A/B testing (or split tests) is a technique for increasing your website’s conversion rate (that’s its ability to turn visitors into paying customers).

An example

If you have two possible headlines for your page and you can’t decide which to use, you can run a A/B test to see which one works best. You create two versions of your page (page A and page B), each page with a different headline. A/B testing software sent 50% of traffic to page A and 50% of traffic to page B. Both pages have a call to action, and in the end you are measuring how many people took the action.

The page with more conversions (where most people took action) wins!

Your goal should be to have at least one, or preferably, several A/B tests running simultaneously, although not on the same page or through the same funnel on your web site. There is no such thing as “perfect” in terms of marketing sites and the only way you learn what works and what doesn’t work is to continuously test.

Determining What to Test

Many guesses are often up and you test things that have little or no impact on users or your conversion goals. Instead, use the data you have available to discover what’s most important to focus on. In order to more easily decide which tests you want to do, consider the potential revenues each test can carry and prioritize the tests thereafter. It’s important that you test a hypothesis at a time – so you are aware of the change that made the difference for the better.

Some Things to Test

  • The size of your order buttons and how to phrase the text there (Call to Action). If you have a software, it should be a focus on demo and trial buttons. Enlarging action buttons usually helps.
  • Headlines. You should have a convincing, strong and credible title that promotes your offer. Advertising guru David Ogilvy once said, “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. It follows that, if you don’t sell the product in your headline, you have wasted 80% of your money.”
  • Site navigation and layout
  • Use different media types, try using a video to communicate important key values​
  • Your offer. What the customer gets for her money (how it all is described and the way it looks)
  • Radical change. Sometimes it’s useful and good to compare two completely different approaches

What Tools You Can Use

Don’t buy expensive software before you put yourself into the whole process and understand how the conversion optimization work. You can start by using Google Website Optimizer which is free and good. It’s suitable for most sites but requires some technical knowledge in installation.

Two other options are Visual Website Optimizer and Optimizely, both costs money but are powerful tools. If you use WordPress, MaxAB can be an option, a free and simple plugin (I’ve got strange values ​​sometimes so pay attention).

A Classic A/B Testing Case

37signals test the headline on its pricing page. They use Google Website Optimizer and found that “30-Day Free Trial on All Accounts” generated 30% more sign-ups than the original “Start a Highrise Account.” Writing Decisions: Headline tests on the Highrise signup page →

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