'Suggested For You' homepage carousel: +23.28% clicks to products
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsA personalized 'Suggested For You' carousel on the Kurt Geiger homepage raised the rate of visitors going from the homepage to a product page by 23.28%.
AdaptiveCX ran this A/B test using its own personalization engine, and it was published as a VWO case study.
The source shares no purchase or revenue numbers.
- Homepage-to-product-page conversion: +23.28%. More visitors moved from the homepage into products.
- Overall click-through rate: +0.32 percentage points.
- The source also reports a 3.37 figure for carousel clicks to product pages and growth in sessions with product views, but explains neither clearly.
- No add-to-bag, purchase or revenue results were shared, so the sales impact is unknown.
The change
A personalized product carousel is added to the homepage; placement not shared.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The homepage was the same for everyone, with no product suggestions based on what the visitor was browsing.
Variant
A 'Suggested For You' carousel showed products picked from the categories the visitor showed interest in during the session, such as shoes or bags.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Products matched to what the visitor is already looking at are more likely to get a click than a fixed set.
- A fashion brand with many categories can show very different items to a shoe shopper and a bag shopper.
- A carousel gives returning-to-homepage visitors a quick way back into products they care about.
Caveats: The test was run and reported by AdaptiveCX, the vendor of the personalization tool. Only click metrics were shared, with no sample size, duration or sales results.
Who ran it
AdaptiveCX ran this test for Kurt Geiger 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 AdaptiveCX →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we add a homepage carousel filled with products from the categories a visitor browsed this session, then more visitors will reach product pages because they see items that match their interest.
- Primary metric
- Homepage-to-product-page conversion
- Guardrails
- Conversion rate
- Revenue per visitor
- Clicks on other homepage sections
- Who should test it
- Stores with several distinct categories and many visitors who return to the homepage during a session. It needs a personalization or recommendation tool, and it adds little if most visitors land straight on product pages.
Questions
Do personalized homepage carousels increase sales?
They often raise clicks into products. Whether sales rise depends on your store, so measure purchases and revenue, not only clicks.
What data do session-based recommendations use?
They use what the visitor does during the current visit, such as the categories and products they view.
They can work without a login or purchase history.
Where should a recommendation carousel go on a homepage?
High enough to be seen without much scrolling, but test it.
Pushing key promotions down can cost clicks elsewhere.
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