Removing social share buttons from product pages: +11.92% clicks
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsRemoving social share buttons from product pages lifted Add to Cart clicks by 11.92%.
Taloon, a hardware and building supplies retailer, ran this test itself, and it was published as a VWO case study.
Most of the removed buttons showed zero shares.
- Add to Cart clicks: +11.92% versus the original, at 95% confidence.
- The test ran for 2 weeks. Visitor numbers were not shared.
- Sales were not reported, so the effect on orders is unknown.
- Taloon kept the change after the test.
The change
Social share buttons under the photos removed
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Product pages had Google+, Pin it and Facebook share buttons right below the product photos. Most showed zero shares.
Variant
The social share buttons were removed. Nothing else changed.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Share counts of zero can work as negative social proof, hinting that nobody cares about the product.
- The buttons sat in a prime spot near the photos and pulled attention away from Add to Cart.
- Few shoppers share hardware products, so the buttons offered little in return for the space.
Caveats: This measured Add to Cart clicks only; sales were not reported. The test ran for 2 weeks and sample size was not shared.
Who ran it
Taloon ran this test for Taloon and published the results (VWO case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Taloon →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we remove social share buttons from product pages, then more visitors will add to cart because there is less clutter and no low share counts to put them off.
- Primary metric
- Add to Cart click rate
- Guardrails
- Orders per visitor
- Social referral traffic
- Who should test it
- Stores whose share buttons show low or zero counts, or that sell everyday products people rarely share. If social sharing drives real traffic for you, check referral data before removing them.
Questions
Should I remove social share buttons from product pages?
Test it, especially if the counts are low.
Taloon saw 11.92% more Add to Cart clicks after removing buttons that mostly showed zero shares.
Can low share counts hurt conversions?
They may. A count of zero can suggest nobody else is interested, which is the opposite of what social proof is meant to do.
Do share buttons distract from Add to Cart?
They can when they sit in a prominent spot.
Fewer competing options near the main button usually makes the next step clearer.
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