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Back to the basics: What is a conversion rate?

Your basic conversion rate is equal to the total number of visitors your site receives

during a specific time period divided by the total number of conversions for that same

time period. So, if you receive 100,000 visitors in one month and you get 1000 orders

in that month, then your conversion rate is = 1000/100,000 = 1%

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A/B Testing: A/B tests allow you to test two versions (or more) of the page against

each other to see which one works best. If you are testing 3 different versions of a page,

then you are conducting an A/B/C test and so on. A/B tests are especially useful

because they allow you to test major design decisions by placing two or three

completely different designs against each other to find out which one resonates best

with your visitors. Of course, the downside is you can’t pinpoint the elements that

persuaded more visitors to convert.

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Multivariate tests (MVT) allow you to test multiple elements of a page at the same

time. So you are able to test different headlines, different images, or different colors on

a single page. You can always think of A/B tests as a simplified version of multivariate

tests. The beauty of multivariate tests is the agility it provides with testing multiple

elements and distinguishing which combination of elements persuaded users to

convert.

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Steps to designing your first A/B and multivariate test

1. We determine the testing scenario:

a. What are the business goals?

b. What is the best strategy to test that goal?

c. What page(s) are you going to test?

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2. Are you going to conduct an A/B or Multivariate test? In most cases: A/B

tests are a little easier to conduct, require less time and are used to test major design

decisions. A/B tests may be a better options when there are fewer visitors to the tested

page. Multivariate tests can be more complex, will test many variations of a page and

will take longer to conclude. Multivariate tests are the better option when you are

getting enough traffic to the tested page.

3. How many visitors does the test page receive and what is its conversion

rate? This will impact how long it will take to run the test. The more visitors, the faster

the test will be. The less conversions (conversions meaning the goal you have set for the

visitors to complete at the end of the test: conversion page can vary depending on the

goal you want to achieve), the longer the test will take.
4. What elements do you think will impact visitors converting? Images, the

copy, the offer, the headline, the layout, Call to action buttons.

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5. Guidelines to setup the test for specific pages:

 If your checkout abandonment rate is more than 60% then start with the

checkout process

 If your website abandonment rate more than 70%, then consider website

navigation and categorization

 If your home page bounce rate is more than 50% then consider starting with the

main home page

 If your conversion rate is less than 40%, then there is room for improvements.

 Review the analytics. What pages have high bounce rates? Identify a few changes

to them and see if you can fix the problem.

6. What are we looking for?

 Home page conversion: When a visitor is on the main home page of the site

and they do not leave your website, the main home page did its job and kept the

visitor on the site

 Home Page Before

 Home Page After

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 Product page conversion: When a visitor to your product page clicks on an

“add to cart button,” then a product page conversion takes place.

Image Credit: http://Elliance.com

 Micro Vs. Macro conversion: Home page conversions, catalog pages

conversions, and product page conversions are considered micros conversions.

Micro conversion can take place at every page of your site. Macro conversions

usually take place when a visitor places an order with your website.

o Micro Vs. Macro testing: Not every test should have the order

confirmation as the goal. If you’re testing a site wide change such as new

navigation, a new header or a new tag line, you should consider using the

cart page as the conversion page. If you’re testing the first step of the

checkout process, then consider setting the 2nd page of the checkout as your

conversion page.

o Run the same test twice with different conversion pages: Running

the same test scenario with different conversion pages can be very telling.

You might be surprised that a combination that works well for a micro

conversion performs poorly for a macro conversion.

 Site wide testing

o Your tag line can make a difference. A good tag line that

communicates your value proposition will have an impact on your

conversion rate. Test different tag lines to see which resonates best with

your customers. A word about tag lines: think of something unique about

your business. Rarely does customer service or lower price make for a good

headline.

o The navigation. Too many ecommerce stores fail to pay attention to

navigation. Even worse, too many commerce stores let their technical

teams and engineers decide on the site navigation.

o Testimonials: Never underestimate the power of a strong, credible

testimonial, but be sure they are concise and on point. Testimonials are

easy to figure out when it comes to B2B sites. They are more challenging

when it comes to B2C ecommerce stores.

o Test placement of testimonials: Main home page, checkout process,

maybe even a fan club section on your site.

 o More elements to build credibility. Establish your credibility and

build trust by using positive media coverage, industry certifications,

awards, BBB memberships and standards compliances – anything that a

customer would recognize as being characteristic of a reliable organization.

