Does a simpler product option selector help mobile product pages?
Our mobile product page showed the 1-time purchase and subscribe options as separate pieces. We grouped them into 1 container and tried a calmer page design. Conversion fell 12.1% in 8 days, so we paused early.
Not significant Mobile 8 days Not called
The hypothesis
By placing both purchase options in 1 container with clear radio buttons, we will remove confusion around the selector, resulting in more shoppers choosing an option and buying.
The product page asked shoppers to choose between a 1-time purchase and a subscription. The 2 options looked like separate elements, and the subscribe option used its own icon instead of a radio button, so it was not clear they were a single choice.
An earlier round that changed the selector colors had also lowered conversion. We tested a cleaner selector alone, and with a quieter page around it.
What we changed
We grouped both purchase options into 1 container with radio buttons.
Var A put the 1-time purchase and subscribe options in 1 container and switched the subscribe icon to a radio button. Var B kept those changes and quieted the rest of the page: no color on breadcrumbs, no share button on the image, gray accordions, fewer bold items and smaller headings, with social links moved lower.
- Both purchase options in 1 container
- Subscribe icon changed to a radio button
- Same selector changes as Var A
- Color removed from breadcrumbs
- Share button removed from product image
- Accordions changed to gray
- Social links moved lower on the page
The result
Conversion fell 12.1% in 8 days, so we paused the test.
Conversion was 12.1% below the control and revenue per visitor was 20.4% below it. The result did not reach our confidence bar, but the drop was large enough after 8 days that we did not expect it to recover, so we paused before the usual 14 days.
The same 2 variations ran on desktop at the same time. There, the version with the new selector and the calmer page won.
What we would do next
On mobile, the new selector did not clear up the choice.
Since the same changes won on desktop, the problem seems tied to how the selector fit the small screen. We would test new mobile selector layouts on their own, without other page changes, to find which part moves conversion.