What is A/B testing?
A/B testing is when you compare two versions of a webpage to see which one performs better so you can increase the amount of conversions and sales on your website. It is also commonly referred to as A/B split testing.
Benefits of A/B testing for building authority
- Use facts and statistics to determine how to improve your website
- Get user feedback instead of just internal or marketing teams opinions
- Can often be much more profitable than just focusing on driving traffic
- Ensure your expert positioning statements are resonating with customers
- More email subscribers, leads and sales means more authority
Effective strategies for A/B testing must eventually incorporate a range of variables and considerations, but don’t have to be as complicated as you might think. Testing tools, methodologies, strategies, and hypothesis all play a part in the best success stories. There is a time and place for certain A/B testing tools, tactics and for testing even simple elements on a page.
Conversion rate optimization case study
In one of our conversion optimization client examples, we needed to increase the amount of conversions for an IT support lead generation campaign. The landing pages we built cost us about $4 per lead using Unbounce, a popular hosted platform for landing page testing.
After A/B testing our landing pages, we noticed a considerable improvement to our conversion rates, simply by making a few changes to our headlines. Simple changes where we were more specific as to what our services would do for the customer, coupled with A/B testing of our paid search ad copy, led to dropping our cost per lead from $4 per lead, to around $2 per lead. This company is now projected to save an upwards of half a million in paid search spend over the next 12 months, and that’s with less than 30 days of experimentation.
Simple headline changes with a value proposition = big wins
The previous headline by their copywriter must have been simply “too cute”, or just not frank enough. So our advice to others would be to stay away from overly cute headlines, technically complex, or otherwise confusing to your website visitors. When they land on your pages, they should not have “to think” AT ALL. They should get what you do, why they should be there, and how you will help them (at least in the case of a service oriented business). On the landing pages, we state very clearly the “Value Proposition” of services offered. We don’t make our visitors search for the key points of what is offered.
A/B testing calls to action on web forms and buttons
Along with testing out our headlines, we also tested various calls to action on web forms. In this case, testing those elements simply affirmed to us that we had the right wording on our web form buttons. So again, the key is in picking the right things to test, and also, making sure you have the basics down.
Back to the basics
A/B testing while missing key elements on your site will only get you so far. Is your contact information easily available? Are testimonials easily found? Does your site load in a reasonable time frame? Is there a phone number and address? You can A/B test headlines and colors until you’re blue in the face, but if you’re missing a key element or consumers feel they cannot trust your company, they will leave.
It doesn’t matter then if your web form button is orange, red, or blue if they don’t even get that far. So before starting your A/B testing, first read up on some of the best practices for optimizing your site. There is tremendous consensus on many key elements that should be in place, and empirical evidence that backs those best practices up. Just keep in mind that only scientific A/B testing will prove if those “best practices” work with your particular audience.
A/B testing pay per click ads
As for our PPC ads, being aggressive in describing the benefits of our services proved to help boost conversions at the top of the funnel. Surprisingly, small changes to the copy in our PPC ads led to substantial improvements in various campaigns as well. Again, we make sure we clearly state the benefits of the service, along with a clear call to action in the PPC copy itself. This is particularly important if you rely heavily on PPC for lead generation.
These two tactics, employed together and implemented within less than 30 days, are projected to save a ton of PPC ad costs and open a tremendous level of cash flow for this company. Months of development and high budget websites were not needed in this case; simply a few small changes to existing pages and PPC copy did the trick.
Challenges and tracking results
The challenges that we’ve faced in the past relate mainly to tracking and bottlenecks. Making sure you have actual backend control of your pages, the buy in from the HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion), and then are able to get the right analytics in place to track conversion results, can all be common hang ups. When having to “sell” the concept of A/B testing to someone internally or externally, it’s best to have empirical evidence and projections as to the benefits of the optimization process. For example, how will boosting conversions by another 25% potentially impact revenue? If you are a marketing manager trying to “sell” the idea of A/B testing landing pages, you might show the potential improvement in advertising ROI as a result of boosting lead conversion rates by another 40%.
This would be one way of getting the HIPPO’s buy in. As far as analytics, that is more of a technical issue. Certain websites simply have hang-ups that make tracking via certain tools difficult to impossible. This is one example of where your testing tools may need to vary based on the flexibility in tracking and getting the numbers you require to make good A/B testing decisions.
A/B testing tools and software
Finally, conversion optimization tools can be a lot of fun and lead to big wins. The following are some of our favorites:
- Optimizely: For advanced A/B testing
- Unbounce: For quick landing pages that anyone can edit and test
- Clicktale and Crazy Egg: To diagnose conversion “leaks”
- Usertesting.com: Gives you user feedback in the form of fifteen minute video site reviews
- Feedback Army: Quick test reviews of your site issued from 10 or more users
However, the best tool of all is your creativity, teamwork and persistence!
Conclusion
A/B testing and conversion rate optimization is an absolute must for building authority. At the end of the day if you drive a lot of people to your website and they aren’t converting, then you are more like a gerbil on a treadmill than a trusted advisor generating leads.
Do you have any favorite A/B testing tools to add to the list?
