Do product page icons help or distract desktop shoppers?

Our desktop product page used icons in the product details beside the image. We tested removing them, then also rebalancing the columns and adding a dropdown. Over 10 days, removing the icons lifted conversion 9.1% and revenue per visitor 20.8%.

Won Desktop 10 days Called at 90%

SURFACE

Product page

DEVICE

Desktop

VERTICAL

Ecommerce (B2C)

PRIMARY METRIC

Conversion rate

VARIATIONS

3

The hypothesis

By removing icons and shifting the visual hierarchy of the desktop product page, we will reduce distraction and make the product clearer, resulting in more purchases.

The desktop product page packed icons, options and copy into the column next to the image. We believed the icons pulled attention away from the product details and the buy button, and that a clearer layout would give shoppers more confidence in what they were buying.

What we changed

Icons removed, then columns rebalanced, then a dropdown for options

Var A removed the icons from the product details. Var B kept that change, split the image and details columns 50/50 with a smaller image and more room for copy, and added margin on the right. Var C kept the Var B layout and replaced the option buttons with a dropdown.

VAR A: REMOVE ICONS

Icons removed from the product details

VAR B: ADJUST COLUMNS

Icons removed from the product details
Columns split 50/50
Smaller image, more room for copy
Extra margin on the right column

VAR C: DROP DOWN

Same layout as Var B
Option buttons replaced with a dropdown

The result

Removing the icons lifted conversion 9.1% and revenue per visitor 20.8%

CONVERSION RATE

+9.1%

REVENUE PER VISITOR

+20.8%

AVERAGE ORDER VALUE

+10.8%

Over 10 days, removing the icons (Var A) converted 9.1% better than the original, and revenue per visitor rose 20.8%, a gain that cleared our confidence bar. Average order value rose about 10.8%. The rebalanced columns (Var B) lifted conversion 2.8%, and the dropdown (Var C) converted 4.9% worse. We paused Var C early to send more traffic to the leading versions.

What we took from it

Fewer icons kept the focus on the product and the buy button

Removing the icons was the only change in Var A, and it led on every measure. The extra layout changes in Var B and the dropdown in Var C gave back most of that gain. On this page, cutting visual noise helped more than rearranging the layout. We then took the cleaner layout to the mobile product page.