If you are looking to squeeze more dollars out of your existing traffic, you need to start running A/B tests. If you have at least 10,000 monthly visitors, you should consider running one new A/B test every other month, if not once a month.
Download this cheat sheet of 11 obvious A/B tests you should try.
With my business, we typically run one A/B test every two weeks, and although many of the tests fail, we usually find a winner one out every four tests that boosts our conversion rate by at least 20%.
One of the main ways I’ve been able to have great success is by learning from other entrepreneurs. Each week, a group of entrepreneurs, including me, discuss A/B tests that we had success or failures with. We share data with each other, which then helps all of us come up with new A/B tests to try.
Here are 11 obvious A/B tests you should try:
Test #1: Add the word FREE in your ads
Eric Siu from TreeHouse manages thousands of dollars in ad buys each week. One of his main channels of acquisition is remarketing. He tested out a lot of different ad types and found his cost per acquisition (CPA) to be around $60. He changed the color of the ads, the calls to action and many other elements within the ad, but none of them had a major impact on the CPA.
He then tested adding the word “FREE” within his ads.
That one word resulted in the decrease of his CPA from $60 to $43 per signup.
Test #2: Create an explainer video
I’ve created a handful of explainer videos, but they were all done wrong. Once I learned what elements needed to be in an explainer video to help boost conversions, I instantly saw an increase in our conversions.
By adding a video that had the same exact message as our homepage copy on CrazyEgg.com, we were able to increase homepage conversions by 64%. The big lesson I learned there was that people don’t always like reading text, but they are open to listening to a short video that explains a product or service.
Test #3: Have your signup button scroll with the visitor
TreeHouse noticed that people on their library page were reading their content while scrolling down, but they weren’t clicking on the signup button. So, at first they tested changing the color of the signup button from grey to green.
The change in color had somewhat of an impact, but it didn’t have a large enough impact. So they tested a concept similar to what Facebook does… having their main navigation bar scroll with the reader. Because the signup button is in the navigation, it would prompt people to notice the button.
This simple change increased conversions on this one page by 138%.
Test #4: Removing forms fields
On NeilPatel.com, I collect leads from individuals and companies who are interested in increasing their online traffic and, more importantly, online revenue. My submission form contained 4 fields:
- Name
- URL
- Revenue
I didn’t think that having four form fields would affect my conversion rate because it doesn’t take too long to fill them all out. I ran a quick test to see if replacing the revenue field with an open field asking “what can we help you with?” would affect conversions as some people may not want to share their revenue information.
That test didn’t have an impact on my conversion rate. I then decided to remove the “revenue” field altogether and only have three form fields.
That boosted the conversion rate by 26%.
Test #5: Create a two-step checkout process
I was a big believer that reducing the number of page loads and steps people have to go through would help increase conversions. Because of this, Crazy Egg had a simple checkout process… in which you would first select your plan and then create your account and enter your payment information on the second page.
Conversion Rate Experts wanted me to test a three-step checkout process. First, you would select your plan, then be taken to the page where you create your account, and then be taken to another page where you enter your payment information. The total number of form fields was the same as the two-step checkout process, but instead we were just breaking it out into three separate pages.
After a total of 817 conversions, we had a winner… the three-step checkout process had a 10% increase in conversions.
Test #6: Show a live version of your product instead of screenshots of it
Most software companies have a tendency to show screenshots of their applications versus letting people play with the real thing before they sign up.
Qualaroo used to show screenshots of their application on their homepage. Through surveying, they found that people didn’t fully understand what the product did. So, they decided to put their own product on their homepage and let people play around with it.
By embedding a live interactive version of their product on their homepage, they boosted their conversion rate by 38%.
Test #7: Free trial versus money back guarantee
I used to think that there was no difference between a 30-day money back guarantee and a free trial that required you to put in your credit card information upfront. Why? Because if you weren’t happy with the product within the first 30 days, you wouldn’t be charged for it.
Boy, was I wrong!
We tested a 30-day money back guarantee versus a 30-day free trial, and the results were huge.
By replacing all of our money back guarantee badges with free trial badges and by placing “30-day free trial” offer on every page of the Crazy Egg website, we were able to boost signups by 116%.
Test #8: Trial length
The longer your free trial is, the better. Right? That’s at least what I thought until my co-founder wanted to test a 30-day free trial versus a 14-day free trial on KISSmetrics.
