Help people buy—and come back: the business return from better eCommerce UX

A good shop helps people find something they want, understand it, and feel comfortable buying it. Online, your website has to do much of that work. Every useful answer, relevant filter, and dependable interaction can help the customer move towards a decision.

The business opportunity extends beyond the first order. Can someone return easily? Find a product again? Understand whether it is the right choice this time? eCommerce UX ROI asks how those experiences contribute to value after you account for the cost of improving them.

Three original reports show different parts of the commercial opportunity: a Rakuten 24 performance test, a Buyakilt product-filter test, and a separate Rakuten 24 report on returning visitors. Together, they make the case for looking beyond the checkout button. Help people choose well, complete the purchase, and find a useful reason to return.

Rakuten 24: 33.13% higher conversion in a performance A/B test

A 2022 Rakuten 24 case study on Google’s web.dev reports an A/B test focused on Core Web Vitals and related performance improvements. Reported results included 33.13% higher conversion, 53.37% higher revenue per visitor, 15.20% higher average order value and a 35.12% lower exit rate. The work included resource delivery, images, and layout stability. the Rakuten 24 report by Lee and colleagues ¹.

The A/B-test figures give the team a commercial reason to investigate performance: more completed purchases and more revenue from each visitor in that test. Bring the question back to your own store. Can customers open a product, compare an option, and continue towards payment without the page shifting or the response slowing them down?

Conversion, order value, and revenue per visitor overlap mathematically. Adding their reported percentage gains would overstate the result. Our recommendation is to select the business outcome that answers your question, then use supporting measures to understand the journey.

Buyakilt: make product choice easier to navigate

Wingify’s original Buyakilt case study reports a category-filter A/B test at the Scottish clothing retailer. Adding filters for product characteristics was associated with 26% more conversions, 76.1% higher revenue and 19.76% more shopping-cart visits. Wingify’s original Buyakilt report ².

The lesson for another retailer is to make the range easier to navigate using differences that matter to the shopper. A useful filter reflects a real decision: size, compatibility, material, use, or availability. Wingify supplied the testing platform and published the results; the source note sets out the limits of the report.

For another retailer, the useful question is whether customers can narrow the range using meaningful distinctions. A filter only helps when it reflects the decision people are trying to make. Start with the catalogue and the shopper’s task. Then investigate whether the proposed change helps them reach a suitable product.

Return visits: encouraging figures, with a catch

A separate Rakuten 24 report, last updated in 2020, describes an installable web experience. Over one month, it reported 310% higher visit frequency per user and 450% higher visitor retention. The source notes: ‘All stats represent users that installed the Rakuten 24 PWA, compared to web users who did not.’ Google’s Rakuten 24 retention report ³.

People chose whether to install the experience, so these figures describe different user groups. They do not establish that installation caused the retention difference. The useful business question remains: what makes returning easier and more worthwhile for customers who already know you?

Review the returning-customer journey alongside the first purchase. Can someone find a product again, see whether it is available, and understand how to reorder? Give people a useful reason and a convenient way to come back. The right answer follows the customer’s task and your catalogue; it need not start with a new technology.

Why this matters: the commercial journey is connected

A store can have a polished checkout and still make product selection difficult. It can win a first order and leave the returning customer starting from the beginning. Look at the whole experience before deciding where the next investment belongs.

The three cases suggest different questions to investigate: how the site performs, how people narrow their choices, and how returning visitors reconnect with the service. Those are our applications of the reports, not findings about your current store.

Keep commercial quality in view. A higher conversion rate accompanied by more returns, discounts, or service costs may deliver less value than the headline implies. Define what a successful order means for your business. A sale that serves the customer well is a stronger foundation for growth.

The eCommerce Growth Wheel: from discovery to return

Findability covers navigation, search, and relevant filters. Can shoppers reach the right type of product and narrow the options? Examine successful product discovery rather than treating a search-results click as the final outcome.

Clarity concerns the information needed to choose: dimensions, compatibility, condition, price, and availability. Check what people misunderstand and which questions your team answers repeatedly.

Connection helps someone see the product fitting their needs. Useful context might include a realistic use case, a relevant comparison, or an explanation for a particular audience. Keep those details accurate and grounded in what the product delivers.

Confidence addresses the commitment: delivery expectations, returns, payment, and credible product information. Provide meaningful answers before the customer needs to hunt for them.

Momentum includes page response, selection, bag, checkout, and a useful route back. Evaluate completed, retained orders, and relevant repeat behaviour alongside the steps leading to them.

CXPR uses these five drivers to organize the review. It connects the observed barrier to the customer task and the business decision, then explains what deserves attention first.

• FindabilityFind and narrow the product range.
• ClarityUnderstand size, fit, and availability.
• ConnectionPicture the product meeting a need.
• ConfidenceKnow delivery, returns, and payment terms.
• MomentumComplete the order and return easily.

Build your own ROI calculation

Use a hypothetical store to see how a small change can become meaningful. At 50,000 monthly visits and a 2% conversion rate, the store generates 1,000 orders. At 2.1%, it would generate 1,050: 50 additional orders, a 0.1 percentage-point gain and a 5% relative increase. The value of that change depends on the contribution those additional orders produce.

At $20 contribution per additional order after associated variable costs, that is $1,000 per month. A $3,000 improvement would repay its one-off cost in three months if the gain persisted and there were no additional ongoing costs. Include development, research, fees, fulfilment, and the expected cost of returns when building your version.

Use contribution for the commercial case and customer outcomes to understand why it changed. Do not add an assumed retention gain to an assumed conversion gain when they may describe the same customers.

What you can do next

Choose one shopping journey and one returning-customer task. Identify where the experience may be making a useful action difficult. Check observations against the live implementation and gather customer evidence where interpretation is uncertain.

Agree a primary business outcome and a way to detect unwanted effects, such as increased returns or support demand. Prioritize a change that addresses the actual barrier and assess what happens after implementation.

A CXPR eCommerce review gives that work structure through the Growth Wheel and a practical next-steps plan. Build a shop that helps people make a good choice. Then keep learning from the customers who buy, the people who leave, and those who choose to return.