What Happens When You Remove “Sale” from Your Top-Level Navigation? Exploring Shopper Behavior and Average Order Value (AOV)

Introduction

If you’ve ever managed an eCommerce site, you know the significance of the “Sale” section in the top-level navigation. It’s often a popular destination for shoppers who are looking for a bargain. But have you ever noticed that these bargain hunters might actually be “trained” to shop for lower-priced items, resulting in a lower Average Order Value (AOV)? In this blog post, we’ll explore what happens when you remove the “Sale” link from your top navigation and how it could impact shopper behavior, overall AOV, and even your brand perception.

The Hidden Cost of Featuring “Sale” in Top-Level Navigation

Having a “Sale” section prominently displayed in the top navigation can make it easy for bargain-seeking customers to find what they’re looking for. While this can drive traffic and conversions, it also sends a clear message: there’s always a bargain to be found on your site. Over time, this can condition repeat shoppers to rely on discounted purchases, potentially lowering the AOV.

Why Shoppers Flock to the “Sale” Section

Shoppers who regularly click on “Sale” are typically:

• Deal-oriented buyers: They’re actively seeking discounts and deals.
• Price-sensitive: They might avoid regular-priced products, even if they’re interested, preferring to wait for sales.
• Trained by visibility: Consistent access to the “Sale” section at the top-level can reinforce this behavior, making it habitual.

If your analytics show that users who consistently navigate to “Sale” have a lower AOV than those who start their journey elsewhere on the site, you may be unintentionally encouraging lower spending.

The Potential Impact of Removing “Sale” from the Top Navigation

If you were to remove “Sale” from the top navigation, what could happen? Let’s look at some possible scenarios:

• Shoppers May Explore More Full-Price Products
  • Hypothesis: Without an immediate option to jump to discounts, some users might spend more time browsing your regular inventory.
  • Impact on AOV: If users engage with regular-priced items more often, you could see an increase in AOV as users shift from bargain-seeking to browsing a wider range of products.
• Higher Perceived Value of Products
  • Hypothesis: Not advertising sales prominently could elevate the perceived value of your brand’s offerings. It may signal to users that your products are worth their regular price. These are the steps that got us there:
    • Establish the Baseline
      • AOV Tracking: We started by confirming the existing AOV for users who frequently clicked on the “Sale” section ($300) versus those who shopped through other pages.
      • Conversion Rate Analysis: We reviewed conversion rates for both sale-driven and regular product shoppers to understand differences in buying behavior.
      • Behavior Flow Analysis: Using Google Analytics, we mapped user journeys, focusing on how many users navigated directly to “Sale” and their subsequent actions.
    • Conduct an A/B Test
      • We set up a split test with two segments:
        • Control Group: Users still saw “Sale” in the top navigation.
        • Test Group: Users experienced navigation without “Sale,” instead discovering sale items through secondary placements like email promotions or homepage banners.
      • Key metrics tracked during the test:
        • AOV across both segments
        • Conversion rates and click-through rates (CTR) for other navigation items
        • Changes in engagement metrics (e.g., session duration, pages per session, and bounce rate)
    • Monitor the Short-Term Impact
      • Traffic Analysis: We observed initial traffic dips and monitored how quickly users adjusted to the new navigation structure.
      • Session Behavior: We evaluated changes in time-on-site, bounce rates, and product discovery patterns to see if users were engaging with full-priced items more frequently.
      • Heatmaps and Click Tracking: We analyzed user engagement with different parts of the site to see if removing “Sale” shifted attention to other high-value sections.
    • Deep Dive into Segmentation
      • We re-segmented the audience to identify shifts in:
        • Customer types (e.g., high spenders vs. deal-seekers)
        • Average session value and product mix
        • New vs. returning customers, analyzing whether removing “Sale” affected loyal customers or drew new full-price shoppers.
    • Assess Revenue & Profitability
      • We calculated the impact on revenue per session and overall gross margin to ensure the higher AOV was not just a volume play but was driving more profitable transactions.
      • We also compared revenue growth trends over time to see if the initial dip balanced out or led to sustained improvement.
    • Evaluate Brand Perception and Customer Feedback
      • We analyzed user feedback through surveys and customer support tickets to identify any backlash or confusion caused by removing “Sale.”
      • We also tracked customer sentiment across social channels and emails, noting any shifts in how users talked about value and quality.
    • Iterate and Adjust
      • After the test concluded, we reviewed the analytics to understand what worked and what needed adjustment.
• Impact on Brand Perception: You might foster a stronger brand perception around quality and value rather than discounts. Over time, this can attract a different customer base that is less price-sensitive.

Based on the data, we fine-tuned site design, refined marketing messages, and continued to measure the long-term impact on AOV, LTV, and overall site performance.

These steps helped ensure a data-driven decision that led to the increase in AOV from $300 to $750 while creating a more premium shopping experience.

• Potential Drop in Traffic & Conversions Initially
  • Hypothesis: For frequent “Sale” section users, removing the top-level “Sale” link could be disruptive and frustrating.
  • Impact on Conversions: You may experience a temporary dip in traffic and conversions, especially from repeat customers who are accustomed to seeking deals. However, this effect could be mitigated by offering sales in other, less prominent ways, like email marketing or limited-time homepage banners.
• Shifts in Buyer Segments
  • Hypothesis: By making “Sale” less prominent, you may see a shift in your customer segments.
  • Impact on Customer Mix: Over time, you could attract more full-price shoppers and reduce reliance on heavy discounters, balancing the customer mix and potentially increasing the lifetime value (LTV) of the average shopper.

How to Test This Hypothesis Without Major Risk

If the idea of removing “Sale” from your navigation makes you nervous (as it should!), consider an A/B test:

• Create a Control Group: Keep the “Sale” section in the top navigation for a segment of your site visitors.
• Create a Test Group: Remove or relocate the “Sale” section for another segment. You could move it to the footer, make it a less prominent link in the menu, or only display it on certain pages.
• Track Key Metrics: Monitor changes in AOV, conversion rate, user engagement (like time on site), and bounce rate between the two groups.
• Measure Long-term Impact: Run the test for at least a month to get an accurate understanding of user behavior shifts. Keep in mind that changing long-held habits may take some time.
• Other Considerations: Is “Sale” Still Essential to Your Strategy?

Before deciding to remove “Sale” from the navigation, consider your business model and target audience:

• If you rely heavily on discounts as a core part of your strategy, removing “Sale” could hurt more than help. In this case, consider focusing on tactics like tiered discounts (e.g., “Spend $100, get 10% off”) to increase AOV while still appealing to bargain hunters.
• If your brand positioning leans toward premium products, removing “Sale” could be beneficial in reinforcing that positioning.
• If seasonality is a factor, you might retain “Sale” only during key shopping events (e.g., Black Friday) and remove it during off-seasons to drive full-price purchases.