Does a branded review score lift buying guide sales?
Our buying guide showed its picks with no rating. We added a star review score, labeled either as our score or with the site's brand. Conversion was up 7.0% when we paused the test after 8 days.
Not significant Mobile 8 days Not called
The hypothesis
By adding a star score from our own review team, we will give readers a trust signal they recognize, resulting in more sales.
Retailer star ratings had lifted conversion on this guide before, but we could not keep using them. We wanted a rating the site could own.
Var A added a star score labeled as our score. Var B added the same stars under the site's own brand name, to see if the brand added weight.
What we changed
We added a star review score from our team to each pick.
The control showed each pick with no rating. Var A added a row of stars labeled our score. Var B added the same stars labeled with the site's brand name. In both versions, the product images and fonts also came out smaller than the control, which was not part of the plan.
- Star score labeled our score
- Star score labeled with the site's brand
The result
Conversion was up 7.0% after 8 days and the test was not called.
Both versions also shrank the product images and fonts, so the test could not show what the score alone did. We paused it after 8 days, before it was called, and planned a cleaner version with the sizes left alone.
What we would do next
Test the score again without changing anything else.
The early lift was promising, but the size change muddied it. The next round kept product sizes as they were and placed the stars with a review count right after the product image.