Because online shopping lacks the tangible experience that accompanies shopping in a physical store, retailers have to showcase their products online in the most effective way that they can.

But what proves to be effective can differ for every company. The only way to know for sure is to test.

A major online retailer ran an A/B test on its product pages.

In version A, only a photo of the product accompanied its description. In version B, a video of the product accompanied the details. The main difference between the two, at first glance, was the large orange play button on top of the product image.

Initially, management at the company thought the video version would be a flop. Why? Management believed that the large orange button obscured the product too much, and would confuse visitors.

However, as often happens with testing, initial guesses were proven incorrect. The video version was more successful, lifting the conversion rate by 1.26 percent and generating a significant projected annual revenue impact.

The big takeaway: If you have the opportunity to find out for sure which strategy is the best, why not take it?

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