#1 Mistake Made By 97% of Internet Marketers

14 years ago

Testing is VERY important. Nobody ever talks about and Im glad you finally did kim. Test & Tracking is important. Conversion is KING.

Thanks KIM

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tandren544

14 years ago

I agree that testing is definitely a fundamental part of being successful in any business.

There is no such thing as failure, only results. And mistakes are the best teachers - since they give us the wrong results.

Thanks for this, Kim.

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petelta

14 years ago

You're so right Kim. I have gotten addicted to testing because the more I test the more money I make. Doubling your income with changing a sentence is awesome.

Travis

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Steven Wagenheim

14 years ago

There's no question that you should test. That's a given.

However, testing doesn't necessarily mean that A versus B is going to show
a conversion of +1% or higher.

Truth of the matter is, unless you're testing a sales page written by a 15K
a pop letter writer versus a guy who can write fairly well, you might not see
much of a difference at all.

For example, since I write all my salescopy, my skill level is going to be
relatively the same regardless of what changes I make. Sure, sometimes an
inspirational headline might make a difference.

The problem comes in when you take into consideration all the things that
you can test. The number of variables are numerous, to say the least.

Everybody's results are going to be different, but what I have found
personally, since my copy itself is fairly consistent regardless of what I do,
is that the only thing that seems to make a drastic difference in my
conversions is price.

Thus, I simply have to figure out, based on how much traffic I get, what
the optimum price I can charge is.

So for example, and this is actual data from one of my products until I
finally settled on a final price point...

At $47, I was converting at 0.7% and getting about 600 uniques a month.

That came out to about 4 sales a month or a sale a week.

When I dropped the price to $37, my conversion skyrocketed up to 2%
which came to 12 sales a month.

I tried dropping it even more to $27 but my conversion only went up to
2.2% averaging about 13 sales a month.

Obviously, the further drop to $27 meant less revenue, even though the
number of sales increased, so I bumped it back up to $37 and have kept
it there since.

Now I realize 600 uniques a month is not a lot for a tight niche product
like this (another problem with testing) but it was enough for me to
realize that I wasn't going to make up for the lost income by the increased
conversion.

Every other change I made to that sales page, before and after the price
changes, made almost no difference at all...less than a half of one percent
with any change. And some changes worked in reverse.

You're probably wondering what the point to all this rambling is.

The point is this. Yes, testing is important, but IMO, you shouldn't let it
consume you. You're going to reach a point of diminishing returns,
eventually. At least that is what I have found.

These days, knowing my market well enough, and knowing my limitations
as a writer, I do limited testing and most of it revolves around price point.

I know many people say the Belcher Button gives you the best conversions.

Well...not for me. For me, it's a text link.

Yeah...a text link. Not even a button.

And I've been using them ever since.

But again, even that improvement, if that's what you want to call it, is
maybe a quarter of a percent of one percent over the button or other
things I've used.

Truth is, if I used the Belcher Button, I'd maybe get 1 less sale a month...if
that.

And that's my point.

Unless you're comparing crap to gold, you're unlikely to find huge
improvements in conversion.

Now, if you have a sales letter that you scraped off the back wall and it's
converting at 0.05% and changing the price hasn't made a difference,
then you probably want to get a hold of one of the big boys and have
them do a sales letter for you.

Then...you're likely to see some real improvements.

** DISCLAIMER ** All the above is just based on my own experience and
is no way to be taken as fact.

In other words...test for yourself.

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AllanWard

14 years ago

Great article Kim. I've learnt this over the past 6 months with some AdWords advertising I've been doing.

It's tempting when you first get some success with your ads to keep them exactly as they are, because you figure that any sale is better than no sale. I made an effort to test different versions of my ads and discovered how some subtle changes could improve the CTR.

Google gave me some automatic suggestions of extra keywords I could consider targetting. I tried them, tracked the results and decided they weren't converting as well as the three keywords I was already targetting. I now focus my daily budget on these three keywords and am happy with the results.

As a result of this article i'm going to look at my ads again and test out a few changes.

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Kim Roach

14 years ago

Thanks for all the great feedback guys!

And you're so right Travis, testing can definitely become VERY addicting

I'd love to hear some of the things you guys are currently testing.

One of the biggest things I'm testing right now on my video sales letter is having a timed-order button show up during the call to action. You've probably seen this online. During the video presentation, the order button will fade in under the video about 10 minutes into the video (or whenever the call to action is made).

Lots of marketers are seeing EXTREMELY good results with this so I'm very excited to see what the results will be.

