Hockey page rebuilt on another sport's layout: -38.5% conversions
Test run byClean CommitCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsRebuilding a hockey landing page to copy the structure of a better-performing page for another sport cut conversion rate by 38.5% and revenue per visitor by 42.7%.
Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store selling sports equipment and published it in its A/B test library.
Several changes shipped together, so no single element can be blamed for the drop.
- Conversion rate: -38.5%, a negative result. The original had an 86.9% probability of performing better over 29 days.
- Revenue per visitor: -42.7%, and orders: -38.5%.
- Add-to-cart rate: -21.4%, so shoppers dropped off well before checkout.
- Average order value: -6.9%.
The change
The variant is a full rebuild with explainer, athlete media, social proof, FAQ and reviews.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The original hockey landing page.
Variant
A rebuilt page with a new hero, an early product explainer, athlete photos and video near the top, early social proof such as quotes and press logos, a collapsible FAQ and a reviews module.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Hockey buyers may want different information than buyers in the other sport, so a borrowed structure did not fit them.
- Adding explainers, media and social proof near the top may have pushed products and the buying path further down.
- The original page may already have matched what hockey shoppers expected, and the rebuild broke that.
Caveats: This was a bundled redesign, so the drop cannot be tied to one change. An 86.9% probability falls short of significance, and the sample size 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 rebuild our landing page to match the structure of a stronger page for a different audience, then conversion rate will rise because visitors will understand and trust the product sooner.
- Primary metric
- Conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Add-to-cart rate
- Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it
- Stores with several product lines that want to reuse a winning page layout. Test each audience on its own; this result shows a layout that works for one group can hurt another.
Questions
Can I copy a winning landing page layout to another product line?
Test it first. In this case a layout that worked for one sport cut conversion rate by 38.5% when applied to hockey.
Why would adding social proof and an FAQ hurt conversions?
Several changes shipped at once here, so it is unclear which one hurt.
More content near the top can push products and the buy button further away.
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