Conversion module moved to the newsletter's upper left: a big win
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsHomeAdvisor moved the most conversion-focused module in its modular email newsletter to the upper-left position and reported a big success on conversions, without sharing a figure.
The test was run by HomeAdvisor's own email team and published as a MarketingSherpa case study in 2015.
- Conversions: described as a big success. No percentage, sample size or confidence level was shared.
- The team counted the newsletter's move to a modular template among its most lucrative changes, which made tests like this possible.
- In a separate test in the same program, more articles per issue (three to five were tested) raised the click rate.
The change
The conversion-focused module moves from low in the email to the upper-left slot.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
A modular newsletter with box-like sections for articles and features, with the conversion-focused module placed lower in the layout.
Variant
The same modular newsletter with the conversion-focused module moved to the upper-left position, where readers look first.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Readers of email scan from the top left, so the module most likely to drive a request got seen by more people.
- Putting the money-making block first means fewer readers drop off before they reach it.
- A modular layout makes it easy to swap positions without rewriting the email, so the change was clean to test.
Caveats: The source gives no numbers, sample size or test duration for this change, so the size of the lift is unknown. The data is from 2012 to 2014.
Who ran it
HomeAdvisor ran this test and published the results (MarketingSherpa case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on HomeAdvisor →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we move our most conversion-focused module to the upper-left slot of the newsletter, then more subscribers will click through and convert because it is the first thing they see.
- Primary metric
- Conversions per email delivered
- Guardrails
- Click rate on other modules
- Unsubscribe rate
- Spam complaint rate
- Who should test it
- Lead-gen and marketplace businesses that send a modular newsletter mixing content and offers. It matters less if your email has a single message or one call to action.
Questions
Where should the call to action go in a newsletter?
Many readers scan from the top left, so a module placed there gets the most attention.
HomeAdvisor saw a big win by moving its conversion module there, though no figure was shared.
Does a modular email template help with testing?
Yes. With content in separate boxes, you can swap the order of modules without redesigning the email, so each test isolates one change.
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