The Shelf Test is designed to study purchasing preferences through a realistic shopping experience.

Shelf Metrics Visualization

• Shelf Heatmap — displays the density of clicks using 2D kernel density estimate. There are 9 layers: the bottom layer represents an area where we expect to find 99% of the clicks, and the top layer 50%. A click in this context is a literal click on the screen location, whether to select a product for purchase or just to view its details. Product location randomization isn't considered — the heatmap illustrates coordinates of the clicks on whatever product a particular respondent happened to see on that position.
• Product Heatmap — visualizes total product quantities with a color scale ranging from the minimum (green) to the maximum (red) quantity.
• Clicks — shows individual clicks made by respondents. A click is a literal click on the screen location, whether to select a product for purchase or just to view its details. Product location randomization isn't considered.
• Shelf view — has no additional overlays so that the original shelf setup can be viewed without obstructions. If product randomization was involved, the displayed image is one of the possible realizations of the algorithm, and individual respondent experience may have varied.

Total Summary Statistics

• Average cart spend — the geometric mean of respondent-level sum of money spent. Base: respondents who purchased at least one product.
• Average cart size — the simple mean of the respondent-level quantity of purchased products. Base: respondents who purchased at least one product.
• Average number of unique products in cart — the simple mean of the respondent-level number of unique purchased products. Base: respondents who purchased at least one product.
• Average time at shelf — the geometric mean of time spent on the question. Base: respondents who saw the question.
• Average attention span per product — the simple mean across product-level Attention Span aggregates. N/A option isn't considered.
• Total products purchased — the sum of all products purchased by all respondents throughout the survey duration. N/A option isn't considered.
• Total product spend — the sum of money spent on products purchased by all respondents. N/A option isn't considered.

Product Metrics

• Purchase selection — represents the proportion of respondents who purchased the product. Base: respondents who saw the question.
• Purchase quantity — the simple mean of the quantities of that product purchased by respondents who decided to purchase it. Base: respondents who purchased at least one unit of that product.
• Purchase amount — the geometric mean of the amount of money spent on that product by respondents who decided to purchase it. Base: respondents who purchased at least one unit of that product.
• Attention span — the geometric mean of the amount of time spent viewing that product's detail view. Base: respondents who purchased at least one unit of that product.
• Time to cart — the geometric mean of the amount of time between starting the task and selecting that product. Base: respondents who purchased at least one unit of that product.

Geometric Mean

When analyzing the results of a Shelf Test, the geometric mean is often used to account for outliers in the data. Unlike the standard arithmetic mean, the geometric mean does a better job at not being influenced by extreme outliers.

In the case of the Shelf Test — because there could be so much behavioral variation where some respondents might fill up their carts — rather than removing them as outliers altogether, the geometric mean acknowledges this could be real-life behavior but does not let it skew the results. For example, average cart spend is calculated using the geometric mean because it is a more robust metric that avoids the extreme influence of outliers.