# Mini cart instead of cart page redirect: +3.6% conversion, flat

- Outcome: Flat / inconclusive
- Page type: Cart (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Cart drawers & slide carts
- 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/redesigned-mini-cart-boosts-user-engagement-and-checkout-conversions/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/cleancommit-redesigned-mini-cart-boosts-user-engagement-and-checkout-c/

Opening a redesigned mini cart after add to cart, instead of sending shoppers to the cart page, raised conversion rate by 3.6% and revenue per visitor by 2.7%. Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library. The result was not statistically significant, so we count it as inconclusive.

## Result

**+3.6% conversion, flat**

- Conversion rate: +3.6%, with a 70.3% probability of beating the original. Not significant.
- Revenue per visitor: +2.7%.
- Add-to-cart rate: +3.9% and orders +2.0%.
- Mobile (22,572 visitors): conversion rate +3.1% and revenue per visitor +4.8%.
- Desktop: average order value -11.0%, so revenue per visitor fell 5.6%. A negative result on that device.

## Control

Clicking add to cart took shoppers away from the product page to the full cart page.

## Variant

Clicking add to cart opened a redesigned mini cart on the same page, with a clearer layout and a preview thumbnail for customized products.

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

- Staying on the page keeps shoppers in their flow, which matters most on mobile.
- A thumbnail of a customized product confirms the order is right before checkout.
- Without the full cart page, desktop shoppers may have seen fewer prompts to add more, which could explain lower order value.

## Caveats

26,208 visitors over 25 days, and the result did not reach significance. Desktop revenue per visitor fell 5.6%.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we open a mini cart after add to cart instead of redirecting to the cart page, then conversion rate will rise because shoppers reach checkout without losing their place.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor by device
- Who should test it: Stores that still redirect to a cart page, especially with mostly mobile traffic. If your cart page carries upsells that drive order value, keep them in the mini cart or expect a dip.

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Credit: Clean Commit ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/cleancommit-redesigned-mini-cart-boosts-user-engagement-and-checkout-c/).
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.