Split testing how to?

by thedog

Posted: 13 years ago 6 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hi guys. I have an amazon site thats starting to take off.

I've tweaked it a lot, but the conversions are still a bit low, around 2%

I'd like to play around with colours and different buttons... what's the best way to do this.. I keep hearing about split testing, but I don't know too much about it.

Also... what do you think is a better call to action "buy button"

1) The "buy from amazon" button, from their site (I'm currently using this)

or

2) "Visit Website" button, orange of course.

Also, how many affiliate links should I have in my article... should I link the product text a few times, or is this spammy?

Cheers

#split

Fraggler 13 years ago

There are a few different ways of tackling this depending on your skill but Google does have a product/service that makes it pretty easy. Check out some tutorials on "Google Website Optimiser" (www.google.com/websiteoptimizer) and go from there.

The other option is some basic PHP rotation with unique tracking IDs on your links.
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trevorf 13 years ago

Colors, size, and copy are all great things to test. You'll even be able to test the number of links in the articles. A/B testing can really help you zero in on all of those and optimize your page.

GWO, as mentioned, or Visual Website Optimizer can work to run lots of great tests.
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trevorf 13 years ago

Oh, and be sure to report back! Good luck
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Kul 13 years ago

Whatever method you use to do the split testing, make sure you test only one variable at one time.

For example, if you will be split testing the color, headline and the opening paragraph, change only one of these at a time.

This will allow you to tie the effects (increase/decrease) in conversions/bounce rate to that variable.
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trevorf 13 years ago

You can test multiple things at once (multivariate testing), which both GWO and VWO can do. They run everything in different combinations to see which works the best. You just might need more traffic before it can be effective.

But just starting out, I would agree with Kul -- keep it simple.
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celestrist 13 years ago

"The best definition I ever heard was that online testing is the equivalent of giving yourself a pay rise every week." -Jay Abraham

Split testing is more than increasing your conversion rate.

You can learn many things about your customers via split testing:
men convert more or women?
what is their age?
when is the best time to present your offer to them?

So it is easy to lost yourself in over-optimizing your website.
Remember the 80/20 rule, find out what is the most influencing element
and focus on that.

For more information
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