# Red text link beat blue link and banner: +53.13% click-through

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Homepage (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Add-to-cart & CTA buttons, Collection banners & headers
- Test run by: [Beamax](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/beamax/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/beamax/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/beamax-red-text-link-vs-banner-outlet/

Changing a homepage text link from blue to red raised click-through to Beamax's outlet site by 53.13%, and the red link also beat a banner version. Beamax, a Dutch maker of projection screens, ran this A/B test itself, and it was published as a VWO case study. The metric is clicks only, not sales.

## Result

**+53.13% click-through**

- Click-through to the outlet site: +53.13% for the red link over the blue link.
- The red banner also beat the blue link, but lost to the plain red link.
- Early on the banner led; the red link only pulled ahead once results settled.
- Only clicks were measured, so the effect on outlet sales is unknown.

## Control

Just above the product images, a standard blue text link read 'Great deals on brand new and ex-demo screens here' and pointed to a separate site for ex-demo and one-off items.

## Variant

Variant 1 showed the same link in red. Variant 2 turned it into a red banner. The red text link won.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Red stands out against a page where blue links look like ordinary navigation.
- A banner may read as an ad, which visitors tend to skip, while a text link reads as useful content.
- The link copy promised deals, so making it more visible was enough to draw clicks.

## Caveats

The metric is clicks to the outlet site, not purchases. Sample size, duration and significance level were not shared, and the case study is undated.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we make our promo link a contrasting color instead of the default link blue, then more visitors will click it because it stands out without looking like an ad.
- Primary metric: Click-through rate on the promo link
- Guardrail: Sales from clicked traffic
- Guardrail: Clicks on main product links
- Guardrail: Homepage bounce rate
- Who should test it: Sites that want to steer some homepage traffic to a deals area, outlet or clearance section. If the link competes with your main products, watch that the extra clicks don't come at the cost of full-price sales.

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Credit: Beamax ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/beamax-red-text-link-vs-banner-outlet/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.