From 20% conversions to 94% overnight...

[Nick Brighton]

Hi Folks,

Today is a revelation for me, kinda. As I woke up this morning and
logged into my Google Adwords account over a nice warm cup of coffee,
my bleary Saturday morning eyes suddenly opened very wide...

I have been running an Adwords campaign for just over a week now.
In the beginning I was paying around £1 on average to acquire a confirmed,
bonafide subscriber to my list.

This was with conversions of around 20-30% at best, as a daily average. But
during this time I was doing something very important in order to increase
these conversions...

Can you guess what I was doing?

SPLIT TESTING.

Boring huh? Well, maybe. But during my spilt tests I was sending traffic to
two completely different DESIGNS (same headlines and offer).

The first design was very straightforward, typical looking. The opt in
box was below the fold, there was an image but it wasn't the best.
There was some great bullets and also some more text and a little
bit of copy.

The second page was wider and looked more modern, Web 2.0 style
if you like.

It has the exact same bullets, but I did two things:

1. I INVESTED in a graphic image from iStock photo for £10.
2. I removed some of the "dear friend" type of copy and just
kept the bullets.
3. I changed the actual bullets to softer and more colorful
ticks and crosses.
4. I moved the opt in to above the fold and changed the actual
optin form to look cleaner and bigger (using Aweber's html editing option)

The result?

Today I woke up and saw my conversions go from 20% to 94%, which in
real terms means 37 confirmed subscribers added before breakfast which
cost me a measly £5.28

My cost per acquisition of confirmed subscriber has gone from £1 to £0.13

£13 for 100 subscribers? Now THAT is value!

I post this not to brag, but to give you some tips that can be universally
applied to your business. Obviously, there are other factors that can affect
your results and sometimes the industry you're in will not be as responsive,
but these principles remain true no matter what.

Apart from wanting to share with a community that has inspired and educated
me, I also wanted to use this as a subtle reminder that the single most important
thing you can do to get the results you desire in marketing is...

SPLIT TEST EVERYTHING.

If I hadn't split tested my landing pages, I would still be paying £1 to get someone
on my list, instead of £0.13. It would be taking me months to build the list that
will now take me a week or two.

I hear people say all the time, "I am no good at landing pages" or "I am no good at
writing Adwords Ads..." etc.

But you know what? The only thing you need to be good at is analytics. In other
words, if you can make incremental changes to your ad copy, it only becomes a
matter of time before your ads and sales copy pulls traffic and sales like a beast.

So if you're driving measurable traffic and you care what they do when they hit
your websites, but you're not religiously split testing everything, then I am afraid
my friend, you're throwing money AND time away every minute of the day.

This post is a precursor to my upcoming "1000th post" celebration where I am
going to lay out some things I have learned in 2 years since getting into this game,
and I have a feeling it might set a lot of people straight who are still floundering.

Thanks for reading. You're the best.

[J.Knight]

Nice Nick, really nice.

I know you probably don't want to reveal anything more, but I'd say a lot of us would love to see a side-by-side comparison.

Up to you though. Great work anyway, and shows the importance of testing.

JK

[Paulo]

Thanks for sharing Nick.

As the other Warrior said it would be great to see
a screenshot of both pages.

I understand you don´t want to reveal key information
but you can easily blur it a bit and it would work great.

Best,
Paulo

[Nick Brighton]

Originally Posted by J.Knight

Nice Nick, really nice.

I know you probably don't want to reveal anything more, but I'd say a lot of us would love to see a side-by-side comparison.

Up to you though. Great work anyway, and shows the importance of testing.

JK

Hi JK,

I am thinking about doing a new case study that can be
effective thrown away at the end. As you can appreciate,
showing too much is the kiss of death. Purely because SOME
folks will just go and rip you off (even though they don't
know my Adwords ads etc, the rest will be ripped and my
time and money would deplete as a result).

But I really think I am on to something here and what I
am thinking is, let's put some time aside soon and create
a dummy account/website that I can screen capture my
process on, in a different market. That way, people can
gain from my findings.

But this kinda contradicts the point I am making I guess,
which is:

IF YOU split test, you don't need me, or any other guide
or book or course. The only difference is you'll need to
spend your time and/or money getting your results back.

But boy is it worth it. Getting proven results back from a
split testing campaign is the golden ticket...

[JackTheLad]

Thanks for posting, it's always good to hear the results of a true marketer who put in much needed time and effort. Good luck for the future!

[J.Knight]

Originally Posted by Nick Brighton

But this kinda contradicts the point I am making I guess,
which is:

IF YOU split test, you don't need me, or any other guide
or book or course.

Good point.

