Carbon38 is a luxury activewear retailer that aims to empower women to feel their “most powerful, stylish, and feminine.” The company curates over 80 global brands and partners with industry creatives to deliver activewear that customers can’t find anywhere else. Plus, their product quality is top-notch. Seriously, we’re big fans.
While Carbon38 showcases the world’s best activewear brands and designs, their mobile experience doesn’t highlight the ratings and reviews customers need to trust their products. Could elevating their existing social proof cause an uptick in add to carts? We could test that.
The Problem: Social Proof via Star Rating Is Hidden Beyond the Fold
Social proof comes in many forms, and it’s shown to be one of the most important influencers of customers’ buying behavior and purchasing decisions. Social proof points must exist in high real estate areas throughout the shopping experience to build credibility and encourage conversion.
Carbon38 features star ratings and reviews on their mobile product pages. However, these items fall beneath the fold where it’s easy for customers to miss them. This can directly affect the first impression made when a shopper is evaluating a product.
The hidden star rating means the customer will need to scroll to learn more, causing unnecessary friction in the shopping experience.
Our Hypothesis: Front-and-Center Star Ratings & Reviews Will Increase Product Add to Carts & Conversions
Studies conducted by the Baymard Institute show that when reviews are available, it’s important to not only showcase the star rating, but also the number of reviews alongside it. This small detail is a large part of a visitor’s evaluation of credibility.
In our testing experience, we’ve seen star rating systems and reviews in high-real-estate areas help increase KPIs across the board. For example, on behalf of a direct-to-consumer athleisure retailer, we tested a clickable review star rating system within proximity to the price that took visitors to the reviews section. The results:
- +4% lift in add to carts
- +3.6% lift in transactions
- +1.8% lift in revenue per visitor
The Potential Fix: Place Star Ratings & Number of Reviews Within Close Proximity to Price
By including the star rating system with the number of reviews close to the price and above the fold, mobile shoppers could better evaluate products as they make their purchasing decision. We hypothesize that this simple change would match customer expectations and increase product add to carts and conversions.
As you’ll see in the variation, we would add the star rating and the number of reviews right next to the price of the product. We’d love to test this change to learn more and to help support Carbon38 in their growth.
What Can Cro Metrics Test for You?
What elements are you missing that could help increase transactions and improve your bottom line? The team at Cro Metrics could test that. To learn more about our experimentation programs, send our team a message.