# Customer reviews instead of homepage category blocks: +9% sales

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Homepage (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Reviews & star ratings, Layout, fonts & visual design
- Test run by: [Bunzl Retail & Industry](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/bunzl-retail-industry/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/bunzl/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/verzendverpakkingenshop-homepage-reviews-replace-category-blocks/

Replacing the crowded category blocks under the homepage banner with customer reviews raised product page visits by 11% and sales by 9%. Bunzl Retail & Industry ran this A/B test on its packaging supplies store Verzendverpakkingenshop, and it was published as a VWO case study. The test ran for 8 weeks.

## Result

**+9% sales**

- Product page visits: +11%, so more visitors moved past the homepage into products.
- Sales: +9%, the business result that matters most.
- The team ran the test for 8 weeks to capture stable behavior.

## Control

Below the main banner, the homepage showed many product-category blocks. Heatmaps showed lots of clicks there, but clicks were spread thin and visitors left the homepage quickly.

## Variant

The category blocks were removed and customer reviews took their place just below the main banner.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Too many category options in one spot seemed to stall visitors rather than guide them; removing them cut the choice down.
- Reviews near the top build trust early, before a visitor decides whether the store is worth exploring.
- Visitors could still reach categories through navigation, so little was lost by removing the blocks.

## Caveats

The store leans B2B, selling packaging supplies, so results may differ for consumer stores. Sample size and confidence level were not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we replace the crowded category blocks under our homepage banner with customer reviews, then more visitors will reach product pages and buy because they face fewer choices and see proof that others trust us.
- Primary metric: Sales (orders per homepage visitor)
- Guardrail: Product page visits
- Guardrail: Homepage bounce rate
- Guardrail: Navigation menu usage
- Who should test it: Stores with a busy homepage grid of categories and a solid base of reviews, especially lesser-known or B2B shops where trust is the hurdle. If visitors use the category blocks as their main way in and your menu is weak, removing them may hurt.

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Credit: Bunzl Retail & Industry ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/verzendverpakkingenshop-homepage-reviews-replace-category-blocks/).
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.