Andy Jenkins and the Stomper crew have a good saying which we can all learn from:

"Anything which can be tested, can be improved."

Which is why we all must carry out our own testing.

Pressing on,

JK

[sparrow]

Good test

I always support the KISS way of doing things

simplifying and making the optin box more visible and larger is the way to go

good work

Ed

[David_Thompson]

Originally Posted by Nick Brighton

Hi Folks,

Today is a revelation for me, kinda. As I woke up this morning and
logged into my Google Adwords account over a nice warm cup of coffee,
my bleary Saturday morning eyes suddenly opened very wide...

I have been running an Adwords campaign for just over a week now.
In the beginning I was paying around £1 on average to acquire a confirmed,
bonafide subscriber to my list.

This was with conversions of around 20-30% at best, as a daily average. But
during this time I was doing something very important in order to increase
these conversions...

Can you guess what I was doing?

SPLIT TESTING.

Boring huh? Well, maybe. But during my spilt tests I was sending traffic to
two completely different DESIGNS (same headlines and offer).

The first design was very straightforward, typical looking. The opt in
box was below the fold, there was an image but it wasn't the best.
There was some great bullets and also some more text and a little
bit of copy.

The second page was wider and looked more modern, Web 2.0 style
if you like.

It has the exact same bullets, but I did two things:

1. I INVESTED in a graphic image from iStock photo for £10.
2. I removed some of the "dear friend" type of copy and just
kept the bullets.
3. I changed the actual bullets to softer and more colorful
ticks and crosses.
4. I moved the opt in to above the fold and changed the actual
optin form to look cleaner and bigger (using Aweber's html editing option)

The result?

Today I woke up and saw my conversions go from 20% to 94%, which in
real terms means 37 confirmed subscribers added before breakfast which
cost me a measly £5.28

My cost per acquisition of confirmed subscriber has gone from £1 to £0.13

£13 for 100 subscribers? Now THAT is value!

I post this not to brag, but to give you some tips that can be universally
applied to your business. Obviously, there are other factors that can affect
your results and sometimes the industry you're in will not be as responsive,
but these principles remain true no matter what.

Apart from wanting to share with a community that has inspired and educated
me, I also wanted to use this as a subtle reminder that the single most important
thing you can do to get the results you desire in marketing is...

SPLIT TEST EVERYTHING.

If I hadn't split tested my landing pages, I would still be paying £1 to get someone
on my list, instead of £0.13. It would be taking me months to build the list that
will now take me a week or two.

I hear people say all the time, "I am no good at landing pages" or "I am no good at
writing Adwords Ads..." etc.

But you know what? The only thing you need to be good at is analytics. In other
words, if you can make incremental changes to your ad copy, it only becomes a
matter of time before your ads and sales copy pulls traffic and sales like a beast.

So if you're driving measurable traffic and you care what they do when they hit
your websites, but you're not religiously split testing everything, then I am afraid
my friend, you're throwing money AND time away every minute of the day.

This post is a precursor to my upcoming "1000th post" celebration where I am
going to lay out some things I have learned in 2 years since getting into this game,
and I have a feeling it might set a lot of people straight who are still floundering.

Thanks for reading. You're the best.

Quick stupid question are the leads buying anything from your?

Are you just giving away something to get them on your list?

Have these leads generated any kind of income for you yet?

--David

[TheMagicShow]

Its all about split testing, that's how you get such good results, congrats on your success!

[John Coutts]

Originally Posted by Nick Brighton

SPLIT TESTING.

Boring huh?

It's only boring when nothing good happens. When it works, as it has for you, it becomes very, very interesting :-)

Good luck!

John.

[Justin Mandel]

How gosh darn satisfying is that?

You just invested a very small portion of your time only to spend way less money and get way more optins!

Bravo, way to go

Now you just have to do this with EVERYTHING!

You truly do internet "marketing" once you get involved with split testing and see what works best for you.

This is why in some sense you truly only need 1 product. You just have to keep on split testing it to squeeze as much money out of it as possible before you move onto your next project - which could take a LONG time!

[Nick Brighton]

Originally Posted by JJ Manning

Nick

Nick - are you using Google Optimizer or something else?

Cheers

JJ

Yep, optimizer and conversion tracker...all Google's toys, and all free and easy to use!

Originally Posted by J.Knight

Good point.

Andy Jenkins and the Stomper crew have a good saying which we can all learn from:

"Anything which can be tested, can be improved."

Which is why we all must carry out our own testing.

Pressing on,

JK

Agreed 100%. Thank you.

Originally Posted by sparrow

Good test

I always support the KISS way of doing things

simplifying and making the optin box more visible and larger is the way to go

good work

Ed

Agreed 100%. Thank you.

