Most ecommerce websites do not test their pages and its contents for conversion efficacy. Their owners create content, upload it on to the live site and forget about it. The way to find the difference between a high-converting page and an inferior page or pages, is split testing.
Split Testing.
With split testing, you run two or three different designs of the same page against each other, sending customers randomly to the various pages in the test and tracking the results. When a winning page becomes evident, you discard the losing pages and keep the winner. You then create a copy of the winner and start the split testing again by substituting a single element such as a headline or image and measuring the new results. You then keep refining various elements of the page to increase response, conversions or even triple sales.
When split testing, you only test one element of a page at a time and therefore it can take a while to get a sure-fire winner. There is a faster way…
Multivariate Testing.
This method of testing overcomes the time problem in split testing, by testing multiple variables on the same page at the same time. All this is tracked by multivariate testing software. Anything from headlines, images, guarantees, phone number placement, security logos, etc, can be tested simultaneously.
Start by Testing these Pages:
- Home Page
- Product Pages
- Contact Us
- Checkout Pages
- Order Confirmation Page
Elements on a Page to Test:
- Headlines and Sub headlines
- Product Descriptions
- Call to Action / Most Wanted Response
- Images
- Design Elements (colors, navigation, logo, tagline, security logo placement, phone number)
- Text Blocks / Areas of Site
- Price
- Button Color & Wording (Read More, Add to Cart, Checkout, etc)
- Guarantees
- Using the Words “Create Account” or Disguising Account Set up
- Forms
- Privacy
Google Contents Experiments (formerly website optimizer).
Integrating the Google Contents Experiments with your website enables you to test your ideas, with real and actual mathematical results. Implementing optimized pages increases the value of your traffic without increasing your marketing budget.
- Learn more about Google Contents Experiments: https://www.google.co.uk/analytics
