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  • January 10

Lowering bounce rate and raising conversion rate – A/B split edition

AB split testing

Modern SEM practices suggest that lowering bounce rates and raising conversion rates are both key to putting giant smiley faces on your web revenue forecasts.  Rankings don’t mean much when your visitors bounce off to spend their money somewhere else.  Some  might argue that improving bounce rate and conversion rate is more about web analytics or even overall online marketing, but come on, we all know it’s more than that.

This is the fifth of a five part series detailing five major factors in boosting the effectiveness of your SEM. The first part, on boosting targeted traffic, can be found here. The second part, on identifying and directing visitor intent, can be found here. The third part, on usability, can be found here. The fourth part, on landing page optimization, can be found here.

A/B Split Testing

Testing your websites is a basic and effective way to make sure everything is “kosher.” A/B split testing, otherwise known as multivariate testing, can be an essential tool in optimizing your sites.

Many people are already familiar with the A/B split testing concept from PPC and are using Google Website Optimizer. The Google Website Optimizer tool is not limited to ads, however. You can test whatever pages you want no matter where the traffic comes from. Oh, those crafty Google geniuses! Now, let’s see what steps you can take to make sure you get straight As. Da dum dum.

1. Test – Obviously. Test several versions of a landing page using Google Website Optimizer or A/Bingo. Do this even if it’s a simple blog post, even if you are just requesting people join you on Twitter or another simple call to action.

2. Compare – Compare different call to action wordings on both buttons and page copy. Experiment to find the right match for your desired reaction. Then test to see the results. Don’t worry. It’s easier than it sounds. And even if it isn’t, hey, gotta work to make money, right?

3. Compare(Again) – This time focus on images. Input different images on to your pages, depending on who you want to attract and what you want the desired outcome to be. For example, old vs young people, men vs women, casual visitors vs experts etc. Then, you guessed it, test.

4. Change – Depending on various outcomes and what is seeming to attract visitors, and what isn’t, change up your approach. If a page feels too cluttered and removes too much white space, remove a badge or two. Delete images if they don’t add anything necessary. Simply liking something is not enough. It must do it’s job. Sometimes “killing your babies” is an essential part of the task of being a webmaster. Do what works best, not what pleases you most.

5. Test again – Keep the testing going. This is an ongoing process. Test at different times of the day, different times of the week, after posting, before posting, any combination you can think of. Pretty soon you’ll have it down to a science. You’ll know who comes when and more importantly, what they want. Their pocketbooks(Or Paypal accounts) will be putty in your hands.

And that’s it. We hope this five part series has put a few ideas in your head. Good luck, and remember, it’s not the end of the world. It’s just your livelihood. Wink wink.




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