Adding a wishlist: +4.2% conversion, revenue per visitor flat
Test run byClean CommitCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsAdding a wishlist to product cards and product pages lifted conversion rate 4.2%, but revenue per visitor stayed flat.
Clean Commit ran this test for an anonymized Shopify store and published it in its A/B test library.
We treat it as inconclusive: the lift was not statistically significant, and lower order value cancelled it out.
- Conversion rate: +4.2%, with an 83.9% probability that the variant was better. Not significant.
- Add-to-cart rate: +4.3% and orders +3.1%.
- Average order value: -3.9%. Negative.
- Revenue per visitor: +0.1%, effectively flat. Desktop looked strongest, with conversion up 10.5%.
The change
The variant adds a save-to-wishlist heart on product cards and a header link.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The store had no wishlist.
Variant
A heart icon on product cards and product pages let shoppers save items to a wishlist, with a wishlist link in the header or account menu. Guests had to log in or create an account to save.
Why it likely came out this way
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Saving items may have brought shoppers back to finish a purchase they had already considered.
- Shoppers may have used the wishlist to narrow down to one item, which could explain smaller orders.
- Requiring a login to save may have put off guests, which could have limited the upside.
Caveats: The test ran for 48 days on 113,055 visitors but did not reach significance, and revenue per visitor was flat. The desktop gain is a sub-segment and less reliable than the overall result.
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 let shoppers save products to a wishlist from product cards and product pages, then more will buy because saving items encourages return visits.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per visitor
- Guardrails
- Average order value
- Conversion rate
- Account sign-up rate
- Who should test it
- Stores with considered purchases and returning browsers, such as furniture or fashion. For low-price impulse buys, a wishlist is less likely to matter.
Questions
Does adding a wishlist increase sales?
In this test it raised conversion 4.2%, but not significantly, and revenue per visitor stayed flat. Treat it as a weak positive signal.
Should a wishlist require an account?
This one did, which keeps saved items across devices but may deter guests.
A guest wishlist that saves in the browser is worth testing.
Why can conversion rise while revenue stays flat?
If orders get smaller as they get more frequent, the two effects cancel out. Here order value fell 3.9%.
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