# Simpler nav bar with bigger search: +3.8% conversion, inconclusive

- Outcome: Flat / inconclusive
- Page type: Navigation & menu (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Navigation & mega menus, Filters, sorting & site search
- 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/simplified-navigation-bar-improves-user-engagement/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/cleancommit-simplified-navigation-bar-improves-user-engagement/

Cutting the number of navigation links, grouping them into broader categories and making the search bar more prominent lifted conversion rate 3.8% for AFTCO, a fishing and outdoor apparel brand. Clean Commit ran the test and published it in its A/B test library. We treat it as inconclusive: the gain on the target metric sat inside the agency's own noise range.

## Result

**+3.8% conversion, inconclusive**

- Conversion rate: +3.8%. Positive, but inside the ±4% range Clean Commit treats as inconclusive.
- Click-through rate: +4.3%, so slightly more visitors moved from the menu into the site.
- Bounce rate: -8.6%, a sign of better first-visit engagement.
- Add-to-cart rate: +1.0%, close to no change. Inconclusive overall.

## Control

The original navigation bar, with a longer list of links and a less prominent search bar.

## Variant

Fewer links, with similar items grouped under broader categories, and the search bar moved to a more visible spot.

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

- Fewer, broader menu choices can make it quicker to pick a starting point.
- A more visible search bar gives shoppers who know what they want a faster route.
- The changes were modest, so any real effect may be too small to separate from noise at this traffic level.

## Caveats

The result fell inside the agency's inconclusive range, and sample size, duration and confidence were not shared. Two changes (fewer links and a more prominent search bar) were tested together.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we reduce navigation links into broader categories and make search more prominent, then more visitors will add to cart because they can find products faster.
- Primary metric: Add-to-cart rate
- Guardrail: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Search usage and search exits
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it: Stores with large catalogs and crowded menus. It probably matters less for small catalogs where the menu is already short.

---

Credit: Clean Commit ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/cleancommit-simplified-navigation-bar-improves-user-engagement/).
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.