Why You Should Test Your "Tried and True" eCommerce Features
This quarter’s results are all about testing and optimizing conventional eCommerce features—WISHLISTS, BREADCRUMBS, and CONTINUE SHOPPING BUTTONS—that merchants often implement without question.
Building on the theme of simplicity in last quarter’s results, the latest findings further substantiate that—in most cases—removing potential distractions for your buyer and optimizing some of these tried and true features could lead to increased revenue per visitor (RPV).
Let’s have a look at some of the highlights:
1. REMOVING THE WISHLIST FEATURE IS HAVING A POSITIVE IMPACT—ESPECIALLY ON MOBILE
Wishlists can encourage an “I’ll buy it later” mentality, providing shoppers with a way to procrastinate on their purchasing decision. By removing the Add to Wishlist option, merchants can reduce unnecessary distractions on the page and make the Add to Cart button the sole focus for the buyer. Mobile eCommerce merchants should take note—the greatest impact is being seen among mobile shoppers—81.6% are showing a positive RPV lift when the Wishlist feature is removed. Wishlists take up valuable real estate on a mobile device screen, distracting the buyer from completing their transaction.
Fashion merchants should approach this experiment with caution however—the results saw mild dips in RPV from the removal of the feature on fashion websites. There are many potential reasons for this, including the fact that fashion buyers like to save items for later as they build their complete “look.” Shoppers in this vertical also frequently add items to Wishlists to watch them until they go on sale.
2. BREADCRUMBS ARE BELOVED BY YOUR BUYERS—BUT THERE’S STILL ROOM FOR OPTIMIZATION
Most merchants implement Breadcrumb trails on their websites—and for good reason. They are a much-relied-upon convention to help shoppers sort product views by category, determine which category the product is from, and find their way back if they make a wrong turn in their search.
But what works in one channel may need to be adjusted for another. The Mobile eCommerce Optimization Initiative found that suppressing the product name in the Breadcrumb trail can result in an average RPV lift of 17.21% among mobile buyers across 80% of merchants.
However, removing breadcrumbs altogether is a big no-no. The analysis supports the continued use of Breadcrumbs as there is a significant negative impact on revenue when Breadcrumbs are removed outright. Merchants that don’t use Breadcrumbs on their sites today should consider implementing them to test for positive RPV lift.
For the most part, merchants should also avoid oversimplifying Breadcrumb trails. Across the board, there is a negative impact on RPV when the Breadcrumb trail is simplified to just one level.
3. MOBILE SHOPPERS ARE DISTRACTED BY THE CONTINUE SHOPPING BUTTON
The Continue Shopping button is a common feature on cart pages and is found close to other critical calls to action like Buy Now buttons. Clicking the Continue Shopping button takes users away from the important checkout funnel.
Over 69% of mobile checkouts are seeing a modest lift in RPV when the Continue Shopping button is suppressed. These results suggest the Continue Shopping button is a visual distraction on mobile devices. The impact is not as significant on Desktop.
4. RECONFIGURING THE CONTINUE SHOPPING BUTTON HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT ON DESKTOP USERS
The Continue Shopping button most commonly redirects shoppers back to the homepage of their site. Reconfiguring the button to perform a more user-friendly action like returning the buyer to the last shopping category or to the product detail page is increasing RPV overwhelmingly among desktop users—by over 21% so far.
We know that desktop users are more likely to browse and purchase multiple products than mobile users. Returning desktop users to their last shopping category or product detail page is increasing the RPV significantly as it brings them back to an area that was of interest for them.
The Mobile eCommerce Optimization Initiative’s latest experiments challenge the “tried and true” checkout features that we often take for granted. The results so far underline the importance of continuous testing and optimization—even on conventional features—to keep up with ever-changing buying behaviors.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY AND BOOST YOUR RPV
Magento merchants participating in the Magento Community Initiative have increased their RPV by an average of 8.17%. And we’re just getting started.
Our community is made possible through a collaboration between PayPal, Magento, HiConversion, and our eCommerce System Integrators. Today it includes twenty-nine System Integrators (SI) and 172 merchants participating in our experiments.
We’re adding new experiments all the time and updating existing experiments as we learn more. Join our community and get involved!
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