Clearer mobile search placeholder copy: +3% revenue per visitor
Test run byBlend CommerceCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsRewriting the mobile search bar placeholder text to invite product searches lifted revenue per visitor by 3% for Azuna, a home fragrance and odor eliminator brand.
Blend Commerce ran this A/B test in Intelligems. Subscription revenue per visitor rose 4.53%.
- Revenue per visitor: +3%.
- Subscription revenue per visitor: +4.53%, and subscription orders per visitor +2.26%.
- Conversion rate: +1%, and average order value +1%.
- Intelligems estimated about 313 extra orders a month.
- The variant led the control from the start of the test.
The change
Only the placeholder text inside the mobile search bar changes.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The mobile search bar showed the original placeholder text, which did not clearly invite shoppers to search.
Variant
The placeholder text was rewritten to prompt shoppers to search for products. The exact new wording was not shared.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Placeholder text is often the only hint about what search can do. A clear prompt may get more people to try it.
- Returning shoppers often know the product they want, so a nudge to search gets them there faster.
- The change is tiny, so the gains are modest. That fits a low-effort copy tweak.
Caveats: Significance, sample size and duration were not shared. The new placeholder wording was not given.
Who ran it
Blend Commerce ran this test for Azuna and published the results (Blend Commerce A/B test). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Blend Commerce →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we rewrite the mobile search placeholder to invite product searches, then revenue per visitor will rise because more shoppers will use search to find products.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per visitor
- Guardrails
- Search usage rate
- Conversion rate
- Searches with no results
- Who should test it
- Stores with a mobile search bar that is already visible and a range of products or subscriptions. If search is hidden behind an icon, fix that first; copy alone won't help much.
Questions
Does search bar placeholder text affect sales?
It can a little. In this test, new placeholder copy lifted revenue per visitor by 3%.
What should search placeholder text say?
Tell shoppers what they can find, such as a product type or problem.
Azuna's new copy invited people to search for products, though the exact words weren't shared.
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