Removing cross-sell links from product pages: +5.6% orders
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsDrukwerkdeal removed the cross-sell text links from its product pages and saw a 5.6% rise in completed orders.
The Dutch online printing shop ran the test itself, and it was published as a VWO case study.
The test covered more than 14,000 visitors over two weeks on selected product categories.
- Completed orders: +5.6% for the version without cross-sell links.
- The variant did better for both new and returning visitors and across traffic sources, especially organic and direct.
- Average order value, products per order and add-to-cart were also tracked, but results for those were not shared.
The change
The green cross-sell links under the description are removed.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Product pages showed green cross-sell text links under the product description. Paul, who led the test, felt the messages were not convincing and might distract buyers.
Variant
The cross-sell links were removed. Everything else on the product page stayed the same.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- The links pulled attention away from the product the visitor was already looking at.
- Weak cross-sell messages can add noise without giving a good reason to buy more.
- A cleaner page makes the next step, ordering, easier to see.
Caveats: More than 14,000 visitors over two weeks, on a few product categories only. No confidence level was shared.
Who ran it
Drukwerkdeal ran this test for Drukwerkdeal 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 Drukwerkdeal →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we remove weak cross-sell links from product pages, then more visitors will complete an order, because the page will focus on the product they came for.
- Primary metric
- Completed orders
- Guardrails
- Average order value
- Products per order
- Add-to-cart rate
- Who should test it
- Stores whose product pages carry plain text cross-sell links that few people click. If your cross-sells are well targeted and drive a meaningful share of revenue, test against order value, not just orders.
Questions
Do cross-sell links on product pages hurt conversion?
They can. Drukwerkdeal saw 5.6% more orders after removing cross-sell links it judged unconvincing.
Should I remove cross-sells everywhere?
Test first. Drukwerkdeal tested on a few categories before rolling the change out to all product pages.
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