Cheers,

Kim

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petelta

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Kim Roach

Thanks for all the great feedback guys!

And you're so right Travis, testing can definitely become VERY addicting

I'd love to hear some of the things you guys are currently testing.

One of the biggest things I'm testing right now on my video sales letter is having a timed-order button show up during the call to action. You've probably seen this online. During the video presentation, the order button will fade in under the video about 10 minutes into the video (or whenever the call to action is made).

Lots of marketers are seeing EXTREMELY good results with this so I'm very excited to see what the results will be.

Cheers,

Kim

Yay, my next test. Right now, I'm testing my approach in interacting with news reporters. I'm doing lots of press releases.

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Imran Naseem

Banned 14 years ago

Love your posts Kim. Testing is the key to success in IM.

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Dan Bainbridge

14 years ago

I think people sometimes have an ego about these things - they want and expect it to work first time, and when it doesn't they look for an external excuse - poor timing / recession perhaps and move on to the next project. If people took the time to test their product / site, admit they are not the best copywriter in the world and tweak things until they improve then I think anyones business / product can become a success from failure.

I think that everything fails first time - even those products which are considered a success on launch, I think that if they were split tested properly they could be improved even further.

Rep given, great post - I think sometimes we get so concerned with seo, backlinks, marketing, and other hype that we forget about the basics, and if we just took a look at our own work and tweaked it we would get more benefit than building backlinks to a poor site / product

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Rod Cortez

14 years ago

Testing, tracking, and tweaking.....all ultra important to what we do here. Another to consider is, you've got to have enough targeted traffic to measure it too. Sometimes people don't have enough traffic yet to do any meaningful testing. One of the reasons why I like PPC for certain niches. I can drive laser-focused traffic to my split-tested ads and test all kinds of things. I don't view these things as a loss but as an investment in my long-term success.

Good stuff Kim.

RoD

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Memo

14 years ago

I love testing

))....On one of my salespage I just found that $47 sells better than $27...hmm...people want to pay more, you never think of that before you test...

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DogScout

14 years ago

It may only be 77% here, but looking at Adwords and hitting refresh, it is closer to 98% that do not test!

OK I thought you said 77%, sorry

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Troy_Phillips

14 years ago

I had a member tell me testing was overrated . When I ask them why ... they stated they had changed font, price,about 1/3 of their text and so on.

While testing is great , 5 or 6 major changes between test will in no way give a conclusive result .

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Kenster

14 years ago

Great post thanks for sharing. Yes I think tracking is a bit more important than testing. You can test all you want but if you arent trackign your results methodically, the testing wont do much good.

But yes, people often get to a profit amount they are comfortable with and dont want to change anything at all. I say F that, keep testing and keep testing. YOu never know when you will find something that increases conversion by 20%. Or if you jsut do a bunch of small things and get 1% better conversion for each of them, that adds up to a lot of additional money.

thanks again!

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Spiritjoy

14 years ago

Actually i say thanks to STEVE..his post used actual numbers and examples of what worked and did not work. His advice is also from a seasoned Im'er. I agree with him as well on the limitations of trying to re-write a sales page. Internet marketing has forced people who do not write well to become writers and this does not work. I feel that when a newbie asks what they should do first..everyone says Oh..just write some articles. Well because of this advice..now there are many writing articles who either cannot write or do not like to write. This takes me to Steves comments. How much re-writing of a sales page can a person do who is not really skilled at writing a sales page. Price will have probably the greatest impact for most.

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Jason Fladlien

14 years ago

Testing, like all things - has its place.

Most people don't have enough traffic to do any significant testing. So if that's you, don't worry about testing now - worry about getting traffic. Testing can come later.

The PROBLEM is moreso for people not knowing what to do. A beginners knows they should test... should be building a list... creating their own product... using video... having a squeeze page... having an autoresponder sequence... and a million other things...

It's when they try to do all this at once that they end up doing nothing.

Now here's a dirty little secret I know since I get to see the "inner circle" of a lot of big name gurus.

Almost none of them test - or if they do, they do it lackadaisically.

Ever see a squeeze page with a video on it? I guarantee you I can create a squeeze page with written words that will beat it ANY day of the week. Why do so many gurus have squeeze pages with videos on it then?

I have no idea. NONE. (Guess video isn't the magic solution always and in every case after all, is it?)

There is also a huge problem with testing - there is ALWAYS random variation. I know this because I've worked with clients who do huge offline mailings. And this happens more than you'd think - they have a "control" package they're testing against. Once of the tests beats the "control", and is now the new control.

3 months later, they test the new control against the former control. The former control wins.

