Test archive / Collection page
Does a star rating at the top lift collection page conversion?
The busiest collection pages opened with category copy at the top. We tested a customer review with a photo, and separately the site's star rating, in that spot. The star rating raised conversion rate 11.3% over 33 days.
Won Responsive 33 days Called at 90%
The hypothesis
By showing the site's star rating at the top of collection pages, we will build trust in product quality early, resulting in more shoppers buying from the collection.
Shoppers on a collection page are judging a whole range of products at once, often before they have read a single review. Proof that other buyers were happy can carry trust across every product on the page.
The homepage hero already showed the site's star rating. We tested the same cue on collection pages, against a hand-picked customer review with the buyer's own photo. Existing copy moved lower so search visibility was not affected.
What we changed
We added social proof to the top of 5 busy collection pages.
In the control, the top 5 collection pages opened with the category heading and intro copy. Variation A added a hand-picked customer review from that collection, with the buyer's photo. Variation B added the site's overall star rating, the same rating shown in the homepage hero. In both, the existing copy moved lower on the page.
- Hand-picked review from this collection
- Buyer's photo shown with the review
- Existing copy moved lower
- Site star rating added at the top
- Matches the rating in the homepage hero
- Existing copy moved lower
The result
Conversion rate rose 11.3% with the star rating at the top.
Over 33 days, Variation B, the star rating, lifted conversion rate 11.3% across devices. The lift held week after week and grew stronger as data came in. Variation A, the customer review, showed little effect, and we paused it partway through to send more traffic to Variation B.
Revenue per visitor fell 7.5%, so orders were smaller on average. The test ran on 5 pages only, which kept traffic low and the revenue numbers less steady.
What we took from it
A quick star rating built more trust than a single review.
On these pages a star rating gave shoppers a fast signal about the whole store, while a single review asked them to stop and read. We have seen similar lifts when star ratings are used elsewhere on this site. The lower revenue per visitor is the open question to watch after implementing.