Do affiliate links that open in the same window lift conversions?
Our product roundup articles opened every affiliate link in a new tab. We tested opening those links in the same window instead, across 5 roundup articles. Conversions rose 4.9% over 25 days, short of our confidence bar.
Not significant Responsive 25 days Not called
The hypothesis
By opening affiliate links in the same window instead of a new tab, we will make each product click feel expected, resulting in more visitors who go on to buy.
A new tab is an unexpected event in the middle of reading a review. Some visitors do not notice it opened, and others lose their place when they switch back and forth.
The test also let us check whether new tabs were inflating time on site, since a reader who returns to the old tab keeps the session going.
What we changed
Affiliate links opened in the same window, not in a new tab
On the control, every product link in the roundup opened the retailer in a new tab. In the variation, the same links opened in the current window. The links, copy and layout were the same in both versions. The test ran on 5 product roundup articles at once, on mobile and desktop.
- Affiliate links open in the current window
- No new tab when a product link is clicked
- Links, copy and layout match the control
The result
Conversions rose 4.9% in 25 days, short of our confidence bar
The same-window version converted 4.9% better than the new-tab version over 25 days, but the lift did not reach our confidence bar, so we did not call it.
Pages per session moved up and down by day with no clear drop for the same-window version. Mobile and desktop followed the same pattern, with no outlier on either device.
What we would do next
Rerun same-window links with more traffic to confirm the lift
Opening links in the same window did not cost us pages per session on these articles, so the change carries little risk. A longer run, or a run across more roundup articles, would show whether the 4.9% lift holds or was noise.