Does removing distractions from the collection page lift sales?

Our collection page carried breadcrumbs, long copy, links, promo labels and extra prices above and around the products. We tested a cleaner version with these removed or cut back. Over 28 days, conversion and revenue per visitor both rose 11.7%.

Won Responsive 28 days Called at 90%

SURFACE

Collection page

DEVICE

Responsive

VERTICAL

Ecommerce (B2C)

PRIMARY METRIC

Conversion rate

VARIATIONS

1

The hypothesis

By removing callouts, promos, copy and links from the collection page, we will cut distraction, resulting in more shoppers reaching a product and buying.

A collection page is where shoppers discover products. Ours had so many callouts, promos, lines of copy and links that it could overwhelm shoppers before they reached the products.

Some elements also leaked shoppers out of the funnel. Links in the copy and "shop all" links in product cards sent them away from the list, and repeated savings cues like crossed-out prices and best seller tags were too much of a good thing.

What we changed

Breadcrumbs, links, promo labels and extra copy removed or shortened

We removed the breadcrumbs, cut the title to 1 line, and showed 2 lines of copy with a read more link. We also removed the links in the copy, the crossed-out prices, the subscribe copy, the best seller tags and the shop all links inside product cards.

VAR A: REMOVE DISTRACTIONS

Breadcrumbs removed
Title cut to 1 line
Copy cut to 2 lines with read more
Links in copy and product cards removed
Crossed-out prices, tags and subscribe copy removed

The result

A cleaner collection page lifted conversion 11.7%

CONVERSION RATE

+11.7%

REVENUE PER VISITOR

+11.7%

Over 28 days, the cleaner page converted 11.7% better than the original, and revenue per visitor rose 11.7%, a gain that cleared our confidence bar. The cleaner version led the original steadily from the start of the test, and we implemented it.

What we took from it

Fewer competing cues helped shoppers get to the products

With fewer links leading away and fewer repeated savings cues, shoppers on this page had less to process before choosing a product. Removing the exit points kept more of them in the list, and more of them bought.