{"id":145977,"date":"2017-07-18T09:01:45","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T16:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oroinc.com\/b2b-ecommerce\/blog\/ab-testing-ecommerce-pictures-11-real-tests-learn\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T05:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T12:42:14","slug":"ab-testing-ecommerce-pictures-11-real-tests-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oroinc.com\/b2b-ecommerce\/blog\/ab-testing-ecommerce-pictures-11-real-tests-learn\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Real A\/B Tests to Improve Your eCommerce Website Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

For eCommerce businesses, A\/B testing (also known as split or bucket testing) is a perfect way to define purchasing triggers, optimize your website for conversions, and improve the user experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

A\/B testing in a Nutshell<\/span><\/h2>\n

A\/B testing basically allows you to experiment on your customers to learn what incentivises them to make a purchase on your website. It works like this: take two versions of the web page you want to test, also known as the control and the alternative. The control is the original page while the alternative is a replica, but with one different element that you want to test for (e.g. a different hero image, a different color for the Call-to-Action button, a different title text, etc.). These two versions will be split among your website’s visitors to see which version achieves better performance. <\/span>
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\nThe most popular A\/B testing tools used by thousands of marketers across the globe are\u00a0<\/span>Google Optimize <\/span><\/a>(formerly <\/span>Google Analytics Experiments<\/span><\/a>), <\/span>Optimizely<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Omniconvert<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

What A\/B tests to run in eCommerce<\/span><\/h2>\n

You can split test virtually everything on your eCommerce site and see how customers respond to the tweaks and alterations. You can play around with home page elements, navigation structure, site layout, product descriptions, information visibility, pricing, promos, and much more. Sometimes even the slightest difference in, say, image placement or button size may affect conversions. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not sure whether a certain page or its element communicates the right message to the buying audience? Wondering which landing page headline, product description, or design of the call to action buttons better speaks to buyers? Verify your assumptions with an A\/B test. <\/span><\/p>\n

Real-life A\/B test results you may leverage<\/span><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at real life A\/B test scenarios eCommerce businesses from all around the world have run. We hope that these experiments can inspire you to create some valuable tests of your own.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Standard email capture vs gamified<\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n

Two types of email capture experience have been tested. The gamified opt-in version B, (see the pictures below) offering a \u2018mysterious discount\u2019 of 15%, won over a standard two-step email capture method directly offering the same discount in exchange for visitors\u2019 email addresses. The click rates increased by 48.9%, email submission rate grew by 25%, and the conversion rate got lifted by 12.7%.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Version A<\/p><\/div>\n

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Version B<\/p><\/div>\n

2. CTA button color <\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n

Different hues have different psychological properties, they affect human behavior and invoke specific emotions, claims color psychology. Designing a button based on color science might be worth it. This case shows the results of the split testing meant to define which color the \u2018Add to Cart\u2019 call to action (CTA) button proves to be more eye-catching and clickable. Simply changing the color of the CTA button to emerald (version B) boosted sales conversions by 14%. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Version A<\/p><\/div>\n

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Version B<\/p><\/div>\n

3. Countdown timer for the next day delivery<\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n

The product page with an embedded next-day-delivery countdown timer (version B) led to increased purchases. In fact, this variation had 8.6% more conversions than the alternative variant that was just offering a free delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Version A<\/p><\/div>\n

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Version B<\/p><\/div>\n

4. Segmented email campaigns vs standard offerings<\/b><\/a><\/h2>\n

Due to customer segmentation via a <\/span>CRM software<\/span><\/a>, it\u2019s possible to communicate the right marketing message to the right audience. As A\/B testing for this case revealed, a precisely segmented email campaign based on a customer\u2019s purchase history (version B) turned out to be way more effective than a general marketing offer (version A). Segmented promotions increased customer clicks by 61% and boosted monthly subscriptions to bundled products.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Version A<\/p><\/div>\n

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5.\u00a0Detailed RFQ form vs compact request for quote<\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n

A longer, detailed quote form placed on the left side of a B2B eCommerce page (version B) got astonishing 88.7% increase in form submissions resulting in more sales. When we further analyzed these pages, the shorter variation actually brought buyers to another page containing more data fields. This experience may have frustrated website visitors resulting in more incomplete form submissions. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Version A<\/p><\/div>\n

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Version B<\/p><\/div>\n

6. Shipping details under the Order button<\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n

Just like the previous A\/B experiment, buyers from this test case positively perceived the detailed information around goods and ordering. The version with shipping costs specified under the call to action button (version B) stimulated sales by 60.1%. There\u2019s been another test which displayed both delivery details <\/span>and<\/i><\/b> shipping costs. Interestingly, the version with only the shipping costs was the winner again.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Version A<\/p><\/div>\n

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Version B<\/p><\/div>\n

7. Expert\u2019s tip on an item<\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n

This A\/B test experimented whether a comment or review under a product page lead to more sales. It obviously did. Purchase volumes grew by 69% and revenue skyrocketed by 99%.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Winning Version<\/p><\/div>\n

8. 404 product page showcasing other assorted products<\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n

Just like <\/span>out-of-stock pages<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> non-existing product pages of eCommerce sites are full of potential<\/span><\/i>. When tested, the 404-page providing recommended items for a missing product (version B) offered amazing results. In contrast to the simple, \u2018We\u2019re sorry but the page you\u2019re looking for is no longer available\u2019 version, the page with other recommendations led to increased purchases by new clients, optimized add-to-shopping-bag rates as well as increased page visits.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Winning Version<\/p><\/div>\n

9. A \u2018talking cart\u2019 and items to be removed<\/b><\/a><\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t let customers remove the products added to their carts before they confirm this action. A “talking” shopping cart can suggest them to save these items for later, giving them some time to reconsider, just in case their minds change. According to the test results, the triggered overlay version asking customers if they were sure they wanted to remove an item from a cart (the winning version B) resulted in a 4.4% lift in sales.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Winning Version<\/p><\/div>\n

10. Submit button vs Go to Payment Options button<\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n

Labelling a CTA checkout button is as important as designing it. Is it self-explanatory? Does it inform the buyer of what\u2019s next in the checkout process? This A\/B test proved that the \u201cGo to Payment Options\u201d button (version B) achieved a 87.5% lift in clickthroughs to the subsequent page. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Version A<\/p><\/div>\n

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Version B<\/p><\/div>\n

11. Filtering options on the category page<\/a><\/b><\/h2>\n

This test provided an interesting outcome. UK Tool Center, a business selling power- and hand tools, created an alternative product category page with nice filtering options to help their visitors navigate through hundreds of products. But tests showed that the version with the filtering options (version B) reduced the number of clicks by 27%! While it may seem rational that filtering options would help the customer experience and lead to more page visits, it actually distracted the buyer. In addition, removing the filter allowed more products to be shown above the fold.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Version A<\/p><\/div>\n

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Version B<\/p><\/div>\n

Takeaways<\/span><\/h2>\n

The major points that we wanted you to take away from this write-up are:<\/span><\/p>\n