Full cart icon with item count: +5.6% checkout rate
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsReplacing a subtle orange dot with a full orange cart icon that shows the item count lifted checkout rate by 5.6%.
The agency TAG ran this test for leak-proof apparel brand Modibodi, and it was published as a Visually case study.
The idea was nearly dropped as low impact but turned out to be a surprise winner.
- Checkout rate: +5.6% with the more visible cart icon.
- Checkout rate measures moving from cart to checkout, not completed orders. The source did not report the effect on sales.
- Sample size, test length and confidence were not shared.
The change
The header cart's small dot becomes a full icon with item count.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The header cart showed a small orange dot when items were in the cart.
Variant
The header showed a full orange cart icon with the number of items in the cart.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Shoppers may forget what is in their cart while browsing. A visible count reminds them.
- A number is clearer than a dot, so the icon reads as a cart with items waiting, not a decoration.
- TAG had seen a large drop between cart and checkout in analytics, so even a small reminder had room to help.
Caveats: The metric is checkout rate, not purchases. Reported in a vendor case study without sample size, duration or significance.
Who ran it
TAG ran this test for Modibodi and published the results (Visually case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on TAG →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we make the header cart icon bolder and show the item count, then more shoppers will go to checkout because they won't forget what is in their cart.
- Primary metric
- Cart-to-checkout rate
- Guardrails
- Completed orders per visitor
- Average order value
- Who should test it
- Stores whose cart indicator is small or easy to miss, especially when analytics show a big cart-to-checkout drop. It probably won't help if your cart icon already shows a clear count.
Questions
Does the cart icon design really affect sales?
It can. In this test a more visible icon with a count lifted checkout rate by 5.6%, though the effect on completed orders was not shared.
Should the cart icon show a number or a dot?
A number tells shoppers exactly what is waiting, which a dot does not.
It is a cheap change and worth testing.
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