Hypothesis
If a merchant’s navigation is effective, breadcrumbs become redundant. Removing the breadcrumb trail will reduce visual distractions during checkout and result in higher RPV.
This is one of three breadcrumbs hypotheses being tested. Review early results from the SIMPLIFY BREADCRUMBS and SUPPRESS PRODUCT-LEVEL BREADCRUMBS experiments.
THE RESULTS SO FAR*
RESULTS DISTRIBUTION
*These results reflect the average findings of all participating merchants and are not guaranteed for all users.
THE EXPERIMENT IN ACTION
CONTROL – MOBILE
TREATMENT – MOBILE
What We Are Doing
We are removing the breadcrumb trail on the treatment group and monitoring results.
Why We Are Doing It
Most merchants implement breadcrumb trails on their websites. They are a standard convention to help shoppers sort product views by category, determine which category the product is from, and find their way back if they make a wrong turn in their search. But even trusted conventions should be tested and optimized. We wanted to test the effects of removing the breadcrumb trail to see if it reduced distractions for the buyer during the checkout process.
ANALYSIS OF DATA
What It Means
We are noting a significant impact on revenue when breadcrumbs are removed from merchant sites. No results are indicating that this treatment is providing a positive user experience. However, a subset of merchants (38.1%) is seeing a modest RPV lift among mobile users.
Things to Consider
Shoppers love breadcrumbs! If a merchant currently does not use breadcrumbs on their site, they should consider implementing the feature to see if there is any increase in RPV.
WHO SHOULD USE IT
If a merchant has a flat or compact product catalog, it could be worth testing the removal of breadcrumbs — particularly if users are less inclined to browse for other products.
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