Recently viewed carousel on the homepage: +13% revenue per visitor
Test run byBlend CommerceCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsAdding a recently viewed products carousel above the best sellers on Stone Creek Coffee's homepage lifted revenue per visitor by 13%.
Blend Commerce ran this test for the coffee roaster across all devices. Conversion rate also rose 13%.
- Revenue per visitor: +13%, the primary metric.
- Conversion rate: +13%, so the gain came from more buyers, not bigger orders.
- Subscription orders per visitor: +2%, a small lift.
- Blend estimated about 159 extra orders a month.
The change
A recently viewed carousel is added above best sellers for returning visitors.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The existing homepage showed best sellers but nothing based on what the visitor had looked at before.
Variant
A Rebuy-powered carousel of up to eight recently viewed products sat above the best sellers. It only appeared for visitors who had browsing history.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Returning visitors could get back to products they were weighing without searching again.
- The carousel only showed for people with history, so new visitors saw the normal page.
- Placing it above best sellers put the most relevant products first.
Caveats: The source does not share sample size, duration or significance. The extra-orders number is Blend's estimate.
Who ran it
Blend Commerce ran this test for Stone Creek Coffee and published the results (Blend Commerce A/B test). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Blend Commerce →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we show recently viewed products on the homepage for returning visitors, then more of them will buy, because they can pick up where they left off without searching again.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per visitor
- Guardrails
- Conversion rate
- Best seller click-through rate
- Page load time
- Who should test it
- Stores with a lot of returning visitors and a catalogue big enough that people browse several products before buying, such as coffee or other repeat purchases. It does little for stores with mostly one-time, first-visit traffic.
Questions
Does a recently viewed section increase sales?
It did for Stone Creek Coffee, with revenue per visitor up 13%.
It works best when many visitors come back after browsing.
Should new visitors see a recently viewed section?
No. In this test it was hidden for visitors with no history, so first-time visitors saw the normal homepage.
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