Does a promo banner above the collection heading lift sales?

Our desktop collection page opened with the category header and copy, above the promo banner and the products. We tested moving the header below the products so the promo banner came first. Over 5 days, conversion fell 20.2%.

Lost Desktop 5 days Called at 90%

SURFACE

Collection page

DEVICE

Desktop

VERTICAL

Ecommerce (B2C)

PRIMARY METRIC

Conversion rate

VARIATIONS

2

The hypothesis

By moving secondary content lower on the desktop collection page, we will put the promo banner first, resulting in more purchases.

Shoppers may prefer a clean, uncluttered first view. The collection page opened with a category header and copy, which pushed the promo banner and the products further down. Moving that content lower lets the promotion and the products lead.

What we changed

Category header moved below the products, with a new H1 above

Both versions moved the category header and its copy below the product list and added a new H1, so the promo banner sat at the top of the page. Var A and Var B were 2 design options for the same idea.

VAR A: PROMO BANNER FOCUS

Category header moved below the products
New H1 added
Promo banner leads the page

VAR B: PROMO BANNER FOCUS 2

Category header moved below the products
New H1 added
Alternate design of the same idea

The result

Conversion fell 20.2% when the promo banner led the page

CONVERSION RATE

-20.2%

REVENUE PER VISITOR

-16.0%

VAR B CONVERSION

-7.9%

Over 5 days, Var A converted 20.2% worse than the original, and revenue per visitor was 16.0% lower. Var B converted 7.9% worse, with revenue per visitor about flat. The biggest drop came from new visitors. The loss cleared our confidence bar quickly, so we paused the test after 5 days rather than keep losing sales.

What we took from it

Users preferred the original page with the header on top

New visitors are often still learning what the store sells. The category header and copy told them where they were and what the page offered. Without it at the top, the page led with a promotion before shoppers knew what it was for.