Does a product selector dropdown help mobile shoppers buy?
Our mobile product page used a full selector for product options. We tested a dropdown in its place, and a version with a short description and star rating. Conversion fell 8.1% over 14 days and was not significant.
Not significant Mobile 14 days Not called
The hypothesis
By switching the selector to a dropdown or adding a short description, we will cut the visual load on the page, resulting in more shoppers buying.
The mobile product page showed every product option at once in a large selector, which pushed other details down and gave shoppers a lot to take in.
We tested 2 ways to lower that load: collapse the options into a dropdown, or keep the selector and add a short product description and star rating to build confidence.
What we changed
We swapped the option selector for a dropdown, or added a description.
Var A swapped the full option selector for a dropdown, so the options took less space. Var B kept the selector and added a short product description and a star rating near the top of the page.
- Option selector changed to a dropdown
- Short product description added
- Star rating added near the top
The result
Conversion fell 8.1% over 14 days and was not significant.
Conversion came in 8.1% below the control, and the result did not reach our confidence bar. Traffic to the page was low, so we ran an extra week before calling it. Neither variation showed the movement we were looking for, and we paused the test.
What we would do next
A lighter selector alone did not change buying here.
Shoppers did not respond to a smaller selector or to extra product detail. We moved on to other ideas for this page, such as bringing key content and the add to cart button higher on mobile.