When he tested the 14-day free trial versus the original 30-day free trial, there was no difference in front end conversions. The same number of people signed up for each trial length. But the big difference was in the increase of the usage of the product. 102% more people used the product when they signed up for the 14-day trial versus the 30-day trial.
We quickly learned that reducing the trial length made people feel that they had to use our product as soon as possible. With the 30-day trial, people felt that they had a lot of time, and they forgot about using the product even though we sent email reminders to them.
The extra usage helped boost revenue as more customers experienced the power of KISSmetrics.
Test #9: Offer time-based bonuses
I used to sell the QuickSprout Traffic System for $197 dollars. If you bought it, you would get an Internet marketing course delivered to your inbox that would teach you everything you needed to know about digital marketing.
At first, I didn’t offer any bonuses, but then I decided to include a few for free. The main bonus was a video course offered with a free software plugin. Those two bonuses only boosted my conversion rate by 11%.
Michael Williams gave me the idea of running time-based bonuses, where the first 50 signups and the first 100 signups would get something that others didn’t receive.
By offering time-based bonuses that encouraged people to sign up now versus later, we were able to achieve a 47% increase in conversions.
Test #10: Add a dollar value to your free offers
Not everyone is ready to buy right away. Some people want to learn more and get to know you or your company. Once they trust you, they are open to buying whatever you may be selling.
That is why it is important for you to collect the email address of each individual who is interested in buying your product or service, but isn’t ready to pull the trigger yet.
Even though I am not really selling anything on Quick Sprout, I still collect emails so I can notify you when I write a new blog post. I used to just ask you for your email address without offering you anything in exchange. I then tested offering you a free eBook and a 30-day course, which only boosted conversions by 6%.
But once I placed a dollar value of $300 on that free course information in my sidebar, my conversions went up.
By placing a dollar value on the same free information I was offering you before, I was able to boost my email opt-in rate by 22%.
Test #11: Button colors
Around four years ago, I was speaking at a conference where a person on my panel ran A/B testing at Gmail. He was telling me how they tested over 50 shades of blue and found that one shade converted the best for them. Now, you probably can’t test 50 shades of a color on your website as you won’t have the traffic volume that Gmail has, but you can test a few variations of a button color.
One of the button colors that I would have never guessed that could boost conversions was the color red. Performable ran a test comparing a red call-to-action button on their homepage to a green one.
Surprisingly, the color red had a 21% higher click-through rate than the green one did. This just shows that you can’t assume that one specific color is not worth testing as was the case with the color red since it typically has a negative connotation… you typically see it associated with stop signs and error messages. For that reason, I thought the color red wasn’t worth testing.
Test #12: Tell people to come up and talk to you
What would a list post be without a bonus? I know I said I have 11 A/B tests for you, but I actually have 12 ;-).
My buddy Leo was in a coffee shop when he saw something that he’s never seen before. Someone had a cover on their laptop that said this:
He asked the gentlemen how many people approached him because of his laptop message, and he said, “a few dozen within three weeks”. If you are looking to increase how many people come up to you, buy a cover for your laptop that tells people what you do and that invites them to come up and talk to you.
I haven’t tried this out yet, but I will as it is a great way to potentially get new customers for my business.
Conclusion
As I mentioned earlier, I run a lot of A/B tests that fail. Just because the ones above showed great success, it doesn’t mean that every test you run will be successful. It just shows that you can get a lot out of A/B testing. You just have to put the time and energy into it.
Have you run any other A/B tests that have done well or failed miserably? If so, leave a comment explaining the test and results.
This amazing course will teach you, step by step, how to double if not triple your traffic over the next 30 days.
This is good testing that is quick things to change, nothing complicated. For my site and client sites, they don’t have extreme amounts of traffic. How long do you think each test should last (visitor wise)? For a local business that maybe gets 100 visitors a month.
I never went too crazy with A/B testing but one thing that always helped was having links and the important ‘stuff’ above the fold. Even looking at google analytics, people click mostly on the first thing they see, especially if it’s a button.
-Amir
I would be interested in this too. I work with local businesses whose scale is considerably smaller. (Although we are working on that!) Many of them don’t have control over their websites because they sell on a 3rd party platform, or they have hired someone to build their site, but they don’t have the time or skill to change things. I’m wondering how they can apply this in other areas…
It’s tough to test stuff on other peoples’ site. 🙁
It depends on the number of conversions… I would say years at that point.
