Need Split Testing Ideas?

By: Jim Stone, Ph.D.
Have you ever wanted to improve your website, but didn't know where to begin? 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. The Stylesheet: If you use a style sheet to set the font styles, sizes, and colors of all your headlines, subheadlines, body text and more, you can test different schemes very easily. This is often worthwhile. If you link to your stylesheet, it can be tough to run the test, depending on the software you're using. So for the test you might want to pull the stylesheet into the head section of your test page.

3. Location Of Testimonials: So you have some great testimonials. Where should you put them. Some marketers tell you to put a good one up right under the headline. Others say to lump them together near the middle. Others run them down the right side of the page. Others put them after the P.S. Statement. Still others weave them into the copy, and place them where they seem to have the most power. This is a great factor to test, even though it might not make as much difference as some might think. Unfortunately, it's difficult to test the location of factors in most javascript-based split testing programs, though with some PHP (or server-side) programs you can test location pretty easily. (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. Referring To Where They Came From: So the visitor clicks on a Google ad, and they come to your site, and it says: "Congratulations for clicking on my Google ad. You have just taken the first step toward . . ." This can have a powerful influence on the user, because it keeps them in their flow of consciousness that started at Google. You can try all kinds of things along this line. (important)

Those are just 6 ideas of many. Please test everything you can think of, but keep track of which things make the most difference for you.
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