Luxury skincare site redesign: +191% mobile add-to-cart rate
Test run bySplitBaseCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsAfter a research-led redesign, Nudu Skincare's add-to-cart rate rose 191% on mobile and 39.9% on desktop.
SplitBase did the research and redesign for Nudu Skincare, a premium New Zealand skincare brand now called Pellu.
This was a before-and-after comparison of the whole site, not an A/B test.
- Mobile add-to-cart rate: +191%. Mobile was the team's main focus because it carried more of the traffic.
- Desktop add-to-cart rate: +39.9%.
- These figures track adds to cart, not completed purchases or revenue. Sales impact was not shared.
- The numbers compare before and after launch, so seasonality or traffic changes could be part of the gain.
Control
The old site, where the product pages and the mobile experience were not converting as well as the team wanted. The brand also felt the design did not look premium enough.
Variant
A full redesign shaped by customer research, with changes to copy, page layout, added content and new images. The goal was a more luxurious feel and smoother product pages.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Research showed what customers valued, which often differed from what the brand had assumed, so the new copy spoke to real reasons to buy.
- Product pages had known usability problems, and fixing them likely removed friction on the way to the cart.
- A more premium look may have matched the price point better, so shoppers felt more sure about the brand.
Caveats: This was a full redesign measured before vs after launch, not a split test, so no single change can be credited. The metric is add-to-cart rate rather than purchases, and no sample size or time frame was shared.
Who ran it
SplitBase ran this test for Nudu Skincare (now Pellu) and published the results (SplitBase case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on SplitBase →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we rebuild our product pages around what customer research says buyers care about, then more mobile visitors will add to cart because the page answers their questions and fits the brand's price point.
- Primary metric
- Purchase conversion rate (with add-to-cart rate as a secondary signal)
- Guardrails
- Revenue per visitor
- Checkout completion rate
- Page load speed on mobile
- Who should test it
- Premium brands whose site looks or reads cheaper than the product, especially with mostly mobile traffic. If your site already converts well, test page changes one at a time instead of a full redesign.
Questions
Is a before-and-after redesign result reliable?
It is weaker than an A/B test because other things change over the same period, such as traffic mix or season.
Where you can, run the new design against the old one as a split test before full launch.
Is add-to-cart rate a good success metric?
It is a useful early signal, but it does not always turn into sales.
Check purchase conversion and revenue per visitor too.
Should a luxury brand do conversion research before a redesign?
Yes. Surveys, polls, support tickets and user tests show what buyers value, so the design can feel premium and still answer practical questions.
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