How is that possible - there is ALWAYS random variation with split testing.

So, the best thing with testing is to only test things that are RADICALLY different. For us, oftentimes that's design - I have found design affects conversion WAY more than you'd ever think.

The second thing we test is OFFER - either price, guarantee, bonuses, or the core product we're offered. One of the smartest things to test is a $1 for 10 days vs. pay full price upfront...

Then the last thing to test is "deck copy" which is everything before the first paragraph.

I never mess around with testing headline font color, or order buttons or small things like that.

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MikeHumphreys

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Fladlien

Testing, like all things - has its place.

Most people don't have enough traffic to do any significant testing. So if that's you, don't worry about testing now - worry about getting traffic. Testing can come later.

Yes and no. You can let a test run as long as it takes until you have statisically significant data. If it takes a week... a month... 6 months... doesn't matter. Eventually you will have enough data to make a solid decision on your split-test/multi-variate test.

Now here's a dirty little secret I know since I get to see the "inner circle" of a lot of big name gurus.

Almost none of them test - or if they do, they do it lackadaisically.

I've had the same experience. Even with a number of my clients they don't like to test their marketing. It's not as exciting as creating a new product... until you find something that ramps up your conversion rates significantly.

Ever see a squeeze page with a video on it? I guarantee you I can create a squeeze page with written words that will beat it ANY day of the week. Why do so many gurus have squeeze pages with videos on it then?

I have no idea. NONE. (Guess video isn't the magic solution always and in every case after all, is it?)

Maybe they don't want to bother their copywriters with more copy to write?

Actually, alot of people think it's easier to throw up a video than write strong sales copy. The problem is... if you don't do the video right or it comes across as just slapped together, then it can hurt conversion rates.

Take care,

Mike

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silver93350

14 years ago

yeah your right Kim. They also half ass their research too.

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Kim Roach

14 years ago

Hey Jason,

Thanks for chiming in here.

You made some awesome points!

When you're just getting started and you don't have much traffic, then you definitely shouldn't be worried about testing. Just focus on getting the traffic up.

But, I would definitely be tracking your traffic sources so that you can see exactly which sources are converting to subscribers/sales.

So, for example, if you submit an article to EzineArticles.com, I would use a tracking link in your resource box so that you can see exactly how many subscribers/sales are generated from that specific article.

You can do this using something like HyperTracker.

You would want to track all of your other traffic sources as well so that you can find the highest and best use of your time.

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Kim Roach

14 years ago

Hey guys,

I'd love to hear about what you are currently testing in your online business.

I'm a testing freak so I love hearing about what others are testing.

Also, most of you might already know about this site but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Over at MarketingSherpa.com they have a ton of case studies and split tests that they are doing and sharing their results. Very cool site if you haven't already checked it out.

Cheers,

Kim

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tonyaphx

14 years ago

Great post Kim, you are correct on the testing part. The other #1 mistake is no follow threw they either only try out a little of what they are taught, or they don't try at all. They just buy the next hottest thing.

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Christophe Young

14 years ago

I really am NOT crazy about testing every little thing and I don't believe that it's necessary. I'm only interested in things that will make a dramatic difference and for me, (and as Steven mentioned above) it was price. Dropping the price $10 made a huge difference in conversions and I think it's the most important thing to test.

If you want to go ahead and put an exclamation point at the end of a sentence instead of a period and see how that affects conversions, that's fine but to me that's going overboard.

I look at the bottom line, and to me it's BIG increases or decreases in conversions.

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Oscar D

14 years ago

Very true, testing in this business is as important if not more important as wearing clean underwear right? :rolleyes:

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entrepreneurjay

14 years ago

Exactly thats what analytics is for. I cannot imagine not tracking my campaigns properly so I can tell where my traffic is coming from, and how well each campaign is performing.

It amazes me that Clickbank affiliates do not use TID when they are promoting a product pretty silly if you ask me. Great topic!

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Super_Vendor

14 years ago

I'll admit I am usually too lazy to test. I should start testing more.

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KatyaSenina

14 years ago

You're right, BUT it's easy to say you should test and track everything, but to be honest I haven't come across a marketing guide yet that really goes into the nitty gritty details of testing. One that really explains how to do it step by step. That's something that I also miss in your post. You don't mention how to do the testing, you just say it's essential, which is true. But it leaves me with a lot of questions instead.

Where to go, what to do, what tools should you use etcetera...

Maybe that's the reason a lot of marketers are not testing, because they simply don't know HOW to do the tracking and testing!

