# Images in the mobile menu: -2% conversion rate overall

- Outcome: Lost
- Page type: Navigation & menu (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Navigation & mega menus
- Test run by: [Blend Commerce](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/blend-commerce/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://blendcommerce.com/blogs/ab-tests-shopify/visual-mobile-navigation-urn-conversion-test
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/oaktree-memorials-visual-mobile-menu/

Adding product images beside category links in the mobile menu cut overall conversion rate by 2% and revenue per visitor by 4% for Oaktree Memorials, a seller of urns and memorial products. Blend Commerce ran this A/B test in Intelligems. A later cut of the data that removed one jewellery landing page showed a 20% conversion lift, but that view was found after the fact.

## Result

**-2% conversion rate overall**

- Conversion rate across all traffic: -2%. This is the headline result, and it is negative.
- Revenue per visitor: -4%, and average order value: -2%.
- Product page views rose 1%, while collection page views fell 3%.
- With traffic from one jewellery product page removed: +20% conversion rate, +15% add-to-cart rate and +4% revenue per visitor. Treat this as a lead, not a result, since the cut was chosen after seeing the data.

## Control

The mobile menu used text-only links for categories and subcategories.

## Variant

Approved product images sat beside the relevant category and subcategory links in the mobile menu.

## Why it likely lost (our reading)

- Images may help people who are unsure which category holds the right urn. Most visitors to this site were first-time visitors.
- Shoppers who landed on a jewellery page may have met more choice or a less direct route, which could explain the drop in that group.
- Fewer collection page views suggest the images sent some people to products directly, which suits some shoppers and not others.

## Caveats

Statistical confidence was not reported, and the positive view comes from excluding one landing page after the test ended. Sample size and duration were not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we add product images beside category links in the mobile menu, then more first-time visitors will find the right product and buy, because they can recognise each category at a glance.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Collection page views
- Guardrail: Conversion rate by landing page
- Who should test it: Stores with a broad or unfamiliar range where category names alone are hard to read, and many first-time mobile visitors. Segment by landing page before you roll it out, as the effect can differ by product line.

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Credit: Blend Commerce ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/oaktree-memorials-visual-mobile-menu/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.