{"id":22247,"date":"2014-05-16T22:49:17","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T17:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vwo.com\/blog\/?p=22247"},"modified":"2025-05-05T17:58:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T12:28:48","slug":"ab-testing-results-that-surprised-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vwo.com\/blog\/ab-testing-results-that-surprised-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"5 A\/B Testing Results that Surprised the Experts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the things I absolutely love about split testing is its inherent ability to humble the opinions of even the most seasoned marketers. Sometimes even the most well-researched hypotheses<\/a> fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the strongest reason why companies must test everything<\/a> from offer copy to page design, instead of relying on gut instinct or personal preference. In this post, I\u2019ll share success stories that either saw huge opinion disparity among the WhichTestWon community, or whose results absolutely shocked our editorial team and Testing Awards\u2019 judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download Free: A\/B Testing Guide<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n

1. Social proof is not necessarily the be-all and end-all<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Can you guess which of these two versions of a product page generated more sales for Finland-based eCommerce hardware store Taloon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"taloon<\/figure>\n\n\n
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\"taloon<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Like many people, you probably would guess the one with the social proof<\/a>. When I present this kind of comparison to live audiences at conferences, usually 90-95% of attendees pick the social proof version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, they\u2019re all wrong. Taloon tested<\/a> the two versions using VWO Testing<\/a>, and the variation on the right \u2014 without the social proof \u2014 saw nearly 12% more purchases than its social proof counterpart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normally we see companies just add social proof without testing it because virtually every blog post and \u2018social media expert\u2019 has told them it will help conversions. Thankfully the team at this site tested this before implementation, or they would have missed out on a lot of purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, there is a ton of value in social proof. For one, it is great at reducing a visitor\u2019s anxiety and can give your brand a sense of authority. The trick is finding out where it is best to publish your social stats and what exactly is worth sharing. Should you post newsletter subscribers, Facebook likes, awards, or all of the above? Simply put: test it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best part: VWO Testing<\/a> makes this really simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, never add something blindly; you don\u2019t know how it will impact the bottom line.<\/p>\n\n\n