# Homepage tailored to new vs returning visitors: +241% CR, unproven

- Outcome: Flat / inconclusive
- Page type: Homepage (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Layout, fonts & visual design, Headlines, product titles & copy
- 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/personalized-homepage-for-new-vs-returning-visitors/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/cleancommit-personalized-homepage-for-new-vs-returning-visitors/

Showing new visitors an educational homepage and returning visitors a sales-focused one came with a 241.1% rise in conversion rate, but the test did not reach significance. Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and labelled it a positive signal. Overlapping tests and holiday promotions interfered, so we count it as inconclusive.

## Result

**+241% CR, unproven**

- Conversion rate: +241.1%. Very large, but not statistically significant.
- Add-to-cart rate: +83.7%, and average order value: +106.0%.
- Revenue per visitor: +602.8% (goal metric). Numbers this large usually point to noise or outside interference.
- The agency reported that new visitors spent more time on the page, but gave no figure.

## Control

All visitors saw the same homepage.

## Variant

New visitors saw an educational layout with more trust-building content. Returning visitors saw a sales-focused layout with product offers and clear calls to action.

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

- Returning visitors often come back to buy, so a shorter path with offers may suit them.
- New visitors may need answers and reassurance before buying, which the educational layout aimed to give.
- Holiday promotions and overlapping tests likely inflated the numbers, so the true effect is unknown.

## Caveats

The test did not reach significance, and other tests and holiday promotions ran at the same time. Several layout and content changes for two segments were tested together, and sample size and duration were not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show new visitors educational, trust-building content and returning visitors offers and a quick path to buy, then conversion rate will rise in both groups because each gets what they came for.
- Primary metric: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Conversion rate by segment
- Guardrail: Bounce rate for new visitors
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Who should test it: Stores with a healthy share of repeat visitors and a product that needs some explaining. Run it outside big promotions, with no overlapping tests on the homepage.

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Credit: Clean Commit ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/cleancommit-personalized-homepage-for-new-vs-returning-visitors/).
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.