When it comes to any aspect of marketing A/B testing a key component for knowing what works and doesn’t. Today the same rules can be applied to online video and video marketing as they do with other web content. There are a number of ways marketers can A/B test videos, here are some ideas around A/B testing worth exploring:
- Try different video titles, this simple change can help determine which title attracts the audience.
- Try different video thumbnails or splash images and see how that impacts video engagement and play conversion
- Test auto-generated thumbnails vs custom designed or picked by you
- Add text to thumbnail or upload an image that clearly details what the video is about.
- Test different video lengths by shortening or lengthening. Most of the time it will be shortening. Measure the play-rate
- Test different page positions where the video is embedded. Above the page fold or below. To the right rail or the left.
- Try two different video landing pages one with an auto-play video one requiring the user to click play.
- Test your landing pages with and without a video and see if the conversion rates change
- Try two different video content styles to get your message across. You could experiment with animation explainers and live video — see which works better.
- Try two videos with different voice overs, colors/branding and music.
- Test the video on different pages such as on a landing page vs a website.
- Add interactive call-to-actions to the video and test them in different locations on the player
- Test different types of CTAs and the offers related to them
- Try different colored CTAs and various sizes of buttons
- Try to promote a product or service within one version of the video and see if buyers convert
- Experiment with different types of video content such as customer testimonials, product videos, and sales videos
- Test videos on social channels: post the same video on Facebook and Twitter and see how they perform (Twitter has a limit of 30 seconds)
- Test a video with and without subtitles and monitor the difference
- Send a video include in an email vs the same email without that video
- Include video in automated nurture vs nurture without video
A/B testing video requires dedication and typically takes at least a full month to really determine what’s working. Although time devoting, A/B testing should be included as a key practice in your video marketing strategy.