Recently viewed items section on mobile: +6.65% conversion rate
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsAdding a Recently Viewed Items section to the iTokri mobile site lifted conversion rate by 6.65% and revenue by 5.32%.
ConvertPolo ran this A/B test for iTokri, a shop selling handcrafted goods from Indian artisans, and it was published as a VWO case study.
- Conversion rate: +6.65%. More mobile visitors went on to buy.
- Revenue: +5.32%. The lift carried through to sales, not just clicks.
- No sample size, duration or confidence level was shared.
The change
A Recently Viewed Items row is added; its exact placement was not shared.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Mobile shoppers who browsed several products had no easy way to get back to the ones they had already looked at.
Variant
A Recently Viewed Items section showed the products the shopper had already opened, so they could return to them in one tap.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Handcrafted goods are often one-of-a-kind, so shoppers compare several items before choosing. A way back makes that easier.
- On mobile, going back through pages is slow and people lose their place. A ready list removes that effort.
- Shoppers who can't find an item again often just leave. The section keeps their options in view.
Caveats: The source's write-up for this test seems to describe a different test (benefit points on a socks product page), so the details of what was shown are unclear. No sample size, duration or significance was given.
Who ran it
ConvertPolo ran this test for iTokri and published the results (VWO case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on ConvertPolo →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show mobile shoppers the products they recently viewed, then more of them will buy because they can compare and return to items without searching again.
- Primary metric
- Conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Revenue per visitor
- Clicks on other recommendation sections
- Page load time on mobile
- Who should test it
- Stores where shoppers compare many similar or unique items before buying, such as crafts, fashion and home decor. It probably won't matter much for stores where people buy one known item, or where most visits are a single page.
Questions
Where should a recently viewed section go?
Common spots are low on the product page, on the home page and on listing pages.
Test placement, since a section too high can push the main product details down.
Is recently viewed the same as recommendations?
No. Recommendations suggest new products. Recently viewed only shows items the shopper already opened, which helps with comparing and coming back.
Does this work for new visitors?
Only after they have viewed a few products.
On the first page view the section is empty, so hide it until there is something to show.
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