Show Me Your Hands: Hand Visibility and Promotional Video Effectiveness

This study presents the results of a field experiment (N = 257) examining whether the visibility of a speaker’s hands in a promotional video increases click-through rates. Drawing on media richness theory, we hypothesize that the presence of additional nonverbal cues—such as visible hand gestures—enhances trust and persuasion in mediated communication. Unlike prior work, which typically compares different media types, this study directly tests the proposed mechanism by experimentally manipulating hand visibility. The results show a marginally significant effect of hand visibility on click-through rates, in the predicted positive direction. We discuss the implications of these findings, potential boundary conditions, and directions for future research.