# Modern product image carousel: +4.5% add-to-cart, sales flat

- Outcome: Flat / inconclusive
- Page type: Product page (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Product images & gallery
- 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/modern-image-carousel-controls-to-enhance-usability/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/cleancommit-modern-image-carousel-controls-to-enhance-usability/

A taller product image area with minimal arrows, dot indicators and swipe support lifted add-to-cart rate 4.5%, but conversion rate rose only 1.1% and revenue per visitor fell 1.1%. Clean Commit ran this test across 84,028 visitors for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library. The extra adds didn't turn into more sales, so we count it as inconclusive.

## Result

**+4.5% add-to-cart, sales flat**

- Add-to-cart rate: +4.5%, with a 99.1% probability of beating the original. This was the target metric and a clear lift.
- Conversion rate: +1.1%, within normal variation. Flat.
- Revenue per visitor: -1.1%, with orders up only 1.0% and average order value down 2.6%.
- Devices split: desktop conversion rate rose 5.2%, while mobile average order value fell 4.5%.

## Control

The product page used the store's original image carousel and controls.

## Variant

The image area was taller, the carousel used minimal arrows and dot indicators, and shoppers could swipe between images.

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

- Bigger, easier-to-browse images make the product more appealing, which shows up as more adds to cart.
- Adding to cart is a low-commitment step. Price, shipping and checkout still decide whether the order happens.
- A taller image area pushes price and details further down, which may matter more on mobile.

## Caveats

The target metric rose clearly, but orders, conversion rate and revenue per visitor did not, so the business result is flat. Test duration was not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we make product images larger and easier to swipe through, then more shoppers will buy because they can judge the product better.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Add-to-cart rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Mobile average order value
- Who should test it: Stores where the look of the product drives the sale, such as fashion, furniture or decor, and whose current gallery is small or awkward on mobile. Pick orders or revenue as the main metric, not add-to-cart.

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Credit: Clean Commit ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/cleancommit-modern-image-carousel-controls-to-enhance-usability/).
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.