A search bar on desktop lifted conversions 10% for a large-catalog brand.

A hidden search bar forces ready buyers to dig through menus. A visible one removes friction and sends them straight to the product.

For a craft retailer with a large catalog, 6.7% of visitors were using the site search.

One extra click doesn’t sound like much. But when lots of visitors are ready to type in what they want, that small friction adds up.

Most search bars exist behind a magnifying glass icon, which forces buyers to take an extra step.

Instead, we ran a test making the search field visible by default on desktop.

The result: +10% lift in conversion rate.

The visible search in the header:

• Made it feel easier and faster to find specific products
• Allowed browsing shoppers to skip straight to what they wanted
• Helped the “I know what I want” buyer not to slow down or be distracted

When you understand how your customers shop, small layout fixes go a long way.

As always, test!

✨ Takeaway: Remove the extra step by making search visible in your header so shoppers can buy faster.