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kocengkuning

Banned 14 years ago

I agree with this post. The main problem why many people can not make money is because they never start action. Most of internet marketer are learned people. They love read ebooks, and don't have time to implement it.

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Daniel Brock

14 years ago

Hey Kim,

What are you using to test your conversion rates?

All the split testing software I have tried so far is so confusing that it's hard for me to even get started with it.

Anything easy you can recommend?

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blackma

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Kim Roach

Do you know the #1 mistake made by 97% of Internet Marketers?

They don't TEST!

I'm always surprised at how few Internet Marketers are actually testing and tracking for maximum conversions.

Offline businesses would die for the kind of data that we're able to track and analyze.

Your marketing is the biggest leverage point in your business. It's amazing the improvements you can get in your conversion rates by testing the smallest of things.

By simply increasing your conversion from 1% to 2% you have instantly doubled your revenues. This is one of the few places where you can double your profits simply by making a few tweaks to your website.

And fortunately for us, the Internet and very simple tracking technology makes it super simple. You can use basic ab split testing to test one version of a page against another version to see which one converts the best.

For example, you might test one headline against another headline to see which one out performs the other.

And sure, you've probably heard all about this testing stuff but how many of you are actually doing it?

Without split testing, you're leaving massive amounts of money on the table every single day.

Plus, by tracking all of your traffic sources, you can see exactly which ones are converting to sales and subscribers.

So now you know where you should be devoting your time... And you might find that your time is NOT best spent writing 50 articles per day.

If you're doing any sort of paid advertising, you can see which ads are converting for you and which ones you need to scrap. Find out which ezine ads are converting... which banner ads are converting and then get rid of the losers.

This is the only way that you're going to be able to create massive leverage in your business.

Plus, if you're wanting to bring affiliates on board, then testing is a MUST. Affiliates are not going to promote your product if it doesn't convert. And even if you get them to promote it once, they're sure not going to promote it a second time if it doesn't convert well.

You owe it to your affiliates to maximize your sales process BEFORE you start recruiting affiliates.

However, in the Internet Marketing space you see people do product launches all the time without testing it first. They are literally burning their affiliates. Testing their offer on their affiliates hard-earned traffic instead of their own.

If you want to build an army of affiliates who promote for you on an ongoing basis, you've got to maximize your conversions and your visitor value FIRST. You can then recruit affiliates based on the back of your high visitor value.

Just a quick note, the visitor value is how much is earned PER visitor.

You increase this amount not only by maximizing conversions, but also by creating a complete sales process which includes your front-end offer, an order page bump, upsell, downsell, etc...

When you focus on maximizing ONE sales process, you'll be amazed at
the opportunities that are now open to you. Not only can you recruit
affiliates based on the back of your high visitor value but you can now buy advertising that was previously blocked off from you.

Because of your high visitor value, you can buy larger scale advertising
because you now have the profit margins to validate it.

That's maximum leverage!

So, What Should You Test?

Ok so I'm sure you know the importance of testing, but what should you be testing? This is a question that I hear a LOT.

When it comes to testing, you'll want to test the variables that are going to potentially make the BIGGEST difference in your conversion rate.

Here are some good examples to get you started...

1. Headline
2. Headline Color
3. Sub-Title (MindValleyLabs.com has increased sign-up rate by over 135%
simply by varying the sub-title.)
4. Order Button Design
5. Order Button Text
6. Video Sales Letter Vs. Traditional Sales Letter (If you haven't heard
yet, video sales letters are crushing it online. And they've been crushing it in my tests as well. So definitely something you'll want to keep in mind.)
7. Security Seals and Trust Guard Logos (Shown in many tests to increase
conversions by 16% or more!)
8. Collecting Name and Email Vs. Just Name
9. Your Guarantee
10. Price
11. Your Offer (Your "offer" can have a HUGE impact on your conversion rate. Often times even more so than your headline. You offer is NOT the price. But instead it's how you position your offer. For example a 14-day $1 trial is an OFFER. Free + Shipping and handling is an OFFER. Try it out and don't pay anything for the first 30-days. If you decide to keep it, we'll bill your credit card the full amount after the 30-days has ended. If not, simply send it back and you will never be charged. That's an OFFER. You need to look closely at how your positioning your offer because it can make all the difference in the world on your conversion rate.

Testing is not just something you do. It's a mindset that will propel you to success faster than anything else online.

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Thanks

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troy23

14 years ago

I don't think headlines, colors etc make any difference. Bottom line is if you are selling the same tired old stuff nobody is going to buy. Create an original product and it will sell itself.

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#1 Mistake Made By 97% of Internet Marketers

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