Mega menu without social icons, with images: +$0.23 per session
Test run byOliver KenyonConversionwise
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsRemoving social media icons from the mobile mega menu and adding images beside each category lifted revenue per session by $0.23. Oliver Kenyon ran this test and estimates it is worth $14,598.60 a month. The new menu also added short descriptions, popularity tags and service icons.
- Revenue per session: +$0.23. Visitors who saw the new menu spent more on average.
- Monthly revenue: +$14,598.60, based on the practitioner's estimate.
- Yearly revenue: +$175,183. This is a forecast, not a measured year.
The change
Social icons removed; categories get images, tags and service icons
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The mobile menu was a plain text list of category names. Twitter, Instagram and YouTube icons sat at the bottom, linking off the site.
Variant
Each category got a thumbnail image and a short description, and two got tags such as Best Seller and Most Popular. The social icons were replaced by three service icons for shipping, packaging and support.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- social links in the menu send shoppers away from the store at a moment when they are looking for products.
- images let people recognise a category at a glance instead of reading every label.
- popularity tags give undecided visitors a sensible place to start.
Caveats: Images, descriptions, tags and service icons were added at the same time as the icons were removed, so the effect of each part is unknown. Sample size and duration were not shared.
Who ran it
Oliver Kenyon (@oliverkenyon) shared this test on X. The numbers and screenshots are theirs.
View the original post on X
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we remove off-site links from the mobile menu and add images to category links, then more visitors will reach products and buy because the menu keeps them focused and makes categories easier to recognise.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per session
- Guardrails
- Menu click-through rate
- Bounce rate
- Conversion rate
- Who should test it
- Stores with several distinct categories and a text-only mobile menu. It may matter less for single-product stores or brands whose social channels drive repeat sales.
Questions
Should I put social media icons in my navigation menu?
In this test, removing them from the mobile menu was part of a change that lifted revenue per session by $0.23. Links that leave the site can pull shoppers away from buying.
Do images in a mega menu help?
Adding thumbnails beside each category was part of the winning menu here. The images were not tested on their own.
Where should social links go instead?
This test did not say. Many stores keep them in the footer, where they are less likely to interrupt shopping.
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