Consumer shopping behaviors have changed dramatically since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with ecommerce retailers seeing unprecedented growth in traffic and sales.
While retail stores are slowly beginning to reopen, many consumers have made online shopping their new default. Some 71% of U.S. adults plan to do more than half of their holiday shopping digitally this year.
![Do Review Stars on Google Help Click-Through Rate? [Original Study]](https://cxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/stars-320x160.jpg)
You know when you search for something on Google sometimes you see review stars next to a search result?
Like here:
Does it work to attract more clicks?
Inspired by our study Which Types of Social Proof Work Best?, we set out to quantify review stars as a way to increase click-through rates (CTR) in search engine results pages.
What kind of improvement in CTR can we get from including review stars in search engine results, if any? What does that mean for application in your business? We attempt to answer these questions with hard data in this CXL Institute study.
Our research was performed in collaboration with Nitin Manhar Dhamelia from Belron® International, a automotive glass replacement and repair group.
![Price Perceptions of Products with Utility Vs. Hedonism Copy [Original Research]](https://cxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/sweater-copy-320x160.jpg)
Inspired by some great feedback on our Ecommerce Price Perception and Image Size Study, we wanted to explore price perceptions again, this time related to differing product descriptions.
Do consumers find more value in a blender that makes creamy smoothies and shakes, or a blender with 750 watts of power? What type of product descriptions depict a seemingly high-value product, hedonic ones or utilitarian ones? In this CXL Institute study, we test three different products to explore this question.
![Internal Promotions vs Third-Party Banner Advertisements [Original Research]](https://cxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2-Internal-Ads-Final-568x419-1-1-320x160.png)
We were asked recently about the effects of using internal promotions (e.g., a discounted product sold within the site) vs. third-party (from an outside business) banner advertising on web site clarity and visitor perceptions.
Our first study used the five-second test to examine whether ads on website homepages distract visitors from understanding a site’s purpose. This follow-up study looks for differences in user perceptions between ad types: internal promotions versus third-party ads.
![Form Field Usability Revisited: Select Menus vs. Radio Buttons [Original Research]](https://cxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/radio_select_featureimage-320x160.jpg)
This short study from CXL Institute compares form completion time on 2 various form designs (radio buttons or select menus).
Is one form design more user-friendly than the other?
![Implementing Urgency on eCommerce Product Pages For a 27.1% Lift [Case Study]](https://cxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Screen-Shot-2016-11-21-at-10.11.39-AM-320x160.png)
You’ve likely read about the effectiveness of urgency before. It’s a commonly used tactic, especially in the eCommerce realm. This case study shows a specific example of how we got a 27.1% revenue lift by adding urgency to the product page.
![How Do Famous Founder Photos Affect Website Credibility? [Original Research]](https://cxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Screen-Shot-2016-07-15-at-12.26.55-PM-1-320x160.jpg)
In this CXL Institute study, we explore how general perceptions of a website are affected by the use of a “human authority image” (a picture of a company’s founder, or maybe just a photo of a person presumably representing the company) on an agency website homepage.
![Checkout Optimization: How Do Trust Seals Affect Security Perception? [Original Research]](https://cxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/brooklinen-norton-jpg_seenmap-320x160.jpg)
This study, conducted through CXL Institute, is the first of a two-part series exploring security perceptions on checkout pages. We compare the effectiveness of six popular trust badges on an actual checkout page.
![Form Field Usability: Should You Use Single or Multi-Column Forms? [Original Research]](https://cxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/mcVSlinear-320x160.jpg)
Just how bad is a multi-column form layout? This short study conducted through CXL Institute compares form completion time on a single column form vs. a multicolumn form.
Will the same questions with a different layout (one column versus multiple columns) result in different completion times?
![Which Site Seals Create The Most Trust? [Original Research]](https://cxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/trust_seals-320x160.jpg)
When internet users share private information, they want to feel safe doing so.
One of the most popular ways to convey security on a website is by using trust badges (also referred to as “trust logos” or “site seals”).
This study, conducted by CXL Institute, expands on existing research from Baymard Institute’s research in 2013 to better understand the popularity and efficacy of various trust badges online.