Problem Statement
In December 2020, a CBD e-commerce store was grappling with a significant decline in year-over-year revenue that had been ongoing for more than half a year. This downturn had created palpable anxiety within the team, as they were keen on reversing the trend. One main contributor to this decline was the significant drop in YoY non-brand impressions leading to a subsequent reduction in organic traffic. To address this and generate more revenue from the incoming traffic, a decision was made to undertake a CRO test on the homepage.
A prolonged decline in revenue, fueled primarily by a loss in YoY non-brand impressions, had led to considerably less organic traffic.
- Goals and Objectives
- Halt and reverse the declining trend in revenue.
- Extract more value from the current website traffic.
- Increase conversion rates and overall revenue.
Strategies and Tactics
To achieve these objectives, a CRO test was devised:
- Homepage Optimization: The primary focus was on the website’s homepage. The hypothesis was that introducing a “Popular Products” section showcasing best-sellers prominently (above the fold) would stimulate more purchases. Two main reasons supported this theory:
- Convenience: Products immediately visible to users eliminate the need to navigate further, enhancing the user experience. –
- Recommendations: Items that are popular or best-sellers are often equated with quality, providing a form of peer recommendation.
- Traffic Splitting: The traffic was evenly divided between the control (original homepage design) and the variation (newly proposed design).
- Inclusive Test: All traffic sources and mediums were included in this CRO test, which started on February 23rd and is currently ongoing. An 85% confidence level in the test’s results was achieve.
Results and Metrics
Over a four-week period, the results were encouraging:
- Revenue: Control ($7.16K) vs. Variant ($8.47K) – an 18.29% increase.
- Transactions: Control (40 transactions) vs. Variant (46 transactions) – a 15% increase.
- Conversion Rate: Control stood at 7.23%, while the Variant showcased a superior 9.77%.
Financial Implications
With these changes, the increased conversion rate coupled with a new average order value would lead to an incremental revenue of $4,074.46 every month. This means the CBD e-commerce store can offset their monthly SEO retainer fee in just three months.
Conclusion and Learnings
E-commerce CRO tests should primarily focus on making the shopping experience as convenient and quick as possible for users. The general trend indicates a decrease in the time users spend on e-commerce sites. Thus, streamlining their shopping journey is crucial. By placing popular products prominently on the homepage, shopping was made faster and more intuitive for visitors.
Best-sellers or products that come recommended often garner positive responses from customers. Such labeling, synonymous with positive reviews, boosts the confidence of shoppers, making them more likely to finalize their purchase.
From Google Analytics, the data also reconfirmed the success of the strategy. Using this platform, we deduced that the uplifted conversion rate and revised average order value would account for a monthly incremental revenue of $3,467.12, further showcasing the efficacy of the CRO efforts.