Originally Posted by David_Thompson

Quick stupid question are the leads buying anything from your?

Are you just giving away something to get them on your list?

Have these leads generated any kind of income for you yet?

--David

Sorry, I should have mentioned the bait...yes, I'm giving away a free report. It's
a meaty guide but is a great prelude to the main product. I'm building a good solid
relationship with my list too, they send ME emails every day!

Originally Posted by Magic Mel

Its all about split testing, that's how you get such good results, congrats on your success!

Agreed 100% and thank you.

Originally Posted by John Coutts

It's only boring when nothing good happens. When it works, as it has for you, it becomes very, very interesting :-)

Good luck!

John.

Agreed 100% and thank you.

Originally Posted by Justin Mandel

You truly do internet "marketing" once you get involved with split testing and see what works best for you.

I totally agree. It's like something Eric Louviere said in a seminar -"When you find yourself testing and tweaking your process, THAT'S when you know you're in the game and money is right around the corner..." Eric's a smart guy, reminds me of John Reese.

[Paul Hancox]

Nick, congratulations! I've been on a mission to get people to split test for several years now, and this post illustrates EXACTLY why.

Where can you go next, now that you have a 94% opt-in rate? You could test the RESPONSIVENESS of your list through different email sequences, for instance.

(By the way, what can I bribe you with to see these two version? )

[CalGolden]

Wow, great info and insights, Nick. Much appreciated.

I just recently started to look into split testing and tracking and was looking for a good piece of software that I could use for it. Google Website Optimizer is just the right price that I was looking for-free!






Cal

[Nick Brighton]

Originally Posted by Paul Hancox

Nick, congratulations! I've been on a mission to get people to split test for several years now, and this post illustrates EXACTLY why.

Where can you go next, now that you have a 94% opt-in rate? You could test the RESPONSIVENESS of your list through different email sequences, for instance.

(By the way, what can I bribe you with to see these two version? )

Thanks Paul!

I think split testing and tracking is so crucial and I'd be interested in anything you're putting out there that teaches how to do it efficiently.

I doubt my conversions will hold up long, perhaps might just be "one of those lucky days". But I know as sure as the sky is blue, that my version B has been out-pulling my version A for over 7 days...I just wanted to build up the courage to flick the switch and take down the poor performer.

Where to go next?

Well, now it's time to get gritty...like split testing landing pages for individual ad groups. THAT is where I could really use some automation software, as it will take ages to do this for all my campaigns, with all that code inserting on all my separate landing pages...

Any ideas?

[SMS]

Hi Nick,

Can you give us an update please? Did the improved conversion continue?

[newbie@CPA]

thanks for the info

[Nick Brighton]

Originally Posted by SMS

Hi Nick,

Can you give us an update please? Did the improved conversion continue?

I actually stopped running ads at the end of Dec last year for that campaign, simply because I acheived my goal. Now I am preparing to run a new campaign to target people on a different level/angle...so that I can start making money from everything I've worked so hard to set up.

Either way, I kicked the sh#t out of Adwords when I could, and I've got 500+ subscribers that know, like and trust me...and are actually waiting for me to sell 'em something...

But the best part is not the price I paid, but the price I can now command... BECAUSE now I have market intelligence. ;-)

[archer29]

You can get free headers from Xheader.com. After the download you'll have to register with name and email address to get them unlocked and I usually give junk email addresses for this purpose to keep the spam to a minimum. Their headers are mostly photos of people and quite contemporary.

I just learned about split testing on the Wealthy Affiliates forum. Thanks for the reminder.
-D

[James Campbell]

Thank you for the great post.

What split test software/script did you use?

Best Regards,
James

[polleo]

Good on ya, nice job- what r u planning on doing next.... keep us informed

[kowulz]

Sweet! My grandfather used to always say, "Good is often the worst enemy of best.", and "Good enough isn't good enough.". I always thought he instilled a bit too much perfectionism in me, but success doesn't lie! Thanks for sharing, Nick!

[simebern]

This was a great thread to read - thanks Nick for sharing! Split testing is the best way to gradually improve on your adwords campaigns until you find the winning formula...

Shameless plug here but I am currently offering ALL warrior forum members the chance to buy Instant Popover at 50% less than the standard sale price (see the link to my WSO in my signature below)..

Instant Popover when used correctly is a fantastic tool that will really boost your opt-ins dramatically... And unlike a "popup" window, a popover is actually coded as part of your webpage so it cannot be blocked regardless of what anti spyware or toolbars your visitors use..

I encourage you to check out the offer and also visit the instant popover website to get an indepth understanding of what the software can do for your business..

This software combined with a winning Adsense campaign will have your opt-in list bursting at the seams in no time!

Simon.