Marketers spend a lot of time optimizing the real estate above the fold in an email, and not a ton of time on below the fold content. Below the fold—a term that originated with print newspapers—is defined as the content on a web page or in an email that will not be seen unless the viewer scrolls.
When people spend 6 seconds or less on an email, optimizing the email to attract those eyeballs makes sense. But sometimes, paying attention to modules that are below the fold can really pay off.
TeePublic, a retail site featuring independent artists’ designs, includes a search bar in emails. Initially, the search bar was above the fold. We asked: Was the search bar helping drive results? Or was it just taking up space?
Searching for Results: Test 1
Alchemy Worx first tested the search bar’s impact in an A/B split pitting creative with a search bar against creative without one.
“Removing the search bar had a less-than one percent impact on conversion, and revenue was suppressed but not statistically significant,” says Allan Levy, CEO of Alchemy Worx.
TeePublic features more than a million designs by thousands of independent artists, so search is a critical function for how its customers find merchandise.
Removing the search function from TeePublic’s emails was not a decision to make lightly. However, the results of the first test indicated the search function was having minimal impact on TeePublic’s email campaigns.
“So then we said rather than remove it, maybe we can make it work better,” says Levy.
Test 2: Finding the Right Location
In the next test, Alchemy Worx moved the search bar below the fold and tested dynamic search, featuring the week’s top searches against generic search. Dynamic won, but not by much, driving 5% more revenue, 1% more clicks and 6% more orders.
Test 3: Making Search Work Harder
Based on that result, Alchemy Worx ran one more test, pitting tag recommendations, or personalized selections based on previous keyword searches, against static selections.
The emails featuring tag recommendations drove a whopping 69% more revenue, 13% more clicks, 70% more orders and a 66% higher conversion rate.
“Now that’s something to write home about,” says Levy. “We could have just taken search out and done something else with that real estate when we saw that it wasn’t really having an impact, but we said: ‘Maybe we can make it work better.’”
Not only did Alchemy Worx get TeePublic’s search function firing on all cylinders, it got below-the-fold real estate playing a critical role in driving revenue.
At Alchemy Worx, we test everything. You should, too. For more information on how to partner with Alchemy Worx, contact us.
