EA Optimization
Background
Brands across multiple industries build consumer trust and grow sales by optimizing their product display pages with authentic UGC from the ExpertVoice Recommendation Display, a feature of the Advocacy Platform. The Recommendation Display is different from a standard stream of customer reviews. It allows the brand to curate the most quality recommendations and display them on their product pages in an elevated manner, including the expert’s real name, photo, and area of expertise.
Brands from a variety of industries are increasing conversion rates and average order value with the ExpertVoice Recommendation Display.
This case study looks at the impact the recommendation of an expert has on the e-commerce shopping experience and how its placement on the page affects revenue, conversion rates, and average order value.
Solution
For each brand’s optimization test, traffic was split evenly between four variations of where the Recommendation Display lived on the page: below the buy button, the middle of the page, the bottom of the page, and finally, not displaying it all. The test tracked conversion rate The number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors. and average order value Tracks the average dollar amount spent on each order. Calculated by dividing the total revenue by the number of orders. for each variation in order to identify the placement that generated the most revenue per session The amount of revenue generated each time a customer visits your website. Calculated by dividing total revenue by the total number of visitors to the site. for each brand.
Below the buy button
Middle of the page
Bottom of the page
Recommendation Display not visible
Results
The ExpertVoice Recommendation Display combined with optimization testing makes it easy for a brand to automatically deploy quality expert recommendations in the right place on their product pages to increase revenue.
Optimized placement varies for every brand, but in every case expert recommendations positively impacted revenue per visitor by increasing conversion rate and/or AOV when compared to not having the Recommendation Display on their site. In most cases, both data points increased. No matter the industry, expert recommendations lifted sales by an average of 41%.
Revenue, percentage increase
41% average increase
Case Study Results
Company-level data
Crankbrothers increased revenue per session by 48%
For global mountain bike component leader Crankbrothers, the winning placement variant proved to be moving the Recommendation Display to just below the brand’s consumer reviews at the bottom of the page.
Session revenue
48% increase
Conversion rate
18% boost
AOV
20% lift
Weston Snowboards increased AOV by 60%
The winning variation for Weston Snowboards placed the Recommendation Display in the middle of the page above the video section, which houses overview, specs, and sizing information.
Session revenue
46% increase
Conversion rate
9% boost
AOV
60% lift
Country Life increased revenue by 96%
Country Life Vitamins found that placing expert reviews just below the brand’s consumer reviews at the bottom of the page was the sweet spot. And doing so had a major impact on the brand’s revenue.
Session revenue
96% increase
Conversion rate
10% boost
AOV
74% lift
Wolfgang Man & Beast lifted revenue per session by 18%
Expert recommendations also impact consumer purchase behavior on products like dog collars and leashes. Wolfgang Man & Beast displays expert recommendations on their mobile site. The winning variation placed the Recommendation Display just below the buy button.
Session revenue
18% increase
Conversion rate
10% boost
AOV
7% lift
Fishing knife and tool brand lifted AOV by 33%
For this fishing knife and tool brand, the winning variant placed the Recommendation Display above the brand’s consumer reviews. While this placement did not provide the highest conversion rate, it provided a considerable lift to AOV resulting in a 25% revenue increase.
Session revenue
25% increase
Conversion rate
6% decrease
AOV
33% lift
Floyd’s of Leadville increased AOV by 8.5%
CBD brand Floyd’s of Leadville was in the unique position of already having extremely high conversion rates. While the display did not lift conversion rates, it boosted average order value, which provided a positive impact to session revenue when placed below the fold of the page so that it was just under the additional information section.
Session revenue
3.3% increase
Conversion rate
5% decrease
AOV
8.5% lift
Klymit increased revenue by 55%
Camping gear brand Klymit found that moving the Recommendation Display to under the brand’s consumer reviews at the bottom of the page had a huge impact on revenue.
Session revenue
55% increase
Conversion rate
21% boost
AOV
28% lift
Conclusion
Across multiple industries, expert recommendations delivered at the right time increase revenue by an average of 41%.
The bottom line: providing consumers with transparent, high-quality reviews from experts they can trust increases confidence to purchase and boosts brand sales. Providing that information in the right place at the right time has an even bigger impact on the bottom line.
The ExpertVoice Recommendation Display with optimization makes it easy to increase e-commerce performance on your product pages.
Contact ExpertVoice today to learn how you can start gathering predictable,
authentic recommendations and automatically show the most quality ones to
your consumers when and where it matters most.