# A/B test: category cards with photos at the top of the home page

> If you show your four to six main categories as image cards right below the header, then more people will enter the catalogue, because they no longer need to open the menu to find their way.

- Source: https://bixlow.com/en/ideas/category-cards-below-header
- Language: en
- Updated: 2026-11-02
- Publisher: Bixlow

## Why it might work

On mobile, the menu is a three-line icon in a corner. Plenty of people never tap it: they scroll down the home page hoping something will take them where they want to go. If what they find is a banner, a brand statement and a new arrivals block, they get lost.

Six photos with a name under each ("Red wine", "White", "Gift boxes") work as a map. People who know what they want go straight in. People who don't at least see what kind of things you sell.


## How to set it up

In Bixlow you describe the change to the agent, it builds it on your site and launches it as an A/B test once you approve it.

1. Pick the categories that sell most, not all of them. Six at most.
2. In the variant, place them as cards with a photo and a name right under the header, two columns on mobile.
3. Use recognisable product photos, not mood images people have to decode.
4. Run it on the home page, for all traffic or just mobile if that is where the hamburger menu gets used.


## What to measure

|  | Metric |
| --- | --- |
| Primary metric | Clicks to a category from the home page |
| Metric that must not get worse | Orders per visitor |
| Where it is measured | Home page and the rest of the visit |


> **When I would not test it.** If you sell one product, or three, there is no map to draw: send people to the product page. And if your menu is already open and visible on mobile, the test will probably tell you little.


## FAQ

### How many categories should I show?

Four to six. Any more and the cards get tiny on mobile, and you are back to a menu, just with pictures.

### Where exactly?

As high as you can, ideally visible with little or no scrolling. At the bottom of the home page they stop working as a map.

### Can I remove something else to make room?

You can, but then you are testing two changes at once. If you want to know what worked, add the cards and leave everything else alone.

## Further reading

- [Next idea: bestsellers before new arrivals](https://bixlow.com/en/ideas/bestsellers-before-new-arrivals)
- [How to write a CRO hypothesis](https://bixlow.com/en/glossary/cro-hypothesis)
- [The A/B testing platform](https://bixlow.com/en/platform/ab-testing)