Why do you plaster your face on everything? I always equate that to car & insurance salesmen and maybe real estate agents. When I see someone’s mug for no other reason than they’re trying to make their sales pitch seem trustworthy, I run the other way.
I can see doing this with celebrities but if nobody knows who you are, why do it? Does it convert better?
Great article Neil. I think the big lesson here is that we should never assume something and then build a strategy around it but rather have everything backed up by data. And most importantly continue to find ways to improve by gathering more relevant user data.
Great list, I need to try this and see how it will work. At least with my current newsletter, it doesn’t get much user attention and I need to change it :). Thanks for advices!
Kamil
You are welcome. I hope it helps you out.
Especially when it comes to email marketing, split testing is like the #1 way to increase your profit/overall conversions.
Yep, it helps a lot.
Thank you again for blazing the trails Neil! We test design elements but to this degree. We’ll have to add some of these ideas to the never ending ‘to do’s. Thank you.
Awesome! Let me know how it goes.
Thanks Neil for the “12” A/B Tests.
Too bad not always traffic is the prerequisite for experiments. I run a B2B site that basically is price driven (contract, blah blah). I get good amount of traffic but never the opportunity to test for conversion as rationale in my case is solely price.
Still looking for ways to exploit the traffic!
Mohammad,
I’m astonished by your comment that your B2B customers are primarily price driven. This would be true if you sell a commodity such as copper or PVC. For almost anything else there are modifiers – ease of ordering, speed of quoting, unit sizes offered, added services, repeat buying tools, etc. Remember most business buyers larger than a mom & pop shop are not spending their own money. I find the biggest persuader is to save them time. No-one in business has enough to get done everything they need to do. Save them 10 minutes vs. the competition and they’ll gladly spend a buck or two more. TEST THIS!
Good idea. I will try testing using “saving time” language. Thanks for the idea Stew.
Hey Stew,
Unfortunately, as you mentioned we are in commodity business. Not PVCs but office consumables. prices are in dimes and cents! imagine! and yes they are not mom and pop shops. some are governments. That’s one big reason I cannot really use a marketing mean. I appreciate your comment.
I would buy more. Try remarketing, ppc, banner ads…
Thanks Neil,
my last plan is to give price agent sites a try. PPC won’t do any good as most of my clients are government or gov related.
“PPC won’t do any good as most of my clients are government or gov related.” Maybe it’s different selling to contractors rather than directly to government agencies, but I sell some defense industry machinery and equipment for utility companies via PPC.
Scrolling down the signup form (similar to your TechCrunch ad) is what I am going to implement now.
I will also remove one of the field on my services page and will check how much people are converting.
Thanks for a nice post
Master piece neil…I didn’t know these many tests we can carry out…Lets have a Try
Thanks a lot for this amazing list
Let me know the results of your tests.
Thanks for sharing Neil.
I would be interested to know who your preferred vendor for running test is and why?
Anything works. From Google Experiments to Optimizely.
Love You man, You always dazzle me with your technical post, However i think that the Color Orange convert more than red.
there is something also you didn’t mention which is you’re an authority in the field and not everyone will have the same results, Your sales page contain more other stuff that effects people to buy like social proof
Yea, you should different colors. I’ve tested orange and I usually find green to beat it… could just be with my websites though.
Good point on the authority part.
I am really impressed with your writing skills as well as with the obvious tips you give us. huge thanks for you.
You are welcome. Let me know if you test any of them out and the results.
Hi Neil,
Could you suggest some services or sites that will help create those explainer videos?
Thanks!
That should totally be a startup. 99 Designs for Startup Videos.
Yea, it would actually do well… a lot of people want them these days.
Seanduran.com. I use him… he is cheap and fast.
Great post Neil. I loved the examples. Who would of thought a 3 step conversion would be a 2 step? Or red vs green button? Just goes to show that we should ABT (Always Be Testing 😉 I have to say that by far my favorite was #12. We are going to implement that one for certain @eBizROI.
LOL, ABT!
Let me know the results of the test.
Great article bud, I’m obsessive about testing almost too a fault. I’m finally learning to slow down testing and really focus on one at a time.
Yep. Make sure you let tests finish all the way too or else you may make a version live that isn’t really the winning version.
