Show Your Background While Video Chatting

Salespeople prefer to hide their backgrounds while video chatting, but customers are more persuaded when they see real backgrounds.

Man in front of a living room background with and without a blur. The version without the blur performs better

Overview

Researchers analyzed the optimal backgrounds for video chats.

Turns out, you shouldn’t blur the background. Customers are more persuaded when they see a real background (Karabulut, Moore, & Messinger, 2023).

These speakers seem friendlier, especially when the background conveys information about their hobbies or family.

Showing the background also helped with a Facebook ad that promoted a consultation:

Two facebook ads for a nutrition consultation. Each shows a woman in a kitchen, but one shows a blurred kitchen. The version without the blur received more clicks

Obstructions Feel Untrustworthy

There’s another explanation called misattribution.

Often, you feel a vague sensation: Hmm, I feel like this person is hiding something.

If you don’t recognize the source of this feeling, (e.g., hiding their background), you search for another culprit to rationalize this feeling: They must be hiding something about the product.

This effect applies beyond video backgrounds.

Show Full Names of Support Reps. You often see abbreviated names (e.g., Nick K.) for support specialists. But if you’re hiding parts of these names, customers might feel like these reps are hiding information about the product.

See my book The Tangled Mind for more examples.

Karabulut, F., Moore, S. G., & Messinger, P. R. (2023). Choosing Backgrounds for Success: The Role of Videoconference Backgrounds in Self-Presentation. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 8(2), 153-164.