# Redesigned 'Shop by Category' homepage block: +2.2% add-to-cart

- Outcome: Flat / inconclusive
- Page type: Homepage (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Layout, fonts & visual design, 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/enhanced-desktop-experience/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/cc-enhanced-desktop-experience/

Redesigning the homepage "Shop by Category" block lifted add-to-cart rate by 2.2%, but click-through to categories, the metric it targeted, moved -0.4%, and the result was not significant. Clean Commit ran this test for a Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library, where it was labeled a positive signal. We count it as inconclusive: the lift came mostly from a small desktop sample.

## Result

**+2.2% add-to-cart**

- Add-to-cart rate: +2.2%. Not significant.
- Click-through rate: -0.4%. Flat, so the lift did not come from more category clicks.
- Bounce rate: +0.8%. Slightly worse.
- Desktop add-to-cart rose 11.3% against 0.1% on mobile, but desktop had only 6,366 of the 38,490 visitors.

## Control

The homepage had the store's original "Shop by Category" block.

## Variant

The block got a new layout, spacing and card styling, adjusted separately for desktop and mobile.

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

- The block was redesigned to drive category clicks, and those did not move, so the add-to-cart gain may be noise.
- Cleaner card styling may have helped desktop shoppers scan categories, but the small desktop sample makes this hard to confirm.
- Shoppers who already know what they want tend to use the menu or search, which a homepage block does not affect.

## Caveats

The test ran 24 days on 38,490 visitors without reaching significance. Layout, spacing and card styling changed together, and the lift rests mainly on 6,366 desktop visitors.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we redesign the homepage category block with a clearer layout for each device, then click-through to category pages will rise because categories are easier to scan and tap.
- Primary metric: Click-through rate to category pages
- Guardrail: Add-to-cart rate
- Guardrail: Bounce rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it: Stores with several distinct categories where many visitors land on the homepage and browse from there. It probably won't matter if most traffic lands on product or collection pages.

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Credit: Clean Commit ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/cc-enhanced-desktop-experience/).
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.