the way products were priced and presented, we could steer customers towards better-value options. Instead of spending more on ads, we focused on price architecture, using proven behavioural techniques like the decoy effect to make bundles more attractive.

We agreed clear measures of success:

• Growth in overall revenue and ROAS
• Conversion rate uplift
• Revenue per user (RPU) as a safeguard, making sure higher spend didn’t come at the cost of fewer sales

Phased changes with clear guardrails

We rolled the plan out in two stages:

Phase one: Adjust prices to boost basket value and lift revenue without discounting.

Phase two: Add a higher-priced “decoy” bundle, making the mid-tier option look like the best deal.

To keep things clean, we made changes in a single release during a quiet period. This gave us a clear picture of the results and avoided long testing cycles.

We tracked performance daily, then reviewed at 7- and 30-day points. Alongside conversion and RPU, we also watched how customers were changing their delivery choices; early signals for where to optimise next.

Quick wins and lasting impact

NutsGroup saw results quickly. Revenue grew in the first phase, and conversion rates improved again after the next round of changes. By reshaping product bundles, more customers chose higher-value options, proving the pricing strategy worked.

In just 20 days:

+11% overall store revenue

+7.5% rise in conversion rate

+7.7% increase in revenue per user

The decoy pricing did exactly what we hoped: customers traded up to the mid-tier bundle, balancing out any drop in the premium option. It also gave clear evidence that bold pricing changes can pay off faster than small, incremental tests.

A framework for future growth

This project gave NutsGroup more than short-term revenue. It built a framework they can repeat for future seasonal campaigns balancing volume, conversion and revenue per user without relying on discounts or extra ad spend.

It also opened new opportunities: refining premium bundles, testing delivery options, and using pricing psychology as an ongoing growth lever.

Client Background & Commercial Context: NutsGroup is a fast-moving challenger in the automotive sector, selling everything from car touch-up pens to comprehensive repair bundles. After steady growth under Door4’s stewardship, the business started to stall as seasonal demand dropped and Google/Bing spend became less efficient at unlocking new customers.

Strategic Drivers & Objectives: The core aim was to grow revenue and volume using the audience already finding and considering NutsGroup online. Increasing ad budgets no longer made sense, and discounting would have eroded long-term brand value. Instead, Door4 focused on pricing strategy using behavioural economics principles such as price anchoring and the decoy effect, to influence product selection behaviour, with a goal to increase conversions and overall revenue per user (RPU).

Challenges to Solve: Key challenges included balancing the need to make bold price moves against the risk of destabilising a functioning sales model. Changing prices wholesale required conviction, since an A/B test wasn’t viable due to product and user complexity, plus operational risks. Market factors like weather and seasonality could also muddy the results, making attribution less clear. The Door4 team drew on years of hands-on experience on this account, deep data analysis, and a pragmatic approach to measuring impact by product, basket, and channel.

Why Door4: Door4’s track record as NutsGroup’s performance agency gave us unique insight into the account’s potential. We already understood the levers within the product mix and how customers responded to pricing tweaks. Long-term trust meant the client and agency collaborated closely to take calculated risks, sharing analysis and aligning on clear commercial guardrails

Strategic Response: Door4 diagnosed that a clever shift in pricing could redirect customers toward higher-value bundles. By raising the price of the top bundle, we made the mid-tier bundle look highly attractive – a classic decoy effect. Our research of past sales, market conditions, and buyer psychology shaped the proposition.

Collaboration & Process: We worked side-by-side with the client to set the strategy and KPIs, using clear data to inform the level of pricing risk Door4 could take. Since an A/B test wasn’t practical, we agreed on a Just Do It (JDI) approach—making the change holistically but tracking granularly for fast reversibility if metrics flagged any issues. Guardrail metrics were set, including minimum RPU and daily revenue targets, so all parties remained confident throughout.

Execution Summary: We coordinated pricing updates at a set low-traffic window to minimise volatility. After launch, Door4 closely monitored indicators—conversion rate, products per basket, AOV—segmenting all changes by product and channel. Initial results outperformed even optimistic expectations, so phase two involved a further round of bundling and pricing tweaks. Throughout, clear feedback loops allowed continuous learning and optimisation.

Business Outcomes: The project delivered an immediate 11% boost in total store revenue within 20 days, along with a 7.5% jump in conversion rate and 7.7% increase in revenue per user. Data showed a marked shift in product mix, with more customers choosing bundles and trading up to higher-value items, exactly as hypothesised—validating behavioural economics principles in a real ecommerce context.

Quantifiable Performance Uplift: Our guardrails—RPU, conversion, ROAS—were not only protected but substantially exceeded. The improvements were consistent across both existing traffic and new customers, enabling NutsGroup to hold firm on value without sacrificing margin.

Strategic Value: Beyond the numbers, the project leaves NutsGroup with a playbook for future pricing and bundling strategies. The ability to test, learn, and iterate on commercial levers has made pricing a growth engine rather than a blunt defensive tool. Smart, data-driven risk-taking; anchored by partnership and clear metrics, delivered sustainable uplift and a more resilient business model.