Hey Niel Patel,
this is an awesome write up. I agreed with why you didnt think to ab test the color red, but each site is unique and colors will perform uniquely. Ill test the less favorable colors of yellow and red VS my green button and will let you know results. Ill let you know the results! Thanks buddy.
Can’t wait to see the results. 🙂
Neil — so many great tips here! We advise A/B testing all the time for our ShortStack.com users. And we A/B every ad we run. It’s amazing how much you can learn from such “simple” tests.
Do yo have any data you can share from your ad testing?
Seriously. Love this case study on direct response marketing.
May I ask your opinion Neil Patel.
How many split testing do you work on when do this kind of stuff?
Is it just 2 type of testing or more?
Thank you in advance.
I usually do one at a time. A test takes 1 to 2 weeks to finish on average for me.
Hi Neil,
Good stuff here. I am curious about the 116% increase from test #7. That is increase in trial signups correct? Can you share how that effected your conversions of trial to paid? I have to imagine that conversion rate ended up dropping but I would also imagine it also helped to reduce your attrition and chargeback rate too?
Roughly a 30 to 40% churn out of trial. So 60 to 70% conversion to paid.
In our case the numbers are exactly the same for those fell off of the trial. At the end you stay with 60%-70% of subscribers. It just gives you a lot of inspiration to keep going!
Yea, I really want to improve that number. It’s a lot of churn.
Thanks for the fast response. Great numbers. And that stayed the same for free VS paid trial?
We had more churn with a free trial. We had around 10% churn with a paid trial.
Great list. But with #1, people need to make sure there are actually no charges. Saying “free” can get you on hot water if you don’t use it properly.
Yep, you just have to follow the laws.
LOL. That is awesome. I should tell my friend over at The Decal Guru to start selling “Call To Action” decals. Maybe there is a market there.
LOL, it may work. You never know what people will buy.
Neil, we are using Kissmetrics and it’s a great tool to see how funnels perform differently depending on a campaign. We learned the same way that creating a sense of urgency as described in test #9 is a great way to increase our signup rate.
Here’s what we ran:
#1 One campaign was good for 7 days to claim the goodies
#2 Another one was good for the current day only for the same goodies
Here are the results:
Not only the number of signups for #2 (1 day urgency) was almost equal to the number of signups for #1 (7 day duration). For #2 (1 day urgency) we observed 26% increase in traffic signup conversion.
Of course there are many other factors (day of the week, time of the day, holidays, market news, etc) involved in final conversion metrics, still in all numbers speak for themselves with a good level of confidence.
Hey Vadim, if you email me the info at [email protected] we can potentially make a case study of your business and feature it on the KISSmetrics site. 😉
Neil,
The bonus tip is awesome. I am a freelance writer and social media consultant. Gonna try this out soon! I live in Asia and moved to Vietnam 18 months ago, and a lot of new people I met constantly ask what I do for living since they don’t see me holding a full-time job. This laptop cover would be totally awesome for that!
I have a question though. How do you determine the monetary value of your free offers (as per Test #10)? I’d seen pretty much exaggerated prices like a few thousands to modest a few hundreds like yours. I understand that the intent here is to give the perception of value of what you are offering. But do we just put a random price or is there a process of evaluating it?
— Sam
Hopefully the cover helps you get more gigs/jobs.
Through KISSmetrics I can track the lifetime value of each customer. That’s how I back out the numbers.
Neil, then what about for a new site that doesn’t have such data yet?
tanks for nice post.
now iam going to trying an A/B Test. for a site
Going to add FREE(#1) , and changing button colors(#11)
thanks again
Best of luck! I hope you see the same increases as the examples in the post.
Hi Neil,
I went last saturday in a meet up with search friends for the next strategy in online marketing to generate more revenue.
All members also discussed on A/B testing. This is great and also thanks for your A/B testing guide.
Regards
Saurav Sharma
Social Media Strategist
Yea… half the battle is getting people to your site, the offer half is getting them to convert.
I totally Lol’d at the picture after reading the title.
But wow, another great post. Quicksprout is my new favorite site.
🙂
Glad you like the site/blog.
Great article with useful tips. Thanks Neil.
Regarding “Test #3: Have your signup button scroll with the visitor” I came across a very good plugin that make your sign up form stick at the top of the screen. The plugin is called Elevatr and I found it very good.
Thanks for sharing. I’ve never used Elevatr, but I will have to check it out.
Wonderful post, Neil.
