# Bestsellers instead of featured picks for new visitors: +23.01% CTR

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Homepage (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Product cards & quick add, Social proof, authority & press
- Test run by: [Optimizely](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/optimizely/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.optimizely.com/field-notes/articles/experimentation-use-cases-retail-homepage
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/optimizely-retailer-bestsellers-for-new-visitors/

Showing new visitors bestseller recommendations instead of featured products lifted click-through to product pages by 23.01%. Optimizely ran this test for an online retailer and published it as an Optimizely Field Notes use case. Both versions were static lists, so the only difference was which products were shown.

## Result

**+23.01% CTR**

- +23.01% click-through to product pages among new visitors.
- No figures for add to cart, orders or revenue were shared.

## Control

New visitors saw a static set of featured product recommendations on the homepage.

## Variant

New visitors saw a static set of bestseller recommendations instead.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Bestsellers carry built-in social proof. Strangers to the brand can lean on what others bought.
- New visitors have no history to personalize from, so popular items are a safe bet.
- Featured items reflect what the store wants to push, which may not match what shoppers want.

## Caveats

Vendor-reported and anonymized, with no sample size, duration or confidence level shared. Only click-through was reported.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show new visitors bestsellers instead of featured products, then more will click into products because popular items signal what others trust.
- Primary metric: Click-through rate to product pages (new visitors)
- Guardrail: Add-to-cart rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it: Stores with clear bestsellers and lots of first-time traffic. If your bestsellers are low-margin or often out of stock, watch revenue closely.

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Credit: Optimizely ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/optimizely-retailer-bestsellers-for-new-visitors/).
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.