Recent-buyer count instead of empty reviews: +4.3% conversion rate
Test run byVisuallyTesting and CRO tool
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsOn new product pages, hiding a thin review widget and showing how many shoppers bought in the past week lifted conversion rate by 4.3%.
Visually ran this test for Branch Furniture, an office furniture brand, and published it as a Visually case study.
- Conversion rate: +4.3% on new product pages.
- No sample size, duration or revenue figures were shared.
The change
The thin review widget is replaced by a count of recent buyers.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
New product pages showed the standard review widget, which had few or no reviews yet.
Variant
The review widget was hidden. In its place, the page showed how many shoppers had bought the product in the past week.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- An empty or thin review widget can look like a warning. Removing it takes away a reason to doubt.
- A recent-buyer count still gives social proof, even when there are no written reviews yet.
- 'Bought this week' feels current, which suggests the product is in demand now.
Caveats: This is vendor marketing, and sample size and significance were not shared. The lift is small, so a test on your own traffic matters.
Who ran it
Visually ran this test for Branch Furniture and published the results (Visually case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Visually →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we replace an empty review widget on new products with a count of recent buyers, then more shoppers will buy because they see proof of demand instead of a blank.
- Primary metric
- Product page conversion rate on new products
- Guardrails
- Add-to-cart rate
- Return rate on new products
- Review submission rate
- Who should test it
- Stores that launch new products often and have enough weekly sales to show a real buyer count. It won't work if weekly sales are tiny, since a low number can hurt trust.
Questions
What should a new product page show when it has no reviews?
Some other proof of demand. In this test, a count of buyers from the past week beat an empty review widget by 4.3%.
Is it honest to hide the review widget?
Yes, as long as the buyer count is real.
Bring reviews back once the product has collected some.
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