# Related category links on collection pages: -0.4% conversion

- Outcome: Flat / inconclusive
- Page type: Collection page (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Navigation & mega menus
- Test run by: [Clean Commit](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/clean-commit/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://cleancommit.io/ab-tests/category-links-on-collection-pages/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/cc-category-links-on-collection-pages/

Adding links to related categories on collection pages left conversion rate almost unchanged at -0.4%, while average order value fell 9.9%. Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store. It ran only 3 days on 6,267 visitors, so the result is inconclusive.

## Result

**-0.4% conversion**

- Conversion rate moved -0.4%, with a 49.7% probability to beat control. That is no difference at all.
- Average order value fell 9.9% and revenue per visitor 9.5%. Both are negative, but too early to trust.
- Add-to-cart rate rose 6.0% and bounce rate fell 5.6%.
- Devices split hard: conversion fell 7.1% on mobile and rose 24.7% on desktop.

## Control

Collection pages had no links to other categories.

## Variant

Collection pages showed links that followed the existing navigation. Main category pages, such as Men or Women, linked to all main categories, and subcategory pages linked to their sibling subcategories.

## Why it likely came out this way (our reading)

- Links to sibling categories help shoppers who landed in the wrong place, but most visitors may already be where they want to be.
- On mobile, an extra row of links can push products down, which may explain the mobile drop.
- Three days is too short to smooth out daily swings, so the large device split may be noise.

## Caveats

Too short to call: 3 days and 6,267 visitors. Results by device pointed in opposite directions.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we add links to related categories on collection pages, then shoppers will explore more and convert more because they can move between collections easily.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Conversion rate by device
- Who should test it: Stores with several sibling categories that shoppers often compare, like Men and Women or Tops and Bottoms. Run it for at least two full weeks, and check mobile on its own.

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Credit: Clean Commit ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/cc-category-links-on-collection-pages/).
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.