The Problem

It’s not like it was BAD.

You could never say the control was BAD. Any copy Fièra writes generally prints money. It was just a bit… boring, visually speaking. Nothing but text. And sure, for this demo of 40+ ladies who actually read emails, that’s not the worst thing. But in a world of TikTok and shrinking attention spans, asking someone to slog through blocks of text is an uphill battle.

So yeah, the control worked. It just wasn’t doing you any favours with cart abandoners. These people aren’t in “I’m definitely buying this” mode. They’re in “remind me why I cared” mode. Half curious, half gone, and fully capable of wandering off to look at literally anything else.

And if all you give them is a wall of text… well, congratulations, you just handed them another reason to bail. They don’t need an essay. They need a nudge. A spark. Something that feels human enough to pull them back before the algorithm steals their attention forever.

So we gave them exactly that. A real face. A woman actually applying the product. A simple lineup of jars and tubes. That’s it. No new offer. No extra copy. Just a visual reminder that Fièra is a real brand with real products that real women use.

Sometimes that’s all it takes to turn “maybe later” into “add to cart.”

What We Changed

Control (A): Plain-text, all-white layout. Strong copy, but it read like a landing page that lost its CSS file. Besides, text-based emails that still have a footer and nav bar just look odd…. to ME.

Variant (B): Same copy, but with a hero photo of a woman mid-application and a product family shot near the footer. Added soft color blocks for visual rhythm.

That’s it.

What Happened

The spreadsheet didn’t lie.

• Revenue per Recipient → $1.74 → $2.28 (+31%)

• Order Rate → 2.24% → 2.59% (+15.6%)

• AOV → $77.72 → $88.16 (+13.4%)

That’s a 3× lift in revenue per recipient.

Variant B didn’t just win - it printed 31% more per send. No extra discount, no trick subject line - just giving the customer the content they wanted to read, but we made it a bit easier to do so.

A little visual intrigue never hurts.

Why It Worked

Skin sells skincare.

People want to imagine the after, but they don’t trust the before. Seeing a real person apply the product closed that loop instantly. It turned “words about belief” into proof of belief.

It also helped the brain relax. Walls of text make people skim. A human face makes people pause. And that pause - those two extra seconds of trust - are where conversions live.

Behaviorally, it’s simple: buyers didn’t need new information. They needed reassurance. B gave it to them without saying a word.

Closing Insight

Most brands think visual tests are about “branding.” Or testing different CTA colors.

They’re not. They’re about cognitive friction. A single image can make an offer believable or forgettable.

If you’re not A/B testing “proof vs promise” in your cart flow, you’re probably leaving belief (and money) on the table.