I have tried some of the techniques you mentioned in your post
( Tips 1,2,3, 4, 5, 7, 9 11) and I concur with your findings.
Thanks for sharing it with your readers.
Keep them coming. Cheers!
Hey Arun, how did those tips work out for you?
Great article niel,
Thanks for sharing awesome tips for us.
Very interesting technique about the red and green button colors – Will definitely be testing this.
Thanks
Yea, and don’t just stick to button color tests… try all of them out. 😉
LOl Neal you crack me up with #12. I loved it so much I’m already testing it out on Social Media profiles.
It’s so funny… the guy who actually did it emailed me after this post went live.
Very interesting article, yet again.
Loved #12 too!
The red/green button situation was also very interesting. Will do some testing this week and will keep this post in mind.
Don’t just stick with the easy tests Leith… drastic ones usually have the biggest conversion impact.
Neil, this is such a great article! I had not even given thought to #7 until now. I can’t wait to try a split test with a Money Back Guarantee. Thanks!
I’ve seen the “free trial” beat the money back guarantee almost 99% of the time. 😉
Awesome split tests, I guess it also depends on the niche.
It does, but it is worth doing as many a/b tests as possible. Keep on trying to improve.
well, Excellent post. All of these could produce excellent results. 🙂
Thank you
You are welcome. Let me know how your a/b testing goes.
Great post as always. Most valuble point for mes are # 8Trial length and # 10: Add a dollar value to your free offers. I thought it wasn’t working so good like years back.
Yea, it surprisingly works really well.
Thanks for the post!
Wondering what is the minimum monthly visit / subscription that worth doign A/B? Is 100 subscriptions of 1 600 visit per month enought to get data out of it?
If you have at least 100 conversions a month, you could consider trying an a/b test.
Hi Neil – Thanks for a great post!
You might get a kick out of this case study on a test that both failed miserably and did well at the same time: “How Negative Test Results Produced a 48.69% Lift in Conversions on a B2C Landing Page” http://contentverve.com/negative-test-results-produced-a-lift/
– Michael
Thanks for sharing the post. I will check it out.
Great work Neil, I had no idea you could carry out so many tests.
It is great to know that conversions can affect by changing FREE, Sign up even length of FREE trial. Even I am thinking to implement some of these ideas to our website.
Really helpful piece.
Yea, try them out. Worse thing that can happen is the test failed, but you will still learn something new. 🙂
I like the concept of add the word FREE in your ads. This is a sure shot way that is what I feel to increase traffic. Brilliant post.
Thanks Shilpi! Let me know how it goes for you.
Awesome One Neil. Loved tips. Basically i implement some of these. Using Word Free does attracts visitors, it’s strongest weapon for bloggers to attract more visitors, and Making a Video intro Gives more attention which i was going to do soon. Thanks for sharing
You are welcome Ravi! I will try to write more posts that hopefully you will enjoy!
Neil,
As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed this post simply because it is filled with awesome examples and “take home” points.
Thank you for your excellence!
Regards,
Kumar
I love including stats. Hopefully my Monday post will be as good.
Hi Neil,
Excellent post. You have give a nice way to check how your content is converting or how your users are behaving on your website. if you are using A/B conversion forms then you can come to know which one is getting more conversion rate, How ever i liked all your A/B forms. 🙂
Thank you
You should test everything. I’ve also had tests where I added more fields and boosted conversions.
Thanks for the great information Neil, I understand that the A/B testing is crucial for understanding metrics and how sites are compared. The information stated on tip #11 is great. Testing lots of different colors for a site would be a great way to understand your audience and what colors attract more people to your site. Thanks again Neil!
Happy to help, let me know if you have any questions as you go.
Awesome post, Neil! I’m a STRONG believer in testing button colors AND headlines / titles. These aren’t the only aspects of my site that I test, but the varying results always leave me in disbelief. You think one headline is a knockout and it turns out the other is out performing it. Anywho, nice post!
Best,
Edward
Awesome, glad to hear it.
Showing a live version of your product is the best way to entice your prospective customers. This will also highlight the benefits they will get from your product.
Yep, that definitely works.
Your post is detailed. I like the $value idea. People are willing to sign up when they get anything free which normally costs them dollars. However I should also try other tests too. Thank you Neil.
Thanks, let me know how these tips work out for you.
