When I first added a shoppable image to my blog, I thought it would help people jump over to a product purchase page a lot easier, but I never anticipated how big of an impact this one change would make.

I added a shoppable image an old, dormant blog of mine – scissors.paper.wok . I haven’t posted to SPW or promoted it in just under 2 years (yes, it’s embarrassing, but it makes for a great case study!). Even so, it still receives between 5000-8000 visits per month – half of that traffic is from Pinterest (thank you Pinterest).

I replaced an image on my most popular craft post, with a shoppable image. All the product recommendation links are Amazon Affiliate links. In my Amazon account, I create a new tracking ID, so I could get a separate report for links I used on the shoppable image (below).

As online shopping is very seasonal, to make a fair comparison, I chose to compare the test period with the exact same period in previous years.

I inserted the shoppable image on my blog post on the 5th of February and waited 4 months for the data to come in.

First, I worked out what my average sales conversion rate had been before inserting the shoppable image. Below are my Amazon sales conversion percentages since 2012 (between the 5th of Feb – 5th of Jun).

2.32% (2016)
4.18% (2015)
3.42% (2014)
2.89% (2013)
2.82% (2012)

My average sales conversion between 2012 and 2016 is 3.14% – remember this number, we’re going to use it real soon.

(Side note: I did nothing in 2015, yet that is my best year – go figure!)

Now, the sales conversion on all the links that I assigned solely to the shoppable image?

A very healthy 14.56%!

We’re going to chat about the human behaviour behind this soon, but first, what is the actual % increase in sales conversion gained by using a shoppable image?

Percentage Increase:
First, figure out the difference: 14.56 – 3.14 =11.42%
Second, divide the difference by the original number and multiply by 100: (11.42 / 3.14) x 100 = 363%

By using a shoppable image, sales conversion increased by 363%

[bctt tweet="By using a shoppable image, sales conversion increased by 363%. @linklay"]

Yep, incredible.

Here’s why shoppable images work:

Friction Eliminated: Have you ever looked at an inspiration board with a roundup of 40 products only to give up looking for the product as you were opening too many incorrect links? It happens all the time. With one click on a shoppable image, your reader can now know exactly where to buy the product you are recommending without any effort. Any friction, any annoyance, and any extra time needed to find a specific link are completely eliminated.

A Positive Experience From Start to Finish: I placed my shoppable image towards the end of my post – people only reached it because they liked what they read and saw as they scrolled down.

363%. Let’s give this number some perspective. But, before I do, I’m going to be super conservative and slash that increase in half to 181%.

If you’re turning over $50 a week on Amazon and apply an 181% increase, you’ll turn over a weekly profit $90.50 a week. That’s an annual increase, $4,796 a year. #awwwesome

Linklay starts from $7 a month (when paid annually) and is not tied to any affiliate program (meaning you can link to ANY product online). Sign up for a trial program here and test the impact on your blog.