Why Customers Hesitate — and the UX Fix That Increased Conversions by 22.83%

Context

Understanding the Customer Challenge

The retailer sells play couches 🛋️ and related accessories. A recurring problem, potential customers hesitated because they couldn’t clearly understand the differences in materials — how durable they were, how easy to clean, how safe, etc. These details were buried in product descriptions or scattered across pages.

The hypothesis, by adding a detailed comparison table of materials directly on product pages, customers would make decisions faster, feel more confident, and thus increase conversion & RPV.

analysis

Why Customers Struggled to Decide?

Quantitative data

High drop-off rates on product pages after description sections.

Low scroll depth past material-detail sections.

Traffic coming from searches and ads suggested customers cared about terms like durability, washability, safety, non-toxic etc., but the product pages did not surface those in an easy-to-compare format.

Quantitative data

Customer interviews / support tickets: many questions about: 

“which fabric lasts longer?”
“Is this safe for toddlers?”
“Can I clean it in the w-machine?”

Usability walkthroughs: participants said they had to “hunt around” to compare options between different models, especially when choosing between them.

From this, we identified a knowledge gap 🚧 and friction in the decision journey.

problem statement

Findings & Insights From Data and Research

Customers lacked clarity on how material choices differed across product lines. They had to manually hunt through descriptions, creating cognitive load and decision fatigue. This led to hesitation, lower ATC rates, and more abandoned sessions or returns.

userflow

Mapping the Path to Purchase

Stage

1.
Product Page Arrival

Before Comparison Table 📉

Scroll, skim description hoping to find material info

After Comparison Table 📈

Scroll, skim description hoping to find material info

2.
Comparing Products

Manually open multiple product pages, toggle back & forth

3.
Decision Making

Delay, uncertainty, possibly leave site

4.
Conversion

Lower add-to-cart, more drop-offs or longer decision time

Exploration

Design Directions Considered

Lower add-to-cart, more drop-offs or longer decision time

Accordion / Expand-Collapse Sections for material details under each variant.

Hover / Tooltip Pop-ups that show material specs when hovering over product images or material names.

Dedicated Comparison Table embedded on each product page, showing all key material features in rows, product variants in columns.

We sketched a few versions of comparison tables: different layouts, styles, which attributes to include (durability, cleaning method, safety standard, texture feel, cost). We also tried small mockups of pop-ups and tooltips. From early internal feedback, the comparison table won out: team said it gave them the easiest overview, speed, and clarity.

Hybrid solution (winner) A clear call-to-action link labeled “Compare Materials” that opens a pop-up with a side-by-side selection of materials, key information 🎯, and a direct call-to-action to select the preferred material. This approach combined clarity, user control, and conversion-focused guidance, making it the most effective in usability testing.

usability testing

Validating With Real Customers

We tested with 10 parents via remote usability sessions, asking them tasks such as choosing the play couch material that was easiest to clean and determining which of two models was safest or longest lasting.

Observations:

In the baseline (without table), several users struggled to compare across models — had to switch tabs or remember features.

With the table, users immediately highlighted the material differences, often saying
“Oh, so this one is better for spills, this one is better for wear & tear”

Users rated their confidence higher in their selections; decision time dropped.

A/B Test Structure

How We Measured Impact

To validate the impact of the new design, we set up a structured A/B test 🧪. The experiment compared the original product page against the version with the comparison table, splitting traffic evenly. Over a 3-week period, we measured both revenue-focused KPIs and behavioral metrics to understand not only what changed, but why.

50/50 Traffic split

3 weeks (Until statistical signifcance for primary KPI)

A.

Control

Original product page without the comparison table.

Primary KPI

Revenue Per User
Add To Cart Rate

Secondary KPI

Time to Decision
Bounce Rate / Scroll Depth
Qualitative feedback via post-purchase

B.

Variant

Product page with the new material comparison table.

Primary KPI

Revenue Per User
Add To Cart Rate

Secondary KPI

Time to Decision
Bounce Rate / Scroll Depth
Qualitative feedback via post-purchase

Results

How We MeasuredWhat Changed and Why It Mattered Impact

The A/B test confirmed that giving customers clearer, faster access to material information had a measurable impact on both behavior and business outcomes 🎉. Beyond conversion metrics, the change also improved customer confidence and reduced friction across the buying journey.

B. Winner

+22.80%

Revenue per User

+12.20%

Add-to-Cart Rate

~30% Faster

Decision Time

tracked via time-on-page metrics

Experimentation for this project was carried out in

Mo & the team developed and executed a thoughtful A/B testing plan that took our conversion rate from 0.8% to 1.3% in under a year—a huge win for us. That kind of impact effectively doubled the value of our marketing efforts. On top of their results, the team feels like family—fun, easy to work with, and always going above and beyond. I'd recommend them to anyone looking to break out of the ad spend spiral and start seeing real growth.

Chris Roepe

Founder, FiggyPlay.com

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Clarity Converts

Clarity drives confidence, side-by-side comparisons reduce friction, speaking customers’ language builds trust, and simple visual cues accelerate decisions — but ultimately, testing proves what truly moves behavior.

Learn more about me

Mustapha A.