Split-testing, or A/B testing, is a strategy that compares two versions of a web page, each with one difference. For example, a headline might be different.
After that, you can analyze how many people take the desired action on each page to see which variation works better.
Everyone Likes to Pretend They’re an Expert.
People are saying that you can increase your conversion rates by a lot just by changing the color of your checkout button, but no one will tell you what the magic color is.
Nobody wants to admit that they don’t really know what they’re doing or that they have never done it themselves.
Many people join in on the conversation even though they don’t want to admit that they don’t even know what split testing is.
Do you regularly test your hypotheses? You may have done an initial experiment that was small and inconclusive, but if you’re not testing on a regular basis, you’re not getting the most accurate results.
Many people are unwilling to admit that they are not split-testing their marketing campaigns because they feel like they are the only ones not doing it. Everyone is aware that split-testing is essential for effective marketing online, so who would want to confess that they are the only ones not taking advantage of it?
If you want to experiment for fun, that’s great! But if you’re a professional blogger or business owner, you need to focus on experiments that will help improve your bottom line.
Here are some of the most important things that you should be sure to split-test:
1. The Headline
The headline is the most important aspect to split-test because it is the first opportunity to engage the reader.
If you want to keep people reading your text, make sure to test your headline first. People are more likely to lose interest after reading the headline than any other part of the page.
Not everyone can be good at writing headlines, and that’s okay. In fact, being too creative can sometimes backfire.
text These kinds of headlines outperform more creative ones by up to 44%. Some examples of these headlines are “How to _____,” “Who Else Wants _____?,” and “_____ in 3 Simple Steps!” (numbered headlines are particularly effective).
If you want to increase your conversions by 20%, make your headlines have a negative slant. This is because people are more likely to be interested in bad news than good news. Frank Kern calls this the “rubberneck effect.”
2. Opt-in Placement, Text, and Colors
It’s a good idea to experiment with the location, call to action, and color of your opt-in box to see what works best. Since you’re likely to get more sign-ups than sales, this is a good place to start your testing.
3. The Order Button Text and Colors
You can increase your conversion rate by experimenting with the text and color of your order button. Some options for button text include “Get It Now”, “I Want Access”, “Buy Now”, “Add to Cart”, and “Proceed to Checkout”. You can also experiment with different button colors, such as yellow, red, blue, or green.
4. The Format of the Offer
If you want to increase your customer base, it might be worth experimenting with different formats for your product. See if customers are more willing to buy an eBook, report, video series, podcast training program, or infographic.
5. The Price
This may not always be possible to test, but if it is, you could discover that you’re missing out on a lot of money; it’s possible that raising the price wouldn’t affect sales, and it’s even conceivable that raising the price would increase sales too!
6. The Style of the Introduction
Your audience’s first impression of your text will come from the headline. After that, they will read the opening paragraph. Try out different styles for this paragraph, such as making bold statements, telling a story about a problem, or describing an ideal outcome. See what works best for your audience.
7. The Product Imagery
You might be surprised how much of an effect changing your product picture can have.
8. Trust Seal Choice and Placement
Test different trust seals with different audiences to see which ones they respond to the most. Place the trust seals near the guarantee and the order button for the best results.
9. Email Subject Line
It’s just as important to have a good subheading as it is to have a good headline, especially if you’re using confirmed opt-in, where abandon rates of 20-30% are common.
Test different email subject lines for your email confirmation messages to ensure that a maximum number of subscribers are added to your list.
10. Clear Visual Hierarchy
what it is they are looking at quickly and easily, they will move on You need a page that is easy to scan. If someone can’t figure out what they are looking at quickly, they will move on.
- who you are
- what you do and
- what to do next
If your website’s elements are competing with each other, it will not be successful. Images, large text, and the “call to action” area should be simple and easy to identify.
The most important areas of the text are highlighted in yellow. Square wants you to open an account so you can start using their services to accept payments. This is made clear through the use of visual hierarchy, with the most important details being placed front and center on the page.
11. The Fold Still Matters
It is still important to place your most valuable information and calls-to-action above the fold, which is the area of the web page that can be viewed without scrolling down.
There are two main groups of people with different opinions on this issue, but the fold still matters. Even though the concept of the fold has changed due to the different screen sizes and devices that people use to consume content, your message still needs to be the top priority.
In the test that was done, the button that was placed above the fold received 3687 clicks, while the button below the fold only received 528 clicks. That means that the button above the fold was clicked 598% more than the button below the fold.
12. CTA That Stands Out
The success of your page will depend on how well your CTA stands out.
There are several ways to make text more visible and legible. Some methods, like using arrows or contrasting colors, are very overt. Others, like using a person’s eye-line or slight accent colors, are more subtle.
