LPO Tips: Testing

Landing page testing and optimization is an essential part of a successful marketing program. It is a key ingredient that can drive increased conversions, engagement, and ultimately revenue. In the real-world, however, it’s an often neglected strategy due to resources or experience. Don’t worry, though, landing page testing doesn’t have to be hard.

First off, you must start your tests by aligning your landing page testing objectives with your overall marketing strategy. Then, you can determine your desired outcome. “What is a potential testing outcome?” Great question! It could range from higher conversion rates, a better understanding of your target segments, or exposing new opportunities.

Once you have determined your desired outcomes, plan. You must have a testing strategy!  Plan out your next series of tests, such as page elements, sources, next steps, and even types of tests.

“Wait, there are different kinds of tests?” Of course there are! Ranging from single page or no testing, to MVT (multivariate testing ) you will be able to test everything from page versions, targeted messaging, copy, call to actions, page elements and more!

Before you get started testing, be sure you take a close look at your website analytics. Things like time on site, top-preforming pages, paid search campaign results and top-preforming ad groups would be a good place to start. Also, take a deep dive into your marketing collateral, imagery/ brand standards, and testimonials from your sales team. Once you have dug through the existing data, you should be able to extract actionable insights.

“Looks this test is winning!” Wait! Although it’s tempting to declare a winner right away, wait for statistical confidence before you start diverting traffic to one particular page. Follow these simple steps to ensure you are not missing out on valuable information and conversions:

–Monitor your landing pages for immediate campaign performance insights.

–Wait until your tests achieve statistical significance. A test result is typically statistically significant if the results are unlikely to have occurred by chance.

–Allocate your traffic to winning pages and reap the benefits of higher conversion rates.

A good tip to remember is that online testing is cyclical: it’s done in a wave pattern consisting of innovations and iterations. The image below is a simple guide to online testing.

“I have been testing my pages for what seems like a really long time…?” Beware of the “never-ending test!” Testing too many alternatives at once can result in extremely long and rather unproductive test cycles. Consider the amount of traffic that you are sending to your landing pages. The higher the traffic volume, the faster you can reach significance. Traffic volume also plays the role of a moderator for the type of testing you choose. Another tip to always be conscience of is testing many different page elements at once requires a multivariate test with a higher traffic volume.

On that note, it is a good time to mention that it is very important to isolate your results. Only compare those results that came from the same source at the same time. Isolating your tests removes the possibility that confounding variables can skew your results and give you bad data.

“I love this landing page, and I know it will work forever!” Ehh, aways remember that landing pages are not only very flexible, but disposable. Today’s high-performer could be tomorrow’s passe’ page. Never stay married to one particular design, template, or style. Go for the landing page that offers the highest efficiency for your campaign. Winning is great, and victories are to be celebrated, but a testing failure is not a total disaster!

“What went wrong…no one converted…?” KEEP ON TESTING! Don’t let one or two disappointing results discourage you; learn from them and move on quickly. If you have reached a testing plateau, try to alter your segmentation strategy, change your segments all-together, switch the form-factor of your pages, or experiment with interactive content on your landing pages.