Trust elements removed, recommendations raised: +2.4% add-to-cart
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsRemoving trust elements below the buy box, widening the product details and moving recommendations higher raised add-to-cart clicks by 2.4% and recommendation clicks by 60%.
Contorion, a tools and MRO supplies retailer, ran this split URL test, and it was published as a VWO case study.
Several changes shipped together, so the result belongs to the whole redesign.
- Add-to-cart click rate: +2.4%.
- Recommendation click rate: +60%, likely because recommendations were easier to reach.
- Contorion said the effect on overall conversion was visible but didn't share a number.
- No sample size, test length or significance level was shared.
The change
Trust elements removed; product info widened and recommendations moved up.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The product page showed trust elements, such as reviews, directly below the buy box, with recommendations further down.
Variant
The trust elements below the buy box were removed. The product information was stretched to fill the space, and recommendations were moved higher up the page.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Session recordings suggested the trust elements distracted shoppers more than they helped.
- Contorion's buyers are often trade professionals who want specs, so wider product details may have served them better.
- Moving recommendations up put them in view, which explains much of the click gain.
Caveats: This was a bundled change: removing trust elements, widening product information and moving recommendations all shipped together. Results are click rates only, with no sample size or significance shared.
Who ran it
Contorion ran this test for Contorion and published the results (VWO case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Contorion →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we replace little-used trust elements below the buy box with wider product details and higher recommendations, then add-to-cart and recommendation clicks will rise because shoppers see the information they actually use.
- Primary metric
- Add-to-cart click rate
- Guardrails
- Conversion rate
- Revenue per visitor
- Return rate
- Who should test it
- Stores with spec-driven products and repeat or trade buyers, where recordings show trust blocks being ignored. Be careful if you are a newer brand, since first-time shoppers may still need reviews and badges.
Questions
Can removing trust badges increase add-to-cart?
In this test, removing them together with other changes raised add-to-cart clicks by 2.4%.
It goes against common advice, so test it on your own audience before rolling it out.
Where should product recommendations go on a product page?
Higher placement usually means more clicks. Here moving them up lifted recommendation clicks by 60%, though that was part of a wider redesign.
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