Multiple: Product Page Redesign and Checkout Optimization for eBay
Hypothesis
eBay's siloed development process resulted in new features being launched without conversion testing. A unified product page template with clearer item presentation, improved alternatives section, and streamlined checkout will increase conversion rates across the marketplace.
Test Results
Key Learning
Context: Mobile users experience the multiple differently — smaller screens, touch targets, and limited attention require purpose-built design.
What was tested: Marketplace platforms without a unified product page standard leave significant conversion on the table. Mobile conversion parity with desktop requires dedicated mobile-first test designs, not desktop adaptations. Suggested alternatives sections can increase or decrease conversion depending on placement and relevance
Result: No statistically significant difference was detected. This null result is still valuable — it narrows the search space and helps calibrate your minimum detectable effect for future tests.
How to Apply This to Your Site
This experiment tested multiple: product page redesign and checkout optimization for ebay but produced no statistically significant change. The test was run on a landing page page in the e-commerce industry. Inconclusive results suggest this particular change may not be a priority — focus testing effort on higher-impact areas.
Before you test: Consider that layout tests typically require adequate traffic to reach statistical significance. Run your test for at least 2 full business cycles to account for weekly traffic patterns.
This result reached 95% statistical confidence, meaning there is a very low probability the observed effect was due to chance. Results at this confidence level are generally considered reliable for making business decisions.
What Was Tested
eBay engaged Invesp to break down silos between development, product, and marketing teams and build an experimentation culture. Invesp conducted comprehensive conversion audits and behavioral research, then focused initial experiments on product pages, suggested alternatives sections, and the checkout process. Mobile conversion rates were a specific focus as mobile traffic dominated but converted far below desktop rates.
Methodology
Build On These Learnings
Save your own experiments, spot winning patterns across your test history, and stop repeating what's already been tried.
Related Experiments
Does Restructuring Plan Detail Cards Improve Click-Through?
Test the variable users actually complain about — not the variable that's easiest to redesign. This test is a textbook case of treating form when the problem is content. Cross-brand qualitative research had consistently flagged three specific confusion themes: (1) pricing structure is opaque — users can't predict what they'll pay; (2) plan names are brand-driven rather than benefit-driven, so the names themselves don't communicate what the user is buying; (3) no side-by-side comparison — vertical layouts force users to scroll and remember instead of compare in parallel. Visual hierarchy is a presentation improvement; it does nothing about pricing opacity, naming clarity, or comparison difficulty. The test reached its planned sample size and produced a directionally-negative result at the noise floor — because organizing unclear content doesn't make the content clearer. The transferable insight isn't about visual hierarchy specifically; it's about the importance of mapping qualitative complaints to the test variable. If the user research says 'I don't understand what this plan costs,' the test should manipulate cost-clarity. If it says 'I can't tell these plans apart,' the test should manipulate differentiation. Layout tests are appropriate when the complaint is about layout — not when they're a default reflex.
Restructuring Homepage Hierarchy to Surface Personalized Offers
The story behind this win is the iteration discipline. The first attempt at this homepage redesign changed two systems at once (messaging + routing) and produced an ambiguous result: the entry metric moved slightly positive while downstream metrics moved meaningfully negative. The team correctly identified that the routing change — which inadvertently replaced direct links to a personalized plan-search experience with modal-driven entry into a generic flow — was the downstream killer. The iteration restored the original routing and kept ONLY the homepage hierarchy changes. All funnel metrics moved directionally positive in lockstep (entry +2.38%, mid-funnel +7%, conversion +11.81%) — none stat-sig individually but consistent enough across the funnel to justify shipping. Element-level diagnostics confirmed the mechanism: the segment CTAs the team intended to promote saw a 26-30% lift in unique-visitor interaction, while the unchanged hero banner stayed flat (as expected). Two key behavioral observations: (1) page-length reduction surfaced a 4x lift on a previously buried bottom-of-page zip code input — proving the secondary lesson that 'less page' can mean 'more conversion real estate'; (2) desktop strongly outperformed mobile, with the suspected cause being mobile's lead-with-form pattern (zip code above hero) — putting the form before the message creates friction. The broader transferable insight: when a messy test confounds multiple variables, the right move is to isolate one variable in the next test, not to abandon the hypothesis.
Content Page: Maybe Later on Content Page
Context: Key actions on the content page disappear as users scroll, creating a gap between intent and the ability to act.
Checkout: Multiple Steps
Problem: Friction during the checkout process causes users to abandon right when they're closest to converting.