Short guiding copy under product categories: +30% product traffic
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsAdding short guiding copy under each product category title was followed by 30% more traffic from the homepage to product pages and 7% more transactions at Sage France.
Sage France's CRO manager, Marion Ravel, made the change, and it was published as a Wingify case study.
This was a month of step-by-step changes, not a clean split test, so treat the numbers as a before-and-after.
- Homepage-to-product-page traffic: up 30%.
- Transactions: up 7%.
- Bounce rate: down 7%.
- These figures come from a month of iterative changes, so they can't be pinned on the copy alone.
The change
Each category title gains a short guiding line
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Product categories showing titles only, from an earlier version that made visitors hesitate.
Variant
Each category title got a short line of copy to help visitors pick the right product and click through.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Sage sells several subscription products by business size, profession and sector. A line of copy helps visitors match themselves to one.
- Before the changes, nearly 18% of homepage visitors left without seeing a product page. Clearer guidance gave them a next step.
- the copy answered "is this for me?", which a bare title could not.
Caveats: This is a before-and-after result from about a month of iterative changes, not a clean A/B test. Sample sizes were not shared.
Who ran it
Sage France ran this test and published the results (AB Tasty / Wingify case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Sage France →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we add a short line under each product category explaining who it is for, then more visitors will click into products because they can see which one fits them.
- Primary metric
- Click-through from homepage to product pages
- Guardrails
- Transactions or trial starts
- Homepage bounce rate
- Product page exit rate
- Who should test it
- B2B software or service companies with several products split by company size, role or industry. It matters less with one product or a catalogue where titles already say it all.
Questions
How much text should product category listings have?
Enough to help visitors pick. At Sage France, bare titles caused hesitation, while one short guiding line was followed by more product page visits.
Is a before-and-after result as reliable as an A/B test?
No. Seasonality, traffic mix and other changes can move the numbers.
Use it as a lead and confirm with a split test.