Do suggested articles lift conversion on an offer article page?
Our offer articles ended without pointing readers to related reading. We added suggested articles near the bottom of the page. Conversion came in 11.4% below the control after 10 days, with little movement either way, so we paused it.
Not significant Responsive 10 days Not called Reviewed
The hypothesis
By adding suggested articles to the page, we will give readers another path to an offer, resulting in more offer clicks and a higher conversion rate.
Several of the larger offer sites we reviewed suggest a related article inside or after the content. Our articles did not, so readers who were not ready to pick an offer had nowhere to go next.
We tested whether suggested articles would keep those readers on the site long enough to find an offer that fit.
What we changed
We added a suggested articles block far down the article page.
Var A added a block of suggested articles to the article, placed well below the offers. The offers, their order and the article copy did not change.
- Suggested articles block added
- Placed well below the offers
The result
Conversion came in 11.4% below the control after 10 days.
After 10 days, conversion was 11.4% below the control, but the main revenue measure was about flat and the results were not moving in either direction. We usually run a test for a full 2 weeks before making a call. We paused the test early because the change sat so far down the page that few readers saw it, and a test with more potential was waiting for the traffic.
What we would do next
A change this far down the page reached too few readers.
Most readers chose an offer, or left, before they reached the suggested articles, so the change could not move the totals much. We would test related reading higher on the page, or spend the traffic on changes near the offers, where readers make their choice.