Six Website Testing Ideas

By Jim Stone, Ph.D.

So you've decided to do some split testing on your website? What now? Here are some ideas:

1. The Headline: This is one of the most important factors to test on a web page. If you want to grab your visitor's attention, and have them read the rest of your page, you need to hook them with a good headline. Test several variations to find one that works well. (important)

2. A Magazine-Style Drop Cap: This is fairly important for the size of the change being made. It "almost" never hurts, and often gives 30% boosts. The drop cap draws the visitor's eye into the copy after reading the headline. If you search Google for "magazine style drop caps" you will see some tutorials for doing these with span tags. You can get really creative with these. (medium importance)

3. Having A Peel-Away Opt-in Offer: These look really cool. However, I have to warn you. In the tests I've run, these have actually underperformed a dropdown box when it comes to collecting opt-ins. However, they are less intrusive, and look very cool, so they might leave your visitors with a better feeling about your site. And that might pay off for conversions. There are a lot of ways to be creative here, too. Should you put the peel corner on the left or right? Or both? What images should you use? What text? Etc. (medium importance)

4. Your Offer: Do you give them 10% off, or a $100 rebate? Do you offer a free eBook as a bonus? Should you offer three bonuses, or just one? More is not always better. Should you do an upsell before purchase? Or should you do a "One Time Offer" after purchase? These things are extremely important. (important)

5. Text Of Your Order Button: Should your order button say "submit"? Probably not. How about "click here?" Probably not. Well, what about "Yes! Let me Get Started Now!" Probably better. This is an often over-looked place to test. I would recommend testing it, though it's probably not quite as important as the headline or the offer. (medium importance)

6. Adding A Video: Ah. Web 2.0. Well, I'll say one thing for video. It's an important factor. But it's not always clear whether a video will help or hurt. I've had videos help a lot. And other marketers have said it alone can double your conversion rate. But I've also had videos hurt my conversion rate significantly. I think a lot of it has to do with the quality of the video. Playing with video is like playing with fire. It's a powerful tool, but you can get burned, too. (important)

Do you want some more split testing ideas? I've got all kinds of ideas. And you know where to find me.

About the Author:

Jim Stone, Ph.D. produced the Split Test Accelerator, and is an expert at using multi-variate split testing to improve web pages. Visit this page for Split Testing Software. Or this page for free split testing software.