# Full search bar in desktop header: +13.4% conversion rate

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Site-wide (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Filters, sorting & site search, Navigation & mega menus
- Date shared: 2024
- Test run by: [Blend Commerce](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/blend-commerce/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://blendcommerce.com/blogs/ab-tests-shopify/exposing-search-on-desktop
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/sports-nutrition-desktop-exposed-search/

Replacing a desktop search icon with a full search bar lifted conversion rate by 13.4% for a sports nutrition brand. Blend Commerce ran this two-week A/B test on desktop only. Average purchase revenue per user rose 7.47%.

## Result

**+13.4% conversion rate**

- Conversion rate: +13.4%. This was the main metric.
- Average purchase revenue per user: +7.47%.
- Checkout visits: +13.9%.
- Visits to product and collection pages through search fell slightly. Shoppers seemed to reach what they wanted in fewer clicks.

## Control

The desktop header showed only a search icon. On mobile, the same site already showed search prominently.

## Variant

The desktop header showed a full, open search bar.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Shoppers who used search converted 137% above the site average, so more searching was likely to mean more sales.
- Desktop homepage visitors converted at 3.11% versus 4.20% on mobile, where search was already visible. The gap pointed to hidden search.
- An open bar invites shoppers who would never click an icon to try search.

## Caveats

Statistical significance and sample size were not shared. The test covered desktop only, over two weeks in 2024.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show a full search bar in the desktop header instead of an icon, then conversion rate will rise because more visitors will use search, and searchers convert better.
- Primary metric: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Search exits with no results
- Who should test it: Stores where searchers convert well above average and desktop search is hidden. If few visitors use search, or desktop traffic is tiny, gains will be limited.

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Credit: Blend Commerce ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/sports-nutrition-desktop-exposed-search/).
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.