Hi Neil
I like the idea of scrolling button for sign up. Going to try for sure. In all a great post with handy tips. Cheers
Nag
Great, would love to hear how it worked out for you once you test it.
11#Buttons Colors
So does the present color (orange brownish) converts better than the actual red? 🙂
Thanks
Daniel Vareta
Yes, it does work better based off the test I have done.
Excellent article.. We preach conversion rate testing through A/B split tests to our clients, but it’s one of the areas 90% of website owners overlook. I will certainly be sharing this post with our clients. Thanks!
Definitely do, hopefully this post will help them see the importance of it.
Hi Neil, I’ve been following your tips for awhile now.
I offer a very unique service with a limited market and I think I may have capped the daily traffic available. I’m convinced that I need to focus on creating a landing page to convert visits into purchases.
My problem is that I offer 5 different products, all of them custom design related and I’m not really sure what the most effective way to highlight them is.
Most of the conversion pages I’ve found focus on selling a single product or funnelling to a mailing list. How would I sell a product with multiple options?
Have you thought about testing just selling 1 product with 1 option?
Or if it is just 1 product with multiple options, have them select that one product and then let them pick the options?
Goal is to reduce as many options as possible for people.
Hi Neil:
My dad and me write great content. We’d like to start a blog, but our knowledge in driving traffic, doing these testing stuff and monetizing the blog is 0.
I don’t know if you can help us, because the blog would be written in spanish. If you can’t, could you please recommend someone who can?
I wrote you like a month ago and you recommended http://www.audiencebloom.com, but they never answered my emails.
I would try audiencebloom again. If they don’t respond, let me know.
well. Excellent tools. I think that every company should do these kinds of A/B testing so that they can see which page is converting more and which one has better conversion rate !
Thank you
Thanks, glad you think so.
Hey Neil, I impressed by your quality articles as well as with the obvious tips you give us. Thanks a lot man
Hey,
I think you have missed all the previous articles from Neil Sir,go back and have a read on them.I am sure that you will love them and will learn a lot from it.
Personnel Experience 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks Mohit!
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Have you considered testing out any link transparency? I’ll explain what exactly I mean; What I find really annoying with some of the sites is that they have the sign-up/buy/purchase links etc but there is no obvious way of telling where it is pointing to (i.e. the bar at the bottom of my browser doesn’t show the url when I move my cursor over the link). Now on websites that I already know, it’s not an issue because I know they aren’t going to link to some irrelevant nonsense, but when I come across unfamiliar sites, I’d like a bit of certainty that nothing “bad” will happen. Certain tech news/blogs already require that you say what you are linking to (url in brackets after keyword), but I guess that is more to do with spamming protection and the environment. Would be awesome to see something like this to pick up elsewhere though, in some form.
…or maybe I’m just way too paranoid.
I have not tested that, but I will test it out soon. 🙂
Adding the Free Keyword in Ads is just like a charm and we get the clicks which we are nor expecting. It really works at least with me and think it is working with others too. 🙂 🙂
Great, thanks for sharing how it has worked for you. 🙂
Great tips overall,but personally which I like the most is Express Checkout, as every one hates those long sign-up forms.
Yep, that is correct.
A lot of great tips, but I have to say the bonus tip is my favorite since I have not seen that one mentioned before.
Great, glad I could share something new with you.
Nice post Neil!
Peep over at ConversionXL just had a post talking about that Performable button color (#11). He pointed out that the green one probably didn’t convert as well since it was already a dominate color on the page (meaning the button didn’t stand out).
That’s why you test those things I guess 🙂
Oh, and that bonus tip is great—I’m gonna steal that one.
Go for it! 😉
Thanks for sharing, I will check it out.
Hi Neil,
This is a great article. I love the emphasis on testing.
One thing I’ve been wanting to do on my site is to test features that are contained within my WP theme. The problem is that Google Analytics forces you to test specific pages – it doesn’t offer the ability to switch elements of the theme on the same page. What can I use for my AB tests?
Optimizely maybe…
Did you got the positive feedback of your test ?
Which test? I do a lot…
Thanks Neil,
this list is brilliant we will be using your tips extensivley in our upcoming project!
Alex
Cool, let me know how it goes.
Good post.Let me see how it works.
Definitely, please come back and share.
The A/B testing is a great way to make website perfect for internet marketing and also build user friendly structure. Neil, I have heard lots about your blogs and this is an impressive post. It always works while advertised as it includes creative concepts as per current user requirements. Thank you for your guidance.
