Does a stronger buy now button lift desktop product page sales?
Our desktop product page showed both an add to cart and a buy now button. We tested giving buy now more focus while keeping add to cart. Conversion fell 5.3% in 9 days, so we paused it.
Not significant Desktop 9 days Not called
The hypothesis
By giving the buy now button more focus while keeping add to cart, we will move more shoppers to checkout without cutting units per order, resulting in higher conversion.
An earlier mobile test showed that putting the focus on buy now lifted conversion. Taking away add to cart, though, risks fewer items per order, since shoppers lose an easy way to add more.
This test kept both buttons on desktop and only changed which button stood out.
What we changed
We gave the buy now button more focus and kept add to cart.
The control showed the add to cart and buy now buttons as they were. The variation swapped their emphasis, so buy now became the main button and add to cart became the secondary button. Both buttons stayed on the page.
- Buy now styled as the main button
- Add to cart kept as a secondary button
The result
Desktop conversion fell 5.3% in 9 days, short of our confidence bar.
Conversion was 5.3% lower than the control after 9 days, and revenue per visitor fell 5.9%. The result had not reached our confidence bar, but both measures kept trending down.
We paused the test early rather than keep sending desktop shoppers to a version that was losing ground.
What we would do next
What worked on mobile did not carry over to desktop here.
Focusing on buy now helped on mobile, where 1 clear action matters most on a small screen. On desktop, shoppers already saw both buttons easily, and pushing buy now did not help them decide. We kept the original button styling on desktop.