In the online world today, you would be well aware that your marketing material has to be constantly evolving to compete with the ever increasing marketplace. In my 6-years of business, I have had to learn to adapt to industry changes and learn new techniques to help my bottom-line. And so began my journey into split-testing – an extensive subject. When I first began researching about conversion rates and testing, I specifically chose to concentrate on A/B Split Testing.
A/B testing is essentially one of the most widely used methods of split testing by Internet Marketers and other businesses on the web to improve their website conversions. It essentially consists of making numerous changes on the site and testing them out at separate periods in order to find out which ones are happily embraced by your target customers and influences them to take the action you require. In the world of online marketing and e-commerce, effective split testing of a firm’s website can be the difference between a highly profitable blog and one that earns pocket change in ten years.
OK so you have decided to try to ramp up your website conversions by conducting A/B split testing and I am happy to congratulate you on having the balls to take this giant step. The million dollar question now is what exactly do you test? Here are 5 high flying split testing tips that could turn your website into a winner.
1. There are so many critical elements of a website that makes valuable impressions on visitors that come to come around and the only way you can achieve the maximum conversion potential of your website is by having the right elements at the right place at any point in time. This is why you have to test every area of your website ranging from page headlines to product descriptions as well as landing pages, opt-in boxes, text fonts, text sizes, background colors, clickable buttons, etc.
2. The aim of every business on the web is to make maximum profit and sometimes selling one item could be more profitable than getting 10 orders for another. This is why you should try to place the most profitable items at highly conspicuous areas of your site where your visitors can easily notice them. Make sure they are placed at the upper part of your webpage where visitors’ eyes can catch them as soon as your site finishes loading, without having to use the scroll button.
3. Product descriptions should communicate directly to potential consumers what they stand to gain by ordering instead of going on and on about its features and capabilities. You should know that no customer will shell out valuable dollars for the most innovative product on the market if he or she has no idea if it will be useful to them.
4. Avoid making outrageous claims in your product headlines and descriptions because many potential consumers simply bolt when something sounds too good to be true. Therefore make sure any claims you make sounds convincing and backed by proof such as images, testimonials or even more essentially, videos.
5. Many consumers get convinced when they come across products or services that claims to solve their problems specifically so you should avoid being too generic when describing the capabilities of your products. For instance, a middle aged woman trying to lose weight will find a product claiming to “recharge the metabolic systems of pre or post menopausal women and trigger rampant body fat loss” more interesting than one which claims to be “effective for weight loss in both adults and children”.
The importance of split-testing cannot be overemphasized in internet marketing and failing to test could be the difference between a soaring online brand and one that experiences plummeting sales. No matter what Niche you are in, you should figure out your current ‘conversion rate’ and start testing some ideas to help increase your bottom-line. Such small changes can have dramatic results! So get testing!
Ryan Jackson is a 6-year veteran direct response web designer from Central victoria, Australia. He is the current creative director for DesignGuruRyan.com and ConversionLovers.com.
Having spent the first 3 years knee-deep in the internet marketing industry, he has since worked on many projects for the CPA networks, Commercial Clientele & celebrities. His fields of expertise have expanded over the years to not only accommodate for web design, mobile design and branding, but also marketing, web video creation and conversion optimization. He just recently managed to obtain a conversion-rate of over 50% for a reputable corporate brand and continues to design sites for a multitude of industries.
