Ecommerce A/B Testing Ideas Part 3

April 28, 2020

Puffin.io is A/B Testing Software for Websites

Ecommerce is such a mess.  There is a lot of stuff to organized and people too lazy to do the work. Below are three wonderful ideas to keep your visitors happy and converting. You might not be ready. It will require you to take a break from office politics, empire building, stabbing people in the back, and think about your visitors – for once. 

Shopping cart form fields

Contrast is your best friend. Form fields need to be seen explicitly. Visitors need to know exactly where to type, what to type and how to fix their error(s). 

  • For example, A/B test away from flat and material design. Material and flat design are horrible for contrast and clarity, never providing visitors with clear direction of what is expected of them. 
  • Almost every form has it today. White on white background with a thin gray line for a text box. Think of new designs to A/B test and start providing clarity to your visitors when they are trying to give you money. Or don’t. Who cares. 

We tested new form layouts and increased conversions by 60% 

Funnel reports 

For ecommerce funnel reports are essential. Measuring drop off at each step of the customer journey is paramount to your business. But for ecommerce there are many micro funnels. 

  • Micro funnel 1: Where is the drop off from home page to category page? How can you optimize the customer journey to get more visitors to the product page? 
  • Micro funnel 2: Where is the drop off from category page to product page? How can you A/B test an experience to get more visitors to the product page? 
  • Micro funnel 3: Where is the drop off from the product page to checkout? How can you increase conversion from the product page? 

Building an A/B testing experience for each micro funnel. Slowly start to increase conversion for each phase. This will position you for triple digit growth as optimizing the linear funnel will compound over time. 

Unexpected shipping costs 

Shipping costs matter. “95% of eCommerce shoppers say that shipping prices impact their shopping decisions.” and “36% of consumers that abandon their online shopping cart do so because of shipping costs.” Source shipcaddie. Unexpected shipping cost is a driver of cart abandonment. The operative word here is unexpected. A few a/b testing ideas to consider when it comes to shipping cost. 

  • A/B test to avoid the surprise of shipping costs. How can you better set this expectation so it’s not a surprise during the checkout process.  
  • A/B test a variety of thresholds which provide free shipping options. This one is interesting because it could be an incentive for the end user to spend more. This might increase RPV
  • A/B test how shipping options are displayed. Is the most expensive option shown first? Can the less expensive option be highlighted? 

Think of your own ideas too, the idea here is to start your own A/B testing cadence for shipping costs. Ultimately you will keep your visitors happy and coming back. 

Puffin.io is A/B Testing Software for Websites. Looking for help setting up your next A/B test? Let us know.