Best-selling collections on the 404 page: +6.8% conversion rate
Test run byClean CommitCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsListing the store's most popular collections on the 404 error page lifted conversion rate by 6.8% and orders by 7.1%.
Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library.
Average order value fell 6.0%, so revenue per visitor rose only 0.3%.
- Conversion rate: +6.8%, with a 97.3% probability of beating the original across 140,427 visitors.
- Orders: +7.1%.
- Average order value: -6.0%, a negative result.
- Revenue per visitor: +0.3%, close to flat, because the order value drop cancelled most of the gain.
The change
A dead-end 404 page becomes a grid of best-selling collections.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
A plain 404 page telling visitors the link was broken, with no clear next step.
Variant
A 404 page that listed the store's most popular collections as a route back into the catalog.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Visitors who hit a dead end got a clear next click instead of leaving.
- Popular collections are a safe bet for people who arrived without a set target.
- Recovered visitors may have bought single, cheaper items, which could explain the lower order value.
Caveats: Revenue per visitor barely moved because average order value fell. Test duration was not shared.
Who ran it
Clean Commit ran this test for a Shopify store (anonymized) and published the results (Clean Commit A/B test library). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Clean Commit →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show our best-selling collections on the 404 page, then conversion rate will rise because lost visitors get a clear way back into the store.
- Primary metric
- Conversion rate among visitors who see the 404 page
- Guardrails
- Revenue per visitor
- Average order value
- Who should test it
- Stores with many old links, expired products or ad traffic to removed pages. If few visitors ever land on a 404, the impact on total sales will be tiny.
Questions
What should a 404 page show on an online store?
A clear next step, such as popular collections or search.
In this test, showing best-selling collections lifted conversion rate by 6.8%.
Did the 404 change increase revenue?
Barely. Orders rose, but average order value fell 6.0%, so revenue per visitor was up only 0.3%.
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