Science summary section on the homepage: -12.4% conversion rate
Test run byClean CommitCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsAdding a homepage section that summarized key science findings, paired with well-known medical institutes, lowered conversion rate by 12.4% and revenue per visitor by 12.8%.
Clean Commit ran this 11-day test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library.
The drop was not statistically significant, but engagement gains did not turn into sales.
- Conversion rate: -12.4%, and revenue per visitor -12.8%.
- Add-to-cart rate: -10.4%.
- Click-through rate rose 7.9% and bounce rate fell 5.0%. More engagement, but fewer purchases.
- Desktop conversion fell 34.6%, but only 1,002 desktop visitors saw the test.
- Flag: not statistically significant after 11 days.
The change
The variant adds a science summary with medical institute cards below 'How does it work'.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The homepage had no summary of the science behind the product. Visitors had to go to a separate science page.
Variant
A new section below the 'How does it work' block summarized the most important science findings, with cards paired with well-known medical institutes.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- A dense science section adds length and may slow visitors on their way to products.
- Detailed claims can prompt more questions, sending people to read rather than buy.
- Linking findings to institutes may have felt like a hard sell to some visitors.
- The short run and small desktop sample mean part of the drop could be noise.
Caveats: Ran for only 11 days and did not reach significance; the desktop sample was just 1,002 visitors. Total sample size 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 summarize our strongest science findings on the homepage, then more visitors will buy because they can judge the product without visiting a separate page.
- Primary metric
- Conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Add-to-cart rate
- Revenue per visitor
- Click-through to product pages
- Who should test it
- Health and wellness stores whose buyers ask for proof. Measure purchases, not just clicks, and run longer than 11 days if traffic is low.
Questions
Does adding scientific proof to a homepage increase sales?
Not always. In this test it raised clicks but lowered conversion rate by 12.4%, though the result was not significant.
Why would more engagement lead to fewer orders?
Visitors may spend time reading instead of buying.
Clicks and lower bounce rate do not always mean more sales.
Where should science content go instead?
Some stores test short proof points near the buy button, with a link to the full research. Test placement against purchases, not engagement.
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@DaveDiederen
VastaClean Commit