No matter what, you have to ensure that a page viewer knows which action to take on the page.
We saw an increase in clicks on the “Join FPA” link by 10% when we tested this on Survival Life while still maintaining purchases for Family Protection Agency membership. In other words, we were able to get more sales by changing the text color to red and increasing the volume of visits to the sales page.
13. Visual Cues
There are some aspects of a website that will draw a visitor’s attention to a specific area. A classic example of this is an arrow.
If you direct people’s attention to a specific location, they are more likely to click on whatever is there. This is not simply a case of two different offers (the offers are different and the pages are different), but rather an example of how directing attention to a call-to-action can increase click-through rates.
There are arrows on the page that direct your attention to the email form so that you can sign up.
This tactic has been seen to increase conversions by as much as 12%. However, you have to be careful as you want to make sure that the content or link you are highlighting is very strong.
If you make a customer fill out an order form before they are ready, you may lose the sale.
14. Avoid Sliders
This is not a new concept! Sliders and animations can interfere with eye movement and take away from your CTA (even if your CTA is just clicks on content).
The more specific your slider is, the more likely it is to reduce conversions.
Content slider refers to a web design element that displays a rotating selection of content, typically used to spotlight featured content on a website. We wanted to see if having a content slider on a website would actually increase content consumption or just create distractions. To test this, we used Survival Life as our example.
-Our team saw a 4.32% increase in clicks on content links when we removed the slider from the page. -Sliders are often used as a lazy solution to a more complex issue. -Using a slider often means that difficult decisions about prioritization are avoided, but this can also lead to decreased conversions.
These tips will help you get the most out of your slider. Here are some tips:
- Make sure your image file size is compressed to reduce load time
- Turn off auto-slide
- If you can’t turn off auto-slide, increase the time between slide panes
15. Involvement Devices
A quiz that pertains to your sales message can make your sales page more engaging. We saw a 24% increase in conversion rates when we tried out the marketing quiz below.
You should keep your sales copy relevant and include the words “see results below” in order to encourage visitors to read the rest of your sales copy. You can build engagement by including relevant polls and quizzes.
16. Triggered Pops
Although you may not like pop-ups, they are effective. Pop-ups that are triggered are disruptive, so it is important not to be offensive.
We increased our leads by using triggered pop-ups that appear when the user is about to exit the page. In just 14 days, we got 2,689 more leads. However, we thought that there might be a better way to get an offer in front of the user.
We should focus on engaging with people who are interested in our content, rather than those who are about to leave.
We saw a 300% increase in opt-ins when we tried a triggered pop-up based on how far down the page the visitor scrolled. You may not see the same results we did, but you should still see a significant increase if you try this technique.
Images
Images are more important than ever in determining the success of your next campaign – they could be the difference between a positive or negative ROI. We’ve conducted lots of image tests and have learnt a lot from them.
17. Use Real People
It is important to use images of people who are actually associated with the content, for example, the author, webinar host, customer service representative, etc. People will recognize fake images, and they can actually hurt conversions. In nearly all tests on lead generation forms for webinars, we saw a significant increase in opt-in rates when we included a picture of the instructor.
18. Avoid [Un-Edited] Stock Photos
We can’t all have dedicated designers and photo labs, so we have to use stock photos from time to time. The trick is to do some basic editing on these photos to make them yours!
We saw an increase in conversions when we used custom images. An edited stock photo is a custom image. If you are not good at Photoshop, you can use Canva or Pixlr Express to make changes.
Key Questions to Mind in Split-Testing
Do You Make Sure Your Experiments are Conclusive Before You End Them?
The greatest number of mistakes in setting up an experiment occur when the experimenter doesn’t let the experiment run long enough to produce accurate results.
The text is saying that the results cannot be trusted because they are inconclusive, occurring before reaching the point where the numbers actually prove what is being attempted to be proven.
If the results of experiments cannot be trusted, then what is the point of conducting more experiments? It is necessary to allow experiments to continue until there is a high degree of confidence in the results.
Are You Tracking Your Experiments?
flittering – moving quickly and lightly It is better to keep a journal documenting each experiment and the lessons learned from them, rather than moving quickly and lightly from one experiment to another.
This will stop you from doing the same experiment multiple times without learning anything from it.
Your experiments should be set up as hypothesis tests, with each one testing a theory about something that you think will have an impact on your audience!
Do You Focus Your Experiments on Your Conversion Goals?
No good will come from experimenting for the sake of experimenting, which is more common than people realize.
There is no value in testing something unless you believe it will help achieve the desired outcomes you have for your website.
Set up tests based on objectives to more efficiently reach said objectives.
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