Same promo message on category and product pages: +3.7% purchases
Test run byOptimizelyTesting and CRO tool
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsShowing the same promotional message on both category and product pages for eligible items raised purchase rate by 3.7% and add-to-cart rate by 10.5%.
Optimizely ran the test for an online retailer and published it as an Optimizely Field Notes use case.
The details of the promotion itself were not shared.
- Purchase rate: +3.7%. This is the headline number.
- Add-to-cart rate: +10.5%.
- Optimizely reports the category-page message lifted clickthrough to product pages, though no figure was given.
- Sample size, duration and confidence level were not shared.
The change
Eligible items carry the same promo message on the category page and the product page.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Promo-eligible items did not carry a consistent promotional message across category and product pages.
Variant
Eligible items showed the same promo message on the category page and again on the product page.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Seeing the offer on the category page gives shoppers a reason to click into an item.
- Repeating it on the product page confirms the offer still applies at the point of decision.
- Consistent wording removes doubt about whether a deal is real or which items qualify.
Caveats: Anonymized vendor summary with no sample size, duration or confidence level. The promotion and message wording were not described.
Who ran it
Optimizely ran this test for an online retailer (Optimizely customer) and published the results (Optimizely Field Notes use case). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Optimizely →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show the same promo message for eligible items on both category and product pages, then purchase rate will rise because shoppers see the offer early and have it confirmed when deciding.
- Primary metric
- Purchase rate
- Guardrails
- Gross margin per order
- Add-to-cart rate
- Purchases of non-promo items
- Who should test it
- Retailers running promotions on only part of the catalog. If a site-wide sale already shows in a banner everywhere, item-level messaging will add less.
Questions
Should promotions show on category pages or product pages?
Both, based on this test. The category message drove clicks into products, and repeating it on the product page lifted add-to-cart.
Why does consistent promo wording matter?
If the message changes between pages, shoppers may wonder whether the deal still applies. Matching wording keeps the offer clear.
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