Review rating above product title: flat conversion rate
Test run byDave DiederenSyntra Labs
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsPlacing a review rating above the product title made no difference to conversion rate in Dave Diederen's test. Revenue per visitor rose 1.30% and order value 1.49%, but both had wide confidence ranges, so the result is flat.
- Conversion rate: 3.20% vs 3.19%, no change. Each version had about a 50% chance to be best.
- Revenue per visitor: $3.42 to $3.46 (+1.30%), range -15% to +22%, so not a reliable gain.
- Profit per visitor: +1.24%, also within noise.
- Average order value: $106.84 to $108.43 (+1.49%), range -11% to +16%.
The change
Star rating moved from below to above the product title
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The product page showed the product title first, with the review rating in its usual spot below it.
Variant
The review rating sat above the product title.
Why it likely came out this way
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- if trust is not the main thing holding shoppers back, moving reviews higher won't change much.
- a small star line moved a short distance doesn't make shoppers feel much more confident.
- the real blocker may be price, offer, shipping or product understanding instead.
Caveats: The result is flat, with confidence ranges spanning roughly -15% to +22%. Sample size and duration were not shared.
Who ran it
Dave Diederen (@DaveDiederen) shared this test on X. The numbers and screenshots are theirs.
View the original post on X
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we place the review rating above the product title, then conversion will rise because shoppers see social proof sooner.
- Primary metric
- Conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Revenue per visitor
- Average order value
- Review widget clicks
- Who should test it
- Stores where research shows trust is the main objection and the rating is easy to miss. If price, sizing or shipping is the real blocker, test those first.
Questions
Should reviews go above the product title?
In this test it made no difference to conversion rate. It is a hypothesis to test, not a rule.
Why didn't moving reviews higher help?
Our reading is that trust wasn't the main objection on this page, so showing stars a little earlier changed little.
What should I test instead of moving reviews?
Find what is stopping people from buying first, such as price, shipping, sizing or the offer, then test a fix for that.
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