# Top categories in the menu instead of 'Shop': +16.7% product views

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Navigation & menu (Ecommerce)
- Elements: Navigation & mega menus
- Test run by: [Enavi](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/enavi/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.convert.com/case-studies/optimize-product-discovery/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/xtrema-nav-top-categories-instead-of-shop/

Showing top-level product categories, with direct product links, in the main menu instead of a generic "Shop" dropdown raised product views by 16.7%. Enavi ran this test for cookware brand Xtrema, and it was published as a Convert.com case study. Product views were the goal; the effect on purchases from this test was not shared.

## Result

**+16.7% product views**

- Product views: +16.7%, reported at 100% significance.
- Sample size: 9,249.
- Purchase conversion rate was tracked, but no figure was shared, so the sales impact of this change is unknown.

## Control

The main menu put all products under a single "Shop" dropdown.

## Variant

The menu showed the main product categories at the top level, with direct links to products.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Before the test, 60% of visitors never viewed a product, so making products one click away tackled the main leak.
- Xtrema's buyers had shopped for cookware before and knew what they wanted, so plain category links suited them better than a generic menu.
- Category names in the menu tell visitors what the store sells at a glance.

## Caveats

This ran for just 5 days and measured product views, not sales. Enavi estimated about $755,000 a year from four winning tests together, but that figure is not for this test alone.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show our main product categories directly in the top menu instead of a 'Shop' dropdown, then more visitors will view products because they can see and reach what we sell in one click.
- Primary metric: Product page views per session
- Guardrail: Purchase conversion rate
- Guardrail: Revenue per visitor
- Guardrail: Bounce rate
- Who should test it: Stores with a few clear product categories where many visitors never reach a product page. Stores with very large catalogues may need a mega menu instead of a flat list.

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Credit: Enavi ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/xtrema-nav-top-categories-instead-of-shop/).
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.