Does adding ‘click to play’ make people more likely to play videos?
Last year we had several discussions about whether redesigning the play button on our video player and changing its position would encourage more users to watch our videos. Rather than keep arguing, we ran a multivariate test to find the answers.
The rise (and rise) of video
Watching videos on your computer or mobile device has become extremely popular over the last few years — but with so much competition for people’s attention, we have to provide the best possible experience for our users. We need to make sure they interact with our content, and come back to watch more. Without our users, we have no business.
One of the ways we do this is by carrying out tests where we compare several versions of a webpage to see which one performs better. Some visitors see one version, some see another, and whichever gets the most interactions is the winner. This is a fun and effective way of better understanding what users prefer.
Everyone has an opinion about what will and won’t work. To deal with this, we take all the ideas, then test them. In this example, we tested six new versions of the play button against the existing one on the Mirror website. Half the new buttons had text under them which said ‘Click to Play’. We’d seen some research which insisted having this text would entice more users to engage with the player. Most of us laughed when we heard this, but nevertheless we tested it.
When we were setting up the test, multiple questions were raised. How many users should we target? Do we want to run the test on desktop only? How long should we run the tests for?
We decided to target 5% of visitors, so the impact would be minimal if something went wrong. Luckily nothing did, but I have seen it in the past with other tests. The test was only run on desktop, because at the time we weren’t able to override the default iOS play button, and we didn't feel it was a good idea to only target Android devices. We ran the test for just over a week, which allowed us to hit our target for the number of users seeing it.
Once the test was complete, the results were analysed using Adobe Analytics (formerly Omniture SiteCatalyst) which we have integrated with Optimizely, our testing platform. Integrating the two gives us in-depth insight into how users behave by showing us metrics such as bounce rates, page views, time spent on page, video play rates and so on.
After analysing the statistics, we found a winner — a white play button in the centre of the video player, with the ‘Click to Play’ text below it. Adding the text below the icon really did make users more likely to click the button and engage with the video.
This test showed us you should never make assumptions about your users. When in doubt, test your ideas or concepts. You can find answers to many important questions you and your key stakeholders may have, and you may be surprised what you may learn. The answers can be turned into actions which help shape and improve the experience of your website.
