# Text labels on mobile header icons: +10.37% conversion rate

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Navigation & menu (Ecommerce)
- Elements: 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/words-with-icons-in-navigation
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/goat-milk-stuff-icon-labels-mobile-nav/

Adding short text labels to the mobile header icons lifted conversion rate by 10.37% for Goat Milk Stuff, a soap and skincare brand. Blend Commerce ran this A/B test on mobile only for two weeks. Revenue per visitor rose 2.95%, and the brand kept the new version.

## Result

**+10.37% conversion rate**

- Conversion rate: +10.37% on mobile.
- Revenue per visitor: +2.95%, a smaller gain than conversion rate.
- Returning visitors: +12.5% conversion rate and +16.56% revenue per visitor.
- New visitors: +9.58% conversion rate, so the lift was not limited to loyal customers.

## Control

The mobile header showed icons for Menu, Search, Account and Cart with no words.

## Variant

The same four icons each had a short text label beside them.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Words remove any doubt about what an icon does, so shoppers tap with more confidence.
- Clear labels on Search and Cart may help people move from browsing to checkout with fewer wrong turns.
- Icons that look obvious to a design team are not always obvious to every shopper.

## Caveats

The test ran for two weeks on mobile only. Sample size and statistical significance were not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we add text labels to the mobile header icons, then more visitors will buy because they will know exactly where each icon leads.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Search usage
- Guardrail: Mobile bounce rate
- Who should test it: Mobile-heavy stores that rely on icon-only headers, especially with older or less tech-savvy shoppers. If your header is already crowded, labels may not fit without hurting the layout.

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Credit: Blend Commerce ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/goat-milk-stuff-icon-labels-mobile-nav/).
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.