Express Watches Increased Their Purchases Using VWO

Express Watches had a neatly-designed website that displayed trust badges for credibility. It  promised next-day delivery within the UK and offered a 30-day refund. However, sales were not in line with expectations.

This was in part due to the problem of replica watches that had been plaguing the watch retail business. The problem had become especially severe for online watch sellers, with people questioning the authenticity of watches being sold. Mistrust and confusion were fuelled by websites selling replicas at prices that represented 70–80% discounts to the price of authentic watches.

Express Watches used Qualaroo to conduct a user survey to gather major concerns. The survey revealed that visitors were looking for assurance around questions such as the following:

• Is the company/website legitimate?
• Are they offering the best price?
• Will the watch they ordered be the real deal or a cheap replica?
• Is safe and quick delivery assured?
• Are the online payment methods safe?

The survey findings reinforced the need for Express Watches to make sure that its website was perceived as trustworthy and reliable. As “Express Watches” in itself was not a major brand, it was vital for them to differentiate themselves from fly-by-night websites.

The prominently placed the Seiko Authorized Dealer badge, as well as the small green Trust Pilot badge on product pages, helped build some credibility around product authenticity and the reasonableness of pricing.

Note the Authorized Dealer badge in the header and several reasons listed under the “Why buy from Express Watches?” section (in the right corner) in the control version of one of the product pages shown below:

While the 2-year Seiko warranty and the 30-day refund policy did address some of the concerns that visitors had, the survey findings left them with no doubt that they had to do more to build trust. Many visitors were simply not willing to purchase online merely on the basis of “words” or “claims” shown on the site. Clearly, Express Watches needed more objective and credible proof to convince customers about the authenticity of its website content.

They came up with the solution of adding customer reviews on all product pages of the site. But the problem with testimonials was that anyone could display some “testimonials.” There was no way for visitors to know if the testimonials themselves were genuine.

This is what guided Express Watches to the hypothesis for this test. With VWO Surveys, you can receive qualitative insights into visitor behavior on your website. You can validate the hypotheses created based on these insights with VWO’s A/B testing capabilities. Take a free trial to explore all capabilities of VWO.

The hypothesis was that the addition of the larger Trust Pilot widget to the website would help reduce buyer anxieties among visitors and hence increase sales from the site. The site-wide change of including the larger Trust Pilot widget on all product pages was implemented site-wide.

As shown below in the variation page for one of the product pages, the widget displayed some great customer reviews from the Trust Pilot website:

The tagline “Trust Pilot Says Our Customers Love Us” added just above the widget and right below the Add to Basket CTA button seemed to be perfect to draw the attention of potential customers to the widget just when it was needed- right before the checkout.

The A/B test was set up and run on the VWO – a/b testing platform. The test ran for over 2 months, with thousands of visitors participating.

The variation beat the original, with purchases increasing by 58.29%. The statistical significance was 99%.

Here is the comparison image showing the 2 versions and the changes made to the variation:

The test confirmed that the variation more effectively addressed concerns that earlier hindered the purchase decision. But it also made clear that merely including basic trust elements such as customer testimonials, reviews, or trust badges on a website may not be enough.

The widget from Trust Pilot authenticated the credibility of the reviews and hence amplified their impact, allowing prospects to move forward into the funnel.

A/B test the copy, design, and position of social proof on important landing pages of your website with VWO. Take an all-inclusive 30-day free trial today!