You’ve likely heard the term before: A/B Split Testing.
It may not sound that sexy but trust me – it is!
In fact, it is a very important step in building your sales page.
This is how you discover what will truly work with your market – your specific target audience or ideal client - and what won't.
A/B testing involves running two versions of your sales page with just one element changed to see which performs better.
For example, you might run one page with an off-white background, and one with a pale blue background. After some time, you can clearly see that the off-white background is getting higher conversions.
This tells you that your market prefers an off-white background, and knowledge like that is crucial if you want to make as much as possible on what you sell.
Why you want to Split Test?
It sounds like an extra step in an already involved process, but split testing is extremely important. This is how you discover what works and what doesn't by not just guessing but using objective data. To build a sales page that actually converts, you need to use real data - not just your own assumptions.
Another benefit is that you can conduct split testing on an ongoing basis, even after your sales page launches, and keep tweaking it to improve it and sustain its conversion rate.
A lot of the plugins and services for split testing will also allow for the “winner” to be automatically selected, depending on specific parameters that you have already set, if you prefer to automate that part of the process.
What to Split Test?
In short: You should split test every feature possible on your sales page! Any element of your page could have a direct effect on conversions. However, there are a few key elements that are most likely to make a big impact and should therefore be tested.
Headline
You should definitely test your headline. This is probably the most important feature of your sales page because it determines whether a visitor will read on or not. Write multiple versions of your headline and test them. If you're not sure what key benefit to mention in the headline, test that as well.
Copy
You most certainly also want to test the copy (the text itself) on the page, as different ways of expression and what you write can make a huge difference. By split testing the copy you may find, that one way of writing may engage and sell way better than another.
Call-to-Action
The call-to-action is nearly as important as the headline because this is the feature that urges the person to buy. They've been reading about the product and its benefits, and weighing its value in their mind. Your CTA tells them to buy now. You should test the wording of the CTA, its design, its size, its color, and its placement on the page.
Pricing
Wondering whether to price your product higher than what you initially have set it to? Doing a split test on the exact same sales page but with different pricing, will quickly reveal if a higher price-tag really will make that much of a difference.
Images
Test your page with different images and test their placement on the page. Images have a huge impact on conversions. The wrong image in the wrong place could certainly cost you, so it's really important that they work the way you want them to.
Design
Unless you use a really rigid theme on your website with no design options as such, you also want to split test the design of your sales page. Meaning, the actual layout and colors used, as well as the placement of the different elements on the page.
With a rigid theme, you still want to do split test of the order of the elements (i.e. intro, pain points, solution, buy-button etc.).
Best Practices for Testing Your Sales Page
- Only test one element at a time. If you change multiple elements, you won't know which one had the impact on conversions.
- Don't just test the elements themselves, but also their placement on the page. A good sales page has a nice flow that leads the visitor directly to buy.
- Test the length of your page. There's an ongoing debate about whether sales pages should be short or long, but the truth is that it depends on your market and what you have to say. Split testing will give you the answer you seek.
- Give each test plenty of time. If you run a short test, you may end up with a statistical anomaly. A few days isn't long enough to understand trends, so let each test take the time it needs. Depending on the amount of traffic to your page, a few weeks to a month(s) will give you accurate statistics.
Try to leave your assumptions behind before you start split testing. This can be easier said than done, I know. But if you start out with assumptions, these could very well get in the way. Once you start testing, and do so with an open mind, you may be surprised at what you find.
Are you ready to start building sales pages that convert?
If so, check out my full course on how to create your sales page. It covers everything you need to know.