Tried an Instagram-style story menu on our site. Here's what happened.
Mobile users loved it. Desktop users? Not so much.
A mixed bag with some clear takeaways for ecom UX.
Added those circular story bubbles (like Instagram) to our homepage and shop page:
- Each bubble showed a different product category
- Quick visual way to navigate the store
- Positioned right above our main hero section
The results:
Revenue per user: +1.40% (not statistically significant)
Interesting device breakdown though:
Mobile users loved it, positive impact across the board.
Makes sense since they're already used to this navigation pattern from social apps.
Desktop users?
Not so much. Performed slightly worse with the story menu.
Probably because desktop users have bigger screens and can already navigate easily through traditional menus. The story bubbles just added visual clutter for them.
The bigger issue was usability.
We only showed the story menu on the homepage and shop pages, so once you clicked into a category, you lost that quick navigation.
Users had to go back to use it again, which killed the whole "convenience" factor.
Still think there's something here, especially for mobile.
Anyone else experimenting with social media patterns in e-commerce?
Btw, I'm giving away my "50 Ecommerce Homepages Breakdown" with navigation patterns from top brands. Drop "Homepage" below if you want it.
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