# Subcategory pills on the homepage: +22.86% revenue per visitor

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Homepage (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Navigation & mega menus, Layout, fonts & visual design
- 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/homepage-subcategory-pills-revenue-per-visitor
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/wilsons-pet-food-homepage-subcategory-pills/

Adding compact pill-shaped links to subcategories near the top of the homepage lifted revenue per visitor by 22.86% for Wilson's Pet Food. Blend Commerce ran this A/B/C test, and conversion rate rose 13.54%. The result is directional, and subscription revenue per visitor fell 15.73%.

## Result

**+22.86% revenue per visitor**

- Variant B revenue per visitor: +22.86%.
- Variant B conversion rate: +13.54%, with an 83.1% probability of beating control.
- Variant B add-to-cart rate: +10.05%.
- Subscription revenue per visitor fell 15.73%, mostly among mobile and new visitors.
- Variant A also improved key metrics, but by less. Exact figures were not shared.

## Control

The original homepage. Shoppers reached subcategories mainly through the navigation menu.

## Variant

Variant B added pill-shaped text links to subcategories near the top of the page. Variant A put an image-led, story-style scroller titled "Most popular with pet parents" in the same spot.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Heatmaps showed the category menu was among the most-used parts of the homepage, so shoppers clearly wanted quick routes into products.
- Compact pills open those routes without taking up much of the first screen.
- New visitors may have used the clearer links to try products before signing up for a subscription. The agency notes the test cannot prove this.

## Caveats

The test was paused after 5,342 visitors and reached an 83.1% probability to beat control, below the usual 95% threshold. Subscription revenue per visitor dropped, so watch recurring revenue closely.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we add subcategory pill links near the top of the homepage, then revenue per visitor will rise because shoppers reach the right products sooner.
- Primary metric: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Subscription revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Conversion rate
- Guardrail: Mobile bounce rate
- Who should test it: Stores where the homepage is a big entry point and the menu gets heavy use. If subscriptions drive your business, watch that metric closely, since it fell here.

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Credit: Blend Commerce ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/wilsons-pet-food-homepage-subcategory-pills/).
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.