Recommender after 30 seconds idle on product pages: +4.5% purchases
Test run byOptiMonkTesting and CRO tool
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsShowing three alternative products from the same category after 30 seconds of inactivity on a product page lifted Dorko's purchases by 4.5%.
OptiMonk ran this for the footwear and apparel retailer and published it as a case study.
The case study does not say whether this was a split test or a before-and-after comparison.
- Purchases: +4.5%.
- The case study does not say how this was measured, so it may not be a controlled test.
- Seasonal popups Dorko ran at the same time got a 14-15% click-through rate. That is a separate campaign and not part of this result.
The change
The variant adds a popup with three similar products when the shopper goes idle.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Product pages with no recommendation prompt.
Variant
An AI recommender that appears after 30 seconds of inactivity on a product page and suggests 3 alternatives in the same category, such as other men's boots on a boot page.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Inactivity is a sign the shopper is stuck. Offering options at that moment helps them decide.
- Three choices in the same category keep the list short enough to compare.
- With thousands of products, shoppers can easily miss a better fit without guidance.
Caveats: It's not stated whether this was a split test or a before-and-after comparison. Sample size, duration and significance are not shared, and the result is vendor-reported.
Who ran it
OptiMonk ran this test for Dorko and published the results (OptiMonk case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on OptiMonk →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show three same-category alternatives when a shopper is idle for 30 seconds on a product page, then purchases will rise because stuck shoppers get a nudge toward a product that fits.
- Primary metric
- Purchase conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Product page exit rate
- Average order value
- Return rate
- Who should test it
- Apparel and footwear stores with many similar products, where shoppers struggle to choose. Small catalogs or one-product stores have little to recommend.
Questions
What is an inactivity trigger for a popup?
It shows the popup only when a visitor stops scrolling, clicking or typing for a set time. Here the wait was 30 seconds.
How many product recommendations should a popup show?
Dorko showed three from the same category. A short list is easier to compare than a long grid.
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