Do links to other product variants help or hurt conversion?
The mobile product page linked to other versions of the same product. We removed those links to keep shoppers on 1 clear choice. Conversion fell 9.1% and revenue per visitor 16.4% over 20 days.
Lost Mobile 20 days Called at 90%
The hypothesis
By removing the links to other product variants from the product page, we will cut confusion around which product is selected, resulting in a higher conversion rate.
The mobile product page showed switchers for other versions of the same product. Some of them sent shoppers to a different page, and it was not always clear which version was selected.
We expected 1 clear product per page to make the choice easier.
What we changed
We removed the switchers linking to other variants on the product page.
The variation hid the switchers for alternative variants and removed the links that sent shoppers to those products. The remaining product details kept their existing style. The test ran on mobile, over the holiday season.
- Switchers for other variants removed
- Links to other variant pages removed
- Product details kept in the existing style
The result
Conversion fell 9.1% and revenue per visitor fell 16.4%.
Revenue per visitor fell further than conversion, so average order value dropped too, by about 8%. Fewer visitors bought, and those who did spent less.
The test ran over the holidays, and the results flipped late in the run as traffic changed. We paused it after 20 days.
What we took from it
Shoppers used the variant links to compare, not to get lost.
The switchers let shoppers move between versions of a product without leaving the page. Removing them took away a quick way to compare, and order value fell with it. Holiday traffic made the results swing, so the size of the loss is less certain than its direction.