# Always-visible mobile search bar: +19.62% conversion rate

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Site-wide (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Filters, sorting & site search, Navigation & mega menus
- Test run by: [Blend Commerce](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/blend-commerce/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://blendcommerce.com/blogs/ab-tests-shopify/exposed-mobile-search-bar-increase-conversion
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/fame-on-central-mobile-exposed-search/

Replacing a mobile search icon with an always-visible search bar lifted conversion rate by 19.62% for apparel store Fame on Central. Blend Commerce ran this one-week A/B test in Intelligems on mobile, at about 97% significance. Revenue per visitor rose 31.30%.

## Result

**+19.62% conversion rate**

- Conversion rate: +19.62%. This was the primary metric.
- Revenue per visitor: +31.30% and checkout-begin rate: +10.50%.
- Collection-page views fell 1.80%. This suggests some shoppers used search to skip browsing and go straight to products.
- About 97% significance, but after only one week.

## Control

The mobile header hid site search behind a magnifying-glass icon, so shoppers needed an extra tap to start searching.

## Variant

A search field was always visible in the mobile header, including the sticky header, and the old icon was removed.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Removing one tap makes search easier for shoppers who already know what they want.
- A visible field acts as a prompt. Some shoppers who would not look for an icon will type into a box in front of them.
- Search took shoppers straight to products, which shortened the path to checkout.

## Caveats

The test ran one week, shorter than the agency's usual two-week minimum, so weekly patterns may be missed. The client paused it once results were shared, so there is no long-term data.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show an open search field in the mobile header instead of an icon, then conversion rate will rise because shoppers can reach products in fewer steps.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Collection-page views
- Guardrail: Search exits with no results
- Who should test it: Mobile-heavy stores with large catalogues and decent site search. If your catalogue is small or your search results are poor, a visible bar may not help.

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Credit: Blend Commerce ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/fame-on-central-mobile-exposed-search/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.