Let’s dive into these no-test scenarios:

1. If you, or your team, is not willing to follow through with the results of the test.

In the past, we have ran test for different sized companies. One of these was a company with a mid-6-figure annual revenue. We ran a test that our entire testing team agreed was a relatively insignificant change to the aesthetic and user experience: we changed the background of the website. And so the test ran for two weeks until we received enough results to outline clearly that as a whole, users preferred version A. Resulting in a 2% increase in overall sales. Naturally we all assumed that this outcome would go live, we’d increase the companies profit by thousands in a few short weeks great! We just did not expect that our CMO would veto that option; even after taking a closer look at the statistics involved.

It was not a matter of opinion; it was simply facts at that point. But it didn’t matter, we had wasted resources and time into the test only to end up at the same starting point. Another test or project would have served us better.

If you find yourself in this situation, your company needs to re-evaluate who makes the final decisions regarding the look and feel of yourself. If any one is willing to let their opinion take precedence over facts and analysis, consider why you have placed them in that position.

2. Your content changes too often

If you have a rotator that changes daily, testing the UI or elements within that area will have severe limitations regarding the traffic required. To get good results in any test, we have to have a statically significant group of people seeing each of the content. In statistical surveys, poll takers often carefully select representatives of similar groups and interests to define a clear preference between the various groups. Given that everyone on the internet tends to be anonymous, we have to rely on much larger audiences to ensure that we have significant results.

Also, changing the content of the test midway through often pollutes the result. It’s acceptable if you change all variations at the same time, but we won’t know what’s the main driving force.

If you find yourself in this situation, you have to re-consider your on-page strategy. Are you trying to be busy for the sake of being busy? Are you promotion reaching the right audience? Could the efforts in creating those promotions be better served elsewhere?

3. It’s against your religion

I am not familiar with any religions that many be against statistical testing, but if that’s the case, you shouldn’t do it.

In all seriousness, testing is critical for every website. It’s often a crucial way to gain better conversion, improve customer retention and just gain insights into the behavior of your average user. Even if you were in any of the above situations, you have to be asking yourself why they are prohibitive to your testing, not just ignore them.

The post 3 Reason Why you Should Not be Testing first appeared on B2B Website Platform Developer - Bright Vessel.

1. Test the Merchandise on your homepage

First test the product you want to sell to a customer on your home page. Observe the merchandise that tends to drive conversion. Try to start with the ‘starters’. Pick up those items that frequently appear in the shopping cart or are present in the first line of a customer order. Now try testing these items against the items that your team may like to feature.

2. Design Matters

“20% off” against “10% off plus free shipping” sounds easy. It doesn’t require any assistance from other departments but the way it is presented to a customer should be tested.

3. Personalize according to customer demand

While testing merchandising strategies, it should be noted if the product being presented is in line with customer interests. Some people may buy cosmetics while others may buy men’s ties. That doesn’t mean that you have to offer each and everything. Make use of analytics and market the most popular products to attract customers.

4. Increase the product density

Testing imagery is easy, but testing product density could mean that you offer the customer more items on the homepage. In this way, the customer would be provided more opportunities to buy goods and ultimately give your brand more prospects to convert.

5. Try to test something different

Try testing something that your Creative Team may have made against something that they didn’t create. You may be asked by your Creative Team to test three different landing pages or designs they may have created. Try doing it as it’s a win-win situation.

If they were creative enough to prove themselves as experts, then you would know what role they play in the whole scenario.

6. Test on an Annual Basis

In most cases, measuring the performance of different strategies via the conversion rate is not always appropriate. According to an observation at Nordstrom, loyal customers used to purchase once a month and they used to visit the website thrice a month. That means in all the thirty-six visits, they purchased only twelve times. While if a strategy was implemented, the customer would have purchased eleven times out of the twenty-four times he visited. This way, the conversion rate improved but damaged the brand by nearly ten percent.

7. Don’t run after conversions, run after profit

Sometimes different strategies are applied to increase the company’s sales but it has a bad effect on the profit. We should instead focus our tests towards profits rather than conversion rates.

8. Test again and again

Strategies should be re-tested regardless of their statistical significance. If proved twice that a test gives the desired results, then the method could be significant in the long run.

The post Conversion Optimization Strategies first appeared on B2B Website Platform Developer - Bright Vessel.

The Numbers Game

ROI (Return on Investment) math seems more complicated than it really is. Some webmasters avoid the numbers and others hire someone to do the math for them. Let's look at how those numbers add up.

Investment = $1,000

Revenue= $3,000

ROI = 2

For every dollar spent you gained two. This is a good ROI, though there's much higher ROIs out there.

Creating Higher ROIs

If you have been seeing an good ROI based on your advertising efforts, it can be tempting to keep pushing the traffic creating advertisements. Bringing in more traffic means more sales, correct? Let's say that you increase your advertising budget and more people are now visiting. Your ROI may rise due to traffic alone.

Now, perhaps you notice that a good percentage of the traffic is visiting, but instead of converting the visitors vanish into the great beyond. This is called your 'bounce rate'. Here is where you'll spend time creating an optimized landing page. Paying for an optimized page is designed to recapture those lost visitors. If the landing page recaptures just 10% of bounced visitors, your ROI will go up another notch.

Landing Pages or Traffic?

Here is where the conversation can get tricky with some. Many recommend focusing on either traffic or landing page optimization. By putting all of your investment in one or the other you are essentially cutting away half of your ROI.

Think of traffic and landing page optimization as two parts to a whole. By driving traffic you are creating a flow of potential customers, but without the best landing page(s) for that traffic, you're going to lose many potential conversions. Essentially you need to invest in both, pay for traffic and landing pages to create the best outcome and ROI.

Ads and Landing Pages – How Many?
You will need an ad, landing page, and retargeting campaign for every 'ask' of your business. Are you asking people to buy a purse, try out a free trial, or sign up for your newsletter? Then those 'asks' will need their own campaign.

It may sound like overkill but think about this – businesses that have more landing pages have nearly 50% more traffic than businesses with only one (or a few) pages.

Optimizing those ads you have paid for is a waste of investments (time and money) when you do not optimize your pages. The same can be applied to investing in pages without investing in ads. Why waste time and money?

Be Consistent

Now that you're on the right track with using landing pages and ads as a single tool instead of one versus the other – be consistent. Make sure that your traffic can be funneled in the right direction. Use the same language to promote the content on your pages as in the ads that brought in the traffic. Don't change props or benefits between the two or your customers may get confused.

Never confuse your traffic, that's how customers are lost and also how a marketing campaign can be ignored by Google. Use consistent, honest information and you'll gain the trust of customers and Google.

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