Does a wider, outlined search box lift homepage conversion?
The search box in the desktop header was narrow and low in contrast. We widened it and added a border. Conversion fell 9.7% and revenue per visitor held about flat over 15 days, not a conclusive result.
Not significant Desktop 15 days Not called
The hypothesis
By making the search box in the header stand out, we will increase search use, resulting in a higher conversion rate, since shoppers who search convert at a higher rate than those who do not.
Shoppers who used search converted at a higher rate than those who browsed. The search box in the desktop header was narrow and blended into the page, so many shoppers may not have noticed it.
We expected a more visible search box to pull more shoppers into search.
What we changed
We widened the header search box and outlined it for contrast.
The variation increased the width of the search box in the desktop header and added a border to raise its contrast. Nothing else on the page changed. We measured the result on the homepage.
- Search box made wider
- Border added for contrast
- Desktop header only
The result
Conversion fell 9.7% while revenue per visitor held about flat.
Conversion fell 9.7% over 15 days, and revenue per visitor, our main measure, fell only 1.0%. Neither change reached our confidence bar, and we paused the test.
The changes were small, and the early drop looked like noise. It never turned into a lift.
What we would do next
Improve the search results before drawing more eyes to search.
A louder search box can pull attention away from the main paths on the page. If the results it returns are not strong, more searches can mean more frustration. Making search results more relevant comes before making the box more visible.