Avoid Jumping To Landing Page Conclusions

The other day I heard someone talking about an A/B landing page test they had just finished running. The two landing pages varied messaging. So design and layout was largely the same on both, but the messaging was different on each. And the person went on to say… (drum roll please)…“Now I know what messaging works, I can roll it out everywhere. Wow! Landing page testing is so cool.”

Yes, landing page testing is so cool! But it took all my willpower not to jump into the middle of the conversation and put the brakes on things (Technically I was eavesdropping, so I couldn’t insert myself into the conversation, now could I?). 

One landing page test doesn’t make for a rule. It makes for a win. If you test something and there is a clear winner and you think you know why the winner won, please don’t jump to conclusions that it will work everywhere. A landing page is isolated—it’s not a cross media, cross contextual experience. Instead of rolling out a winner everywhere, you can roll the winner out in waves. In the case of the guy I was eavesdropping on, he could take his winning messaging and try it in a test somewhere else, and then somewhere else, and then somewhere else again. Building the case for the winning messaging along the way, possibly even learning more and making it better! 

I like to dive head first into landing page testing. And then I like to take winning elements and methodically test them out in a broader context. I hope that’s the way you like to do it too!