# Sales carousel replaced a trust-focused hero: -46.2% conversions

- Outcome: Lost
- Page type: Homepage (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Hero & above-the-fold section, Pricing, discounts & savings display
- 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/homepage-hero-replaced-with-a-sales-carousel/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/cc-homepage-hero-replaced-with-a-sales-carousel/

Swapping a trust-focused homepage hero for a carousel promoting sales and high-value products cut conversion rate by 46.2% and revenue per visitor by 87.6%. Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library. The sample was small, at 1,082 visitors over 26 days, so the exact size of the drop is uncertain.

## Result

**-46.2% conversions**

- Conversion rate: -46.2%, a negative result. The original had a 97.1% probability of performing better.
- Revenue per visitor: -87.6%, and orders: -48.0%.
- Average order value: -76.9%, so the carousel did not even push buyers toward the pricier products it featured.
- The test ran on 1,082 visitors over 26 days, so these figures could swing a lot with more traffic.

## Control

A homepage hero focused on building trust in the store.

## Variant

A carousel banner in the hero that promoted current sales and the store's highest-value products.

## Why it likely lost (our reading)

- The trust message likely did real work for first-time visitors, and removing it cost more than the promotions gained.
- Rotating slides are easy to ignore, and each message only shows for a moment.
- Leading with sales may make a store look less established, which can hurt trust.

## Caveats

The sample was small, at 1,082 visitors over 26 days, so the size of the drop is uncertain even though the direction looks clear.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we replace our homepage hero with a carousel of sales and flagship products, then sales will rise because the homepage gets a large share of traffic and shoppers want to see those products.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Who should test it: Stores thinking about trading a trust or brand message for promotions in the hero. Be cautious if most visitors are new to your brand, since trust may matter more to them than deals.

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Credit: Clean Commit ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/cc-homepage-hero-replaced-with-a-sales-carousel/).
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.