Thank you, glad to hear you enjoyed this post.
We have done a/b testing with button colors and home page length, but I think that’s about it.. we should start doing more of them now and see how they perform.
Thanks Neil for this simple and smart post.
Good, it is always helpful to test all aspects of your site.
Thanks for great post. I ma goging to change my green buttons to the red one. 😉
Nice, let me know how it goes. 🙂
Love the laptop message idea – will try to market our product a similar way, perhaps a car window sticker. The key there is the simplicity – it’s not advertising a named company so it appears friendly / no hidden agenda.
Form fields is another simple no-brainer, what a good point!
And likewise, I’d been searching for free trials for marketing our villa – so I am exactly one of those customers right there, point proven.
Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for sharing what you found useful!
Hey Dave!
Glad you like it! Let me know if it worked for you, I’ve had a lot of success with this technique!
is it hurting your site rank from having your ‘signature’ linking to your homepage? Is there a way to change that so it randomly chooses a new page within your site every time?
It shouldn’t hurt your rankings.
You can have a developer code what you want… shouldn’t be too hard.
Great list of case study Neil…. Lucky for me did not miss this post… Like the laptop idea. very sure to try it.. The thing is we does not have to be perfect to start something.. but we must start something to be perfect.. experience will perfect us .. 🙂
Yep, you have got it!
Hi Neil
I was wondering what your position was on a/b testing for email versus multivariate testing. Which would be more useful in what situation?
I would use A/B testing. I am not sure how you would multivariate test.
I thought it will be only related to testing UI component, but the concept of having free trial, particularly 14 day, just blew me away. I have a quality software and giving it free trial will only increase sales.
Bright tip 🙂
Thanks
Jay Venka
Glad you found this post helpful Jay. Let me know how the free trial works out for you. 🙂
This is really an excellent post. Could help both newbies as well as pro bloggers who are struggling to get some attention. Thanks again for posting this!!
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Hi,
This is such a great article! I like those tips, all of them but.I can’t wait to try a split test with a Money Back Guarantee.
Thanks!
Thanks Kent,
Happy to hear you found these tips helpful.
Best of luck!
Free trial versus money back guarantee is one of the best of them!
Thanks, glad you think so.
Neil, its so generous of you to share these experiences in this post. We have new inspiration for the testing that we are about to start.
Quick question to Neil and any commenters:
“As a newbie, what are the basic mistakes most newbies make in AB testing? What things do we have to do to avoid these mistakes?”
Any comments or links to resources or books is appreciated.
great post, very informative. I wonder why the other specialists of this sector do not
understand this. You should continue your writing.
I’m sure, you’ve a great readers’ base already!
Thanks for reading. Glad it provided some help..
Great Article Neil!
I think that the test about the red and green button was interesting, but wasn’t too profound. While it’s true that humans feel different emotions and act different ways based on colors, I do think that color hierarchy is the real reason that test was so successful.
The color green is seen in multiple places on the page so a green button does not stand out. The red button on the other hand, sticks out like a sore thumb; it’s impossible for the user not to notice it.
A test I would like to see is how different colors besides green fared against red.
Mark, definitely. Thanks for reading!
Hi Neil,
Great post, I really like the laptop cover! 🙂
Also, I wnated to ask you what WP plugin you use for your CTA at the end of every blog and what plugin do you use for the right sidebar?
Cheers! 🙂
CK, shoot me an email so we can discuss ..
#12 is great. I’m wanting to get into creating software, but I’m not sure where to get started in terms of the niche/vertical. An excuse, I know, but still a roadblock for me nonetheless.
What I like about #12 the most is not so much that it can bring in new customers, but I bet it could be great for generating ideas. Even if the person that asks about your abilities doesn’t present you with an idea, the conversation could very well end up there, or maybe lead you to a friend or co-worker of theirs that might.
Matt, these are some great additional points. Thanks for reading 🙂
A pretty naive question – how do you control for the other variables in an A/B test? If I run the same test say in Winter vs. summer or during the holiday season vs. spring break….. how would I explain the difference in conversions? Or is it immaterial because you do the test to act on it now?
You don’t worry about seasonality… those are external variables that are hard to control.
Just focus on changing one element at a time on your site.
You are correct, tests are made to act immediately. However, there are other cases where you would have to account for variables like you mentioned.
