# Conversion module moved to the newsletter's upper left: a big win

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Email (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Layout
- Date shared: 2015
- Test run by: [HomeAdvisor](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/homeadvisor/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/home-advisor-content-marketing-and-testing
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/homeadvisor-newsletter-module-upper-left/

HomeAdvisor 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.

## Result

**a big win**

- 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.

## 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)

- 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.

## How to run this test

- 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
- Guardrail: Click rate on other modules
- Guardrail: Unsubscribe rate
- Guardrail: 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.

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Credit: HomeAdvisor ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/homeadvisor-newsletter-module-upper-left/).
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.