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Testing For Better Website Conversions
- Categorized in: Website Redesign
There is no such thing as a perfect sales letter and no website is going to capture 100% of the people 100% of the time.
There are always going to be some improvements that can be made to your website, however small, that will improve on the amount of people that sign up for your newsletter, purchase the product that you are offering or take it to the next level, whatever that level may be.
If you're interested in making more from your existing website and your existing traffic, it is necessary for you to do some testing and you continue testing for the long run. Here are a few ways that you can test your website and see some results.
Split Testing Explained
There are a number of different ways that you can test various elements of your website and one of the best things that you can do is to test two elements against each other. This is commonly known as A/B split testing and you are basically sending an equal number of people to one-page as you are to another page.
After just a short run, you will be able to tell if the differences between the pages improve conversions or not. This can be done with any element on the website.
Testing the Headline
The headline is the very first thing that somebody should see whenever they land on your sales page. It is something that should grab their attention and focus their attention on what it is that you are about to explain to them. A well-written headline will keep a person's attention enough that they will continue reading.
If the headline is not written properly, your sales will be dismal.
The interesting thing about testing a headline is the fact that it is not always large changes that make a difference.
Sometimes, simply capitalizing a single word or changing the color of the headline slightly can make a small difference in the amount of sales that you get. If you discover that you have improved on your headline to a certain extent, go without one and test it against another. Eventually, you will come up with a headline that you are truly happy with.
Long copy Versus Short Copy
This is probably something that has been debated more often than anything else on the Internet. Some people like to write long and rambling sales letters, convincing the individual that they need to purchase whatever it is that they are offering and driving every single point home along the way.
Other people like to use sales letters that are short, go over a few bullet points and then offer the product to them.
The simple fact of the matter is, either of these sales pages can work rather well and it has a lot to do with how they are written, along with the particular audience that is looking at them. I like to test between long and short copy from time to time as it can really make a difference in the bottom line. If you have not tested the difference for yourself, you might be surprised with the results that you can get.
Testing the call to action
Another very important element on a website is the call to action. This is the part of a website page where you're actually telling the person what they need to do and instructing them on how to do it.
It might be that you are asking them to click on the buy button in order to purchase the product that you are offering but it may also be that you are telling them to subscribe to your newsletter, or visit another website.
People follow their way down through a website page and many of them will follow it to its logical conclusion.
There are a number of individuals, however, that will click away from your website without actually doing what it is that you need them to do. A strong, compelling call to action can assist them along the way if they are having a difficult time making up their mind.
Try testing different call to action lines against each other and see what kind of a difference that it makes.
Do Not Test Too Much at One Time
One mistake that many people make whenever they are split testing website pages is to try and test a complex page which has several elements at one time.
Let's say you are testing two pages that have the same elements, but make changes on both pages to headlines and text within the body of the website pages. You will not really be able to tell which one of those elements is making the difference.
Perhaps there is one element that is increasing the conversion rate of the page and another one that is reducing it again on the same page.
Test one element at a time and you will be able to narrow down the results considerably.
Never Stop Testing
Regardless of how many different times you run a split test or what kind of results you are receiving, never stop making little changes and seeing what kind of a difference that they make.
Even a small piece of a percentage that is added to your bottom line can make a considerable difference over the course of a year. There may also be times whenever you add a considerable chunk to your bottom line by making one of these changes.
The only way that you're going to know, however, is to continue testing.


