Compact navigation bar redesign: no clear change (-0.3%)
Test run byClean CommitCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsA more compact navigation bar with clearer category grouping made no clear difference overall: conversion rate moved -0.3% across 31,434 visitors.
Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library.
Desktop leaned strongly positive, but a mobile dip cancelled it out.
- Conversion rate: -0.3% overall, within normal variation. Flat.
- Revenue per visitor: +4.9%, on a 5.3% higher average order value, with orders down 2.0%.
- Desktop: conversion rate +23.9% and revenue per visitor +49.6% on 7,288 visitors. Promising, but a small segment.
- Mobile: conversion rate -4.7%, which cancelled out the desktop gain.
The change
The variant shrinks the navigation bar and regroups its categories.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The store's original navigation bar.
Variant
A more compact navigation bar that takes less vertical space, with clearer category groups and cart, search and account kept close at hand. It looked the same on desktop and mobile.
Why it likely came out this way
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- The space saved was largest on desktop, which is where the gain appeared.
- On mobile there was less room to save, so the change may have added little or made categories harder to reach.
- Using one design across devices can help one and hurt the other.
Caveats: 31,434 visitors overall; the desktop lift came from only 7,288 visitors and was not confirmed. Test duration 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 make the desktop navigation more compact with clearer category groups, then desktop shoppers will buy more because they find products faster and see more of the page.
- Primary metric
- Desktop conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Mobile conversion rate
- Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it
- Stores with a tall or cluttered desktop header and a meaningful share of desktop traffic. Mostly-mobile stores should test mobile navigation separately rather than share one design.
Questions
Does a compact navigation bar increase conversions?
Not overall in this test. Desktop conversion rose 23.9% while mobile fell 4.7%, leaving the total flat.
Should desktop and mobile navigation be the same?
Not necessarily. This test suggests one design can suit desktop and not mobile, so test each device on its own.
Can I trust a segment result like the desktop lift?
Treat it as a lead for a new test.
It came from 7,288 visitors and was not the planned main result.
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