Magento sellers who are taking part in the Mobile eCommerce Optimization Initiative are currently on the forefront of the latest mobile optimization strategies and techniques. The collaborative platform makes it easy for merchants to run experiments, share data, and continue to find the best practices to meet changing consumer demands.
For example, just one of the hundreds of experiments conducted by retailers involved removing or minimizing “Clear Cart” and “Remove Items” buttons during the checkout process. The goal of this experiment was to streamline the process and reduce distractions for shoppers. Since previous tests have proven that simplifying the mobile experience is ideal for success, the hypothesis was that getting rid of these options would encourage people to complete their purchase. However, this experiment actually had a slightly negative impact on RPV for most sellers.
When even the slightest change can significantly affect your mobile site, how simple is too simple? How do you strike the right balance between a clean, distraction-free layout and useful features? Magento retailers who had these same questions decided to find out by launching the following experiments on their sites:
Remove Breadcrumbs
Some merchants speculated that sites with great navigation tools could easily minimize distractions by getting rid of breadcrumbs when customers were checking out. The theory behind this was that efficient navigation made breadcrumbs redundant and unnecessary. Although this test did yield positive RPV results among mobile users for about 38% of sellers, the results clearly showed that, overall, shoppers enjoy having breadcrumbs.
The experiment concluded with a suggestion for merchants to implement breadcrumbs on their sites if they’re not already using them. However, other retailers were wondering if perhaps simplifying breadcrumbs would be an effective strategy for their sites.
Simplify Breadcrumbs
In this test, merchants only displayed one level of breadcrumbs above the product page in an effort to minimize complex breadcrumb trails. The hypothesis was that it would declutter mobile pages and make it easier for users to find products in related categories.
Despite the logical assumption, the test clearly showed that simplifying the number of breadcrumbs in the breadcrumb trail reduced RPV all across the board. Shoppers rely on breadcrumbs more than retailers think, especially when sellers have multiple types of categories and subcategories. Following this experiment, each seller was encouraged to experiment with different levels of simplification to see what works best for their inventory and store.
Suppress Product-Level Breadcrumbs
At this point, merchants recognized that dramatically reducing or removing breadcrumbs wasn’t a great option for the majority of sellers. This last test was implemented to determine if removing the product name in the breadcrumb trail would yield positive results. It was thought that hiding this final level of breadcrumbs would reduce distractions and increase conversions.
Over 80% of merchants who tested out this design saw positive results. The average improvement was an increase of 16.32% in RPV and a 22.11% lift in CR. This is one mobile strategy that most online sellers could implement and benefit from right away.
Other Mobile Experiments
Mobile optimization can sometimes be frustrating and confusing, but you don’t have to tackle it alone! Join the initiative to see hundreds of live experiments from merchants around the globe, compare results, and learn the most helpful techniques.
