# Instant search suggestions on tap: +20.4% purchases

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Site-wide (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Filters, sorting & site search
- Test run by: [VWO](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/vwo/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/safety-gear-pro/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/safety-gear-pro-search-prepopulated-suggestions/

Showing top searches and top categories as soon as a visitor taps the search bar lifted purchases by 20.40% for Safety Gear Pro. Wingify Services ran this A/B test, published as a VWO case study. It followed an earlier test that made the mobile search bar larger.

## Result

**+20.4% purchases**

- Purchases (thank-you page visits): +20.40%.
- The test ran for 9 days across all traffic on every page with the search bar, split 50/50.

## Control

The search bar only showed suggestions once the visitor started typing.

## Variant

Tapping the search bar right away showed a list of top searches and top categories. The list came from the most-searched terms and from high-traffic category pages with strong page value.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Visitors no longer had to think of a search term. They could tap a popular one.
- The suggestions were built from real search data and valuable categories, so they pointed people to pages that tend to sell.
- It built on the larger search bar from the earlier test, so more visitors were already opening search.

## Caveats

The test ran for only 9 days, and sample size and significance were not shared. The data dates from around 2020.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show top searches and categories as soon as visitors tap the search bar, then purchases will rise because people reach popular products with less effort.
- Primary metric: Purchase conversion rate
- Guardrail: Search usage rate
- Guardrail: Searches with no results
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Who should test it: Stores with steady search traffic and a clear set of popular terms and categories. If your search is rarely used, make it easier to find first, as Safety Gear Pro did.

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Credit: VWO ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/safety-gear-pro-search-prepopulated-suggestions/).
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.