The Single Best
Way To Boost Sales On Your Site - Forever
Copyright (c)2003 Steve Shaw
Imagine if you could put something on your web site that
you know will multiply your sales and boost your profits.
Imagine if you could adjust your web site in a way that
you know will maximize the amount of visitors you can
convert to subscribers.
And you can do all of this, and carry on doing it, without
any shadow of a doubt in your mind that what you are doing
is of benefit to your business.
This article details exactly what you can do to achieve
this - and although it really is remarkably simple, so few
people are actually taking advantage of it.
So what's the secret?
It's the very simple technique known as split-testing.
This term refers to the method by which you display a
different version of a web page (such as a sales page) to
different visitors, and then measure which version of the
page pulls the greatest response.
For example, let's say you have two versions of your sales
page, your current page, Page A, and a new page you want to
test, Page B. Both pages simply display a different
headline, and you want to measure which headline brings you
the best results.
So you put both pages up on your site, and show each one
alternatively to each visitor. Visitor A will see Page A,
Visitor B will see page B, Visitor C will see Page A, and
so on.
You wait until you have say 20 sales from both these pages
combined. Then you examine your stats to see which page
pulled the most sales. Let's say Page A pulled 7 sales,
whereas Page B with the different headline pulled 13 sales.
You then know, without a shadow of a doubt, that putting
Page B up on your site, and removing Page A, is going to
massively multiply your sales - in fact, if you do the
math, by about 86%.
If the result is less clear cut, you can simply wait until
you have got more results in, and a clear and consistent
leader emerges.
So how do you go about implementing split-testing on your
site?
There are two distinct elements in the process:
* Firstly, showing the separate versions of the page to
different visitors
* Secondly, knowing which version pulled which response
There are also two different ways of implementing the
former:
* Show a completely different web page, i.e. a different
URL, to different visitors
* Show the same web page, or URL, but with one or more
elements on the page changed
You may choose to just change one or two elements on the
page, or you may wish to present a completely different web
page to test out a new approach.
Get's complicated, doesn't it?
Well it's not really - it all depends on exactly what you
want to achieve.
You may believe a new headline would improve your sales
levels - so all you do is test out that headline to see if
it really does work as you have expected.
There is of course far more than just the headline that
you might want to test out - you may want to test whether
one testimonial would do better in a different position, or
a reworded first paragraph would pull in more sales, or a
photo of you in the top corner would improve results.
You can either do it intuitively, or scientifically. The
scientific method via split-testing is of course far
superior, as you are directing your business based on real
results, rather than often-misguided emotion.
But doesn't it get rather...technical?
It can do - but it certainly doesn't have to be.
There's a script available at splittestgenerator.com
that's currently completely free, and is designed
especially for non-techies.
There are numerous other scripts available elsewhere too.
And if you know about server-side programming, or can hire
a programmer who does, it's easy enough to implement split-
testing on your site using most web-based languages like
PHP, ASP or Perl.
And if you're in any doubt about whether you should be
split-testing, then you must also be in doubt about the
future of your ebusiness. As Declan Dunn has so clearly
stated, "There are two types of companies; those who test,
and those who lose money." Which category do you fall into?
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Steve Shaw runs ListInferno.com, the free list-building
service that can add thousands of 100% opt'in leads to your
list every month. Start adding thousands of subscribers to
your list today at http://ListInferno.com - sign up is
completely free.
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