# Product images behind Black Friday email headline: higher clickthrough

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Email (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Images
- Date shared: 2015-11
- Test run by: [Ferguson Enterprises](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/ferguson-enterprises/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingexperiments.com/a-b-testing/ferguson-validity-threats
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/ferguson-black-friday-email-product-images/

Adding promotional product images behind a "Black Friday Bargains" email headline won on unique clickthrough rate, though it first looked like a tie. Ferguson Enterprises ran the test on trade customers, published as a MarketingExperiments case study. The team called it after the usual four hours on a Sunday send, and data collected later showed the image version should have won.

## Result

**higher clickthrough**

- After four hours, unique clickthrough rates were the same for both emails.
- With more data by Monday, the product-image version came out ahead on clickthrough.
- No figures were shared, so the size of the lift is unknown.
- Because the tie was called early, the weaker email went to the wider list.

## Control

A holiday promo email to B2B trade customers with a "Black Friday Bargains" headline and no products shown.

## Variant

The same email with promotional products shown behind the "Black Friday Bargains" headline.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Showing actual products tells trade buyers what is on sale before they click.
- B2B readers often open email during the work week, so a Sunday send likely needed a longer read window.
- People who respond within hours on a Sunday may not behave like the full list.

## Caveats

No numbers or sample sizes were shared. The early call was made after four hours on a Sunday send, and the later reversal shows how a short test window can mislead.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show promotional products in the email header, then more trade customers will click through because they can see what is on offer at a glance.
- Primary metric: Unique clickthrough rate
- Guardrail: Conversion rate on the landing page
- Guardrail: Unsubscribe rate
- Who should test it: B2B and lead-gen businesses running promotional emails, especially with a product catalog. Let the test run long enough to cover your audience's normal reading pattern, which for B2B lists sent on weekends may mean several days.

---

Credit: Ferguson Enterprises ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/ferguson-black-friday-email-product-images/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.