# Research-led candle store redesign: 4.88% to 5.43% conversion rate

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Site-wide (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Layout, fonts & visual design, Navigation & mega menus, Themes, page builders & page speed
- Date shared: 2024
- Test run by: [SplitBase](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/splitbase/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://splitbase.com/case-studies/fontana
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/fontana-candle-site-redesign/

A research-led redesign of the Fontana Candle Co. store raised conversion rate from 4.88% to 5.43%, an 11.3% lift, and average order value by $8.25. SplitBase ran the redesign. This was a before-and-after comparison of a full rebuild, not a split test.

## Result

**4.88% to 5.43% conversion rate**

- Conversion rate: 4.88% before, 5.43% after launch (+11.3%).
- Average order value: +$8.25, linked by the agency to easier discovery and bundles.
- Fewer support tickets about checkout problems, per the co-founder. No count was shared.
- Because this is before-and-after, seasonality, ad spend or other changes could account for part of the gain.

## Control

The old Shopify site was slow and had app conflicts. Mobile shoppers needed four taps to reach best-selling candles, and product details were hard to compare.

## Variant

A new design with mobile navigation that reached key products in one or two taps, fewer apps, icons for scent strength, notes and burn time, comparison sections and bundles on product pages.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Most shoppers were on mobile. Cutting four taps to one or two gets them to the best sellers faster.
- Icons for scent strength and burn time make candles easy to compare without reading long text.
- Bundles built from products often bought together give an easy way to spend more, which fits the AOV gain.
- Removing extra apps likely sped up the site and reduced bugs at checkout.

## Caveats

This was a before-and-after comparison of a full redesign, not a split test, so the result can't be pinned on any one change. The measurement window and traffic were not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we cut the taps needed to reach best sellers on mobile and show key product details as scannable icons, then conversion rate will rise because shoppers find and compare products faster.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate (mobile)
- Guardrail: Average order value
- Guardrail: Page load time
- Guardrail: Checkout-related support tickets
- Who should test it: Small and mid-size Shopify brands with mostly mobile traffic, a cluttered app stack and products that differ on a few specs. If you can, test navigation and product page changes one at a time before a full rebuild, so you know what worked.

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Credit: SplitBase ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/fontana-candle-site-redesign/).
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.