# Checkout-first minicart without recommendations: -9.9% conversion

- Outcome: Lost
- Page type: Cart (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Cart drawers & slide carts, Add-to-cart & CTA buttons
- 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/minicart-redesigned-around-the-checkout-button/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/cc-minicart-redesigned-around-the-checkout-button/

Redesigning the minicart around a high-contrast checkout button, while removing recommendations and chat, cut conversion rate by 9.9% and revenue per visitor by 18.2%. Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library. Several changes shipped together, so the loss can't be pinned on one of them.

## Result

**-9.9% conversion**

- Conversion rate: -9.9%, a negative result. The original had a 77.6% probability of being better.
- Revenue per visitor: -18.2%, and orders -8.8%.
- Average order value: -13.2%, which may reflect the missing recommendations.
- Click-through rate: +8.5%. More shoppers left the minicart for the next step, but fewer completed an order.

## Control

The minicart showed the cart items, a product recommendations widget and a chat widget alongside the checkout button.

## Variant

A high-contrast checkout button with a lock icon moved to the most prominent spot. The recommendations and chat widgets were removed and spacing was adjusted.

## Why it likely lost (our reading)

- Removing recommendations took away a source of extra items, which likely cut order value.
- Some shoppers may have used chat to settle doubts before buying.
- A louder checkout button may have pushed people forward before they were ready, so more clicks did not become more orders.

## Caveats

Bundled test that ran only 7 days, and sample size was not shared. Conversion fell on both mobile and desktop, but the size of the drop is uncertain.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we make the minicart checkout button more prominent and remove side widgets, then more shoppers will complete orders because there are fewer distractions.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it: Stores whose minicart widgets get little use. If shoppers add recommended items or use chat, test each removal on its own instead of all at once.

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Credit: Clean Commit ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/cc-minicart-redesigned-around-the-checkout-button/).
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.