Image Credit: http://Elliance.com

o Test the location of the authority & trust seals

o Test if authority seals help your site in the first place: Contrary to

the common wisdom that authority seals will help you increase your

conversion rates, we had cases were introducing these seals reduced the

conversion rate! Moral of the story? Find what works for your site.

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 Main home page testing: What is the conversion goal? A well-designed home

page will convince visitors to stay on the site.

o The main image: Many ecommerce stores use a large image on their

main homepage. This is very valuable real estate on your website, so pay

close attention to your main homepage analytics data. What’s your bounce

rate for the page? Does this image support your value proposition? How

many people are scrolling down to the links?

o Getting too creative with main page image can backfire: If you

have to explain how this image relates to your products or offering, then

there is a good chance many of your visitors are not able to connect with

that image. The image could be very clever, but that doesn’t mean that your

users are going to use the same analysis to figure how image and company

are related. Users land on the site and expect to see something in particular,

if they are surprised by an “unrelated” image (in their mind), they will click

out. You have a few seconds to convince users that they landed on the right

page.
o What image works best? No matter how much you love your image,

testing will show you that many visitors tend to ignore this image and the

messaging you use in it.

o Your headline: Do not just place an image on the main page without any

messaging or headline. Take the winning image from your test above and

try different headlines with it and see what works and what does not. When

creating these headlines, consider the following:

 Create headlines that appeal to the aggressive personality

types: these visitors are asking: What can you do for me? Why

should I choose you over your competitors?

 Create headlines that appeal to the spontaneous personality

types: These visitors are asking: I know what I am looking for, how

can I place my order quickly?

 Create headlines that appeal to the caring personality types:

these visitors are asking: who else ordered from your site? How

satisfied were they with your service?

 o Do lists will resonate with your visitors & if so what type?

o Test the placement of lists on the site. Should they be located in the

middle section of the main home age, left or right navigation? When

testing with any of these lists, examine the impact on including an item on

these lists and the increase in sales that item reports.

 Copy. Little attention many times is paid to copy. It an important element to

consider testing, because besides the copy’s impact on your search engine

ranking, some of your visitors will actually take the time to scroll through the

main page and read every word of the copy.

o Install some heatmap software and notice how many of your visitors are

actually scrolling all the way down.

o Create visitor focused copy and place it in the middle of the page.

o Test the main page with copy vs. the main page without copy and see if

there is any impact on your conversion rate.

 Navigation Before you change the navigation, examine how minor tweaks can

impact your conversions

o The way navigation is grouped on the site will impact conversion. Test to

see if different navigation grouping will impact your conversion

o Even easier is to test the labels use in navigation. Your navigation may be

excellent but visitors using different words to describe category. A usability

test can do wonders to gauge wording users are familiar with.

 Category pages

o Product display Category pages are designed as funnel pages. They

funnel traffic to product pages. When was the last time you clicked on “add

to cart” from a category page? You will most likely navigate to the product

page, read product reviews and then maybe add a product to your cart.

Testing scenarios:

 Test those add to cart button in the category pages.

 How many products should you display on a product page? Examine

your analytics, are most visitors navigating to the 2nd and 3rd page of a

category page? Consider displaying more products on the 1st page!

  Filtration options. What features are most important to your visitors? How do

they shop for a particular product?

o Test with different filtration options

 Price

 Best sellers

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To learn more about Lori R Taylor, please go to http://lorirtaylor.com

Or check out her company website at http://revmediamarketing.com
Or you can connect with her at Twitter and Facebook…
http://twitter.com/lorirtaylor http://facebook.com/lorirtaylor