Mobile menu with sub-categories: +11.58% purchase conversion
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsRedesigning the mobile hamburger menu so shoppers could drill into sub-categories lifted purchase conversion by 11.58% and revenue by 12.22%.
Wingify Services ran this test for ethnic fashion retailer Utsav Fashion, and it was published as a VWO case study.
The test ran for 14 days across every page of the mobile site.
- Purchase conversion rate: +11.58% against the old menu.
- Revenue: +12.22%, so the extra orders were not offset by smaller baskets.
- Heatmaps after the test showed far more use of the menu in the new design. No numbers were shared for this.
The change
Sub-categories open inside the menu instead of only as listing filters
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The mobile menu was a plain list of links with no breakdown. Sub-categories such as occasion, style and fabric only existed as filters on the listing pages.
Variant
The menu was rebuilt with sliding panels. Shoppers could see each parent category, its sub-categories and the options under them without leaving the menu.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- The menu took about 30% of homepage clicks, so it was already a main route into the catalog. Improving it touched a lot of shoppers.
- Shoppers looking for something specific, like a party-wear saree, could jump straight there instead of applying filters on a listing page.
- Seeing the sub-categories up front also shows the range of the catalog, which may prompt browsing.
Caveats: The source shows the new menu only in images, so the exact layout is not fully described. Sample size and confidence level were not shared, and results come from the testing vendor.
Who ran it
VWO ran this test for Utsav Fashion 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 VWO →
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we let mobile shoppers open sub-categories inside the hamburger menu, then more of them will reach the right products and buy, because they won't need to filter a broad listing page to narrow down.
- Primary metric
- Purchase conversion rate on mobile
- Guardrails
- Revenue per visitor
- Menu open-to-click rate
- Search usage
- Who should test it
- Stores with wide catalogs where shoppers shop by attributes like occasion, style or material. It matters less for small catalogs with a handful of categories, where a flat menu is already easy to scan.
Questions
Should a mobile menu show sub-categories?
For large catalogs, often yes. In this test, letting shoppers reach sub-categories from the menu raised purchase conversion by 11.58%.
How do I know if my mobile menu is worth testing?
Check how many clicks it gets. Here the menu took about 30% of homepage clicks, which made it a high-impact place to test.
Won't a deeper menu overwhelm shoppers?
It can, so use sliding panels that show one level at a time.
Watch menu exits and search usage as guardrails.
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