Posts tagged as:

testing

Can You Market Test Your Time and Money?

by Tim on November 22, 2011

Test what works I’m no fan of linking to the New York Times (damn you, paywall), but this interview with Sasha Issenberg is well worth the read. Issenberg, who is writing a book about “the new science of [political] campaigns,” covers ground most Big Thinkers know well: measurement and testing. I’ve talked often about why testing is always the right answer. It’s interesting to see how political campaigns put these same tactics to use in measuring the effectiveness of their campaigns. The interview focuses on Rick Perry’s reelection campaign (the book looks at several campaigns), but I loved this quote:

“The findings from those 2006 tests dramatically changed how Carney prioritized the candidate’s time and the campaign’s money when Perry sought re-election again in 2010 and will inform the way he runs for president now.” [Emphasis mine]

Political campaigns, just like any marketing, can’t afford to waste money or resources (especially the candidate’s limited time). So testing where those resources and funds work best matters. The question is, are you testing how effectively you’re spending your money and your time? Don’t you think you should?

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Technorati Tags: a/b testing, marketing, marketing best practices, measurement, metrics, online marketing, strategy, success, testing

Tagged as: marketing 101, marketing strategy, online business, online marketing, online marketing strategy, Strategy, test design, testing

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Do A/B Tests Worry You?

by Tim on February 22, 2011

in E-commerce

Anyone who’s spent much time around thinks Central knows how passionately I believe A/B testing is always the right answer. Seriously. And while A/B testing might seem scary if you’ve never done it before, it’s not as hard as you might think.

What’s that, you say? You’re not to sure what to test and how to do it? Well, never fear, Big Thinker. The following ideas will help you along the way.

For example, Linda Bustos and Anne Holland’s great 6 tips for e-commerce testing offers amazing lessons on how to test effectively and efficiently on your site.

And while A/B testing has its pitfalls when not done right, you can easily learn from others’ real-world experience. For instance, ProFlowers is one of the best converting sites on the Internet and conducts A/B tests all the time. Just take a look at what a well-executed A/B test looks like to help you along the way.

What if you’re just getting started with A/B testing and don’t know where to begin? In addition to Linda and Anne’s tips, take a look at the thinks method for what to test first.

And, finally, for more ideas, check out our Ultimate A/B Testing Case Study Roundup.

I suppose testing isn’t the right answer if you don’t know how to do it or don’t test the right things. But, thanks to Anne and Linda and ProFlowers, you don’t have to go it alone.

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Technorati Tags:
a/b testing, call-to-action, conversion rate optimization, E-commerce, e-commerce, ecommerce, getelastic, landing page optimization, marketing best practices, online marketing, testing

Tagged as: a/b test, a/b testing, test design, testing

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4 Steps to Improve Your Landing Page’s Performance

by Tim on September 15, 2010

in E-commerce

Landing pages are the place where it all begins for your customer. Or ends, depending on how well the page performs. Want your pages to do their duty? Then let’s begin, shall we…

We started off earlier this week looking at how to find landing pages worth fixing (as well as demonstrating our most important landing pages by way of example the day before that).

But once you have figured out what pages you’re going to fix, what do you do? Easy. Just follow these 4 steps:

First, find out where your traffic is coming from. I showed you how to find your Top Landing Pages yesterday. Now, in Google Analytics, click on the link for the first page you’re going to work on. Check out the Entrance Sources for the page (other analytics programs offer similar functions). In the example below, most of the traffic (88%!) comes from search:
If, like the example above, most of your traffic comes from search, check out the Entrance Keywords report. It will show you which terms your customers are using most often to get to this page. If the traffic isn’t coming from search, you’ll need to visit the linking sites driving the highest traffic to see what their link text is. In either case, make a list of the top words customers use to find you. I cannot emphasize that enough. These terms are half the battle.
Work from your list and incorporate those terms into your title, copy and call-to-action. This does not mean “keyword stuff.” The point isn’t to load the page up with the word (remember, you already rank for it or draw traffic because of it); you’re trying to guide the visitor through using their own words.
For example, if your top term is “affordable office furniture,” be sure your headline is (something like) “Affordable Office Furniture from $99″ and that your call-to-action includes “affordable office furniture” too. “Shop Now” is good. “Shop for Affordable Office Furniture” is better. (Though testing which one works better is always best).
Finally, it’s not enough to get visitors to want to buy. They also have to want to buy from you. So, as you’re improving the page’s relevance using the technique above, you also want to improve your customer’s trust in you. How can you do that? unbouce has a great list of simple techniques that will improve your customer’s trust.

Getting customers to engage with your brand requires getting them to stay on your site. These four tips are the beginning of building that engagement. They’re not fool-proof; bad design, copy or call-to-action can still kill you. But they’re the first step into getting your landing page to work for you.

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Tagged as: a/b test, a/b testing, continuous improvement, conversion, improve conversion, improvement, landing page optimization, optimization, testing

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