Focused mobile search with popular searches: +26.55% conversion
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsRedesigning mobile search to focus the screen on the search bar and suggest popular searches lifted conversion rate by 26.55% for jewelry store Dorado Fashion.
Wingify Services ran the test, and it was published as a VWO case study. It ran for 33 days on mobile.
- Conversion rate: +26.55% against the old search.
- Sample size and confidence level were not shared.
The change
Search takes over the screen and suggests popular searches
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Heatmaps showed 30% of homepage visitors tapped the search icon, but only 1% searched. Results were often inaccurate, and the page behind the search bar distracted visitors.
Variant
Tapping search focused the whole screen on the search bar. It also showed a curated list of popular searches that led to chosen landing pages.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Blocking out the background removed the distraction the heatmaps had pointed to.
- Curated popular searches give shoppers a one-tap route and avoid the inaccurate results of typed queries.
- Many visitors already opened search, so fixing what happened next reached a large group of shoppers.
Caveats: Sample size and significance were not published, and the result comes from the testing vendor. Dorado Fashion gets most of its traffic from mobile, so the lift may be larger than on desktop-heavy stores.
Who ran it
VWO ran this test for Dorado Fashion 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 VWO →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we make mobile search a full-screen view with curated popular searches, then more searchers will reach relevant products and buy, because the background no longer distracts them and they don't depend on weak search results.
- Primary metric
- Mobile conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Search-to-product-view rate
- Search exits
- Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it
- Mobile-heavy stores where many visitors open search but few complete a query, or where search results are weak. If search already works well and is widely used, expect a smaller gain.
Questions
Should mobile search be full screen?
It helped here. A focused search screen with popular searches lifted conversion by 26.55%.
What are popular searches in a search box?
They are suggested terms shown before the shopper types.
When you curate them, you control which landing pages shoppers reach.
How can I tell if my search is failing?
Compare how many people open search with how many submit a query.
Here 30% opened it but only 1% searched.
Similar tests
@oliverkenyon
Blend CommerceBlend CommerceBlend CommerceBlend CommerceBlend Commerce