Customer photos and videos on the homepage: +3.3% conversion rate

Flat / inconclusiveHomepage

Adding a block of customer photos, videos and quotes to the homepage raised conversion rate by 3.3% and revenue per visitor by 2.6%, but those gains were not statistically significant.

Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library.

We count it as inconclusive: only the click-through lift was clear.

+3.3% conversion rate
  • Click-through rate: +2.1%, with a 99% probability of beating the original. This was the test's main metric.
  • Conversion rate: +3.3%, and revenue per visitor: +2.6%. Positive but not significant.
  • Add-to-cart rate: +4.0% overall, and bounce rate: -9.5%.
  • Devices split: mobile add-to-cart rose 7.9% and mobile bounce fell 13.8%, while desktop add-to-cart fell 7.8%.

The change

Control (A)
announcement bar
header
hero
Shop by category
product card
testimonials
Variant (B)
announcement bar
header
hero
Shop by category
Customer photos, videos, quotesNEW
product card
testimonials

The variant adds a customer content block below the category carousel.

Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.

Control

The homepage had no customer content.

Variant

A block of customer photos, videos and quotes pulled from Reviews.io sat below the shop-by-category carousel. Each item linked to the product it showed.

Why it likely came out this way

Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.

  • Real customers using the products can make quality claims more believable.
  • Each photo linked to a product, which gave visitors another way into the catalog.
  • The block likely suited a mobile scroll better than a wide desktop layout, which may explain the device split.

Caveats: The agency labeled this a positive signal, not a confirmed win; sales gains were not significant. Sample size and duration were not shared, and desktop and mobile moved in opposite directions.

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 customer photos and videos on the homepage, then more visitors will click through to products because seeing real buyers builds trust in quality.
Primary metric
Click-through rate from the homepage
Guardrails
  • Conversion rate
  • Desktop add-to-cart rate
  • Revenue per visitor
Who should test it
Stores with a good supply of customer photos or videos, especially in visual categories like fashion or home. It is less likely to help if your customer content is sparse or low quality.

Questions

Does user-generated content on the homepage increase sales?

In this test it lifted clicks clearly, but the 3.3% conversion gain was not significant.

Treat it as a promising signal, not proof.

Where should customer photos go on a homepage?

This test placed them just below the category carousel and linked each one to its product.

Linking content to products gives visitors a direct path to buy.

Why did desktop and mobile react differently?

The source does not say. A layout that works in a mobile scroll can feel cluttered on desktop, so check each device separately.

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