Which test? 🙂
Excellent post, I’m gonna do this #3 Signup button make sure see how it works. Nice tips as usual do Neil.
Katharine, thanks for reading 🙂
Neil, great article, but since I got here some minutes ago I’ve been exposed to no less than three popovers. I’m a patient man, but I’d say that’s a bit of an overkill.
I agree with you!
Daniel, I’ll see what I can do to remedy that.
This is really helpful I really like this very much. Thanks for this!
Pawan, glad you enjoyed the post 🙂
Yeas it is really helpful i agree with you.
Well, really thanks for this nice post!
Prabhat, glad I could help 🙂
Hello Neil, awesome post again, but for the tests you have been very patient.
The best idea is an explainer video, but it is a lot of to do.
Peter, true. However, it will bring the greatest reward 🙂
Thanks Neil for such useful tips. I’m gonna try a few of them in my blog and let me watch the results 🙂
Priyanka, glad I could help. Please let me know how it all turns out 🙂
Well, I really, think so that doing A/B Test is beneficial. Thanks for this post!
Prakash, I think A/B testing is essential if you really want to push the needle. Thanks for the feedback 🙂
Thanks for this really nice post. Yes performing this test is surely beneficial!
Karan, glad you found the post helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback 🙂
Thanks for finally talking about >11 Obvious A/B Tests You Should Try <Loved it!
Glad you found it helpful. Thanks for reading!
If you are looking to squeeze more dollars out of your existing traffic, you need to start running A/B tests. If you have at least 10,000 monthly visitors, you should consider running 1 new A/B every other month,
Kishore, that is 100% correct. A/B testing is a sure fire way to get things done.
Yea i would second that Kishore
really nice article. it’s really helpful and informative.
This is really helpful!!
Thanks Neil, I’m gonna try these tests in my blog and let me watch the results.
Shady, please keep me posted on your results.
I am also waittng out for to hear your result and i think I have also to make some changes and make full use of my traffic.
Great honor for me Neil 🙂
Thank you so much for your interest.
If you’re trying to squash a lot more money through your present visitors, you have to start off operating A/B assessments. For those who have at least 10, 000 month-to-month site visitors, you should look at operating 1 brand new A/B some other calendar month.That’s great news!! Thanks for that and just in time for my October upgrade.
Harsh, thanks for sharing these great tips. Much appreciated 🙂
it’s really helpful and nice article.
It is very important to develop strategies before initiating any work. You have described quite good strategies. I’ll definitely try the same.
Nikita, let me know if you need any help along the way 🙂
I will be doing this for sure. I am in love with your blog!! What an amazing personality you have sir.
Mujtaba, thanks for the kind words of support 🙂
If you’re trying to lead capture pages a lot more dollars via your overall visitors, you will need to begin operating A/B checks. Should you have at the very least 10, 000 month-to-month website visitors, you must think of operating 1 new A/B another thirty day period. Thanks for sharing 😀
Andy, glad I could help 🙂
Hello Neil,
Among these A/B test, is there a test that you can recommends firstly that we can start with that. I’m talking about the test that we MUST absolutely to do (if this is exist)
Fred.
Fredy, I am not sure of your question. Can you clarify?
And that comes out that quite a few games free times. I
don’t know how to market a game. On the other free adventure, car racing, zombie, stick and buttons, manipulating
their joysticks and other hit television programs. It makes you
feel have cheated you while playing poker at casinos these days now offers a free-to-play title.
Next, you will need to enter this command to enable the server components to find the libraries required to
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Good post and one that I will be sharing. I’d still change the You’re to your though 😉
I guess, it all comes down to trail and error with copy and never a goal that’s 100% finished these days.
Jetta, thanks for the heads up. I’ll get that fixed.
Have you ever considered about including a little bit
more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and all.
However just imagine if you added some great pictures or videos to give your posts more,
“pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and video clips,
this site could definitely be one of the most beneficial in its field.
Great blog!
I know, it’s an “old” article, but read it anyway. 🙂 Your test #11 about the button color though is -kind of- obvious. If you look at their page, you see that they have green on their page, so therefore a green button isn’t standing out. A red one stands out though.. and therefore is a great call-to-action. More so than say blue… just because the red button also speaks ‘urgency’…
Exactly, it’s all about capturing their attention. Some would even say to use a color that you don’t have on the page at all.