# Simpler custom text input on product pages: -3.1% revenue, mixed

- Outcome: Flat / inconclusive
- Page type: Product page (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Variant, size & option selectors, Headlines, product titles & copy
- 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/custom-text-input-simplified-on-product-pages/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/cc-custom-text-input-simplified-on-product-pages/

Making the custom text input clearer on product pages raised conversion rate by 4.2%, but revenue per visitor, the test's main metric, fell 3.1%. Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library. The store sells personalized products, and the outcome is inconclusive because smaller orders offset the extra buyers.

## Result

**-3.1% revenue, mixed**

- Revenue per visitor: -3.1%, the main metric. The original had a 61.3% probability of doing better across 6,853 visitors.
- Conversion rate: +4.2%, not significant.
- Add-to-cart rate: -6.4%, a negative result.
- Average order value: -4.9%, which cancelled the extra buyers.
- Bounce rate fell 23.1% and click-through rate rose 16.6%, but these engagement gains did not lift revenue.

## Control

A customizer with the prompt "Type your city, state or text" and an add-to-cart button that was silently disabled when no text was entered.

## Variant

A simpler, action-oriented prompt, an input that auto-focused after clicking "Add Your Text," a clear label, and an inline error when text was missing.

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

- A clear error message removes a silent dead end, which may explain the extra buyers.
- An inline error may also stop shoppers who would otherwise have tried several times and added more items.
- The swings are small for this sample, so much of the movement may be noise.

## Caveats

Inconclusive on the main metric across 6,853 visitors. Average order value fell 4.9%, and duration was not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we simplify the custom text prompt, auto-focus the field and show an inline error when text is missing, then conversion rate will rise because shoppers won't get stuck customizing.
- Primary metric: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Add-to-cart rate
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Who should test it: Stores selling personalized or engraved products with a required text field. If customization is optional or rarely used, the effect will be small.

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Credit: Clean Commit ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/cc-custom-text-input-simplified-on-product-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.