Keep Testing – It’s The Key To Web Site Success

by Brendon on July 4, 2005

On one of our web sites we have a 3.2% sales conversion – that is for every 100 visitors 3.2 buy (I’m not sure, but I think the .2 person must be really, really small??).
When we test new things we generally only make one change at a time. If we made more, and the changes impact, we’d never be sure what made the difference.
How we test that site is very basic AB testing. The site converts 3.2%. We try and beat that.
We Try One Thing
We try one thing – if after a set period of time (we measure by visitor numbers rather than time) the conversion rate drops to 2.9% we’ll know to change back to what we had.
But if the site conversion increases to 3.5%, this is our new benchmark page and we’ll keep it as is. Then we’ll try and beat it.
The Aspect That Always Has The Biggest Impact On Sales
The aspect that always has the biggest impact on sales is the headline. The heading. The big, bold words at the top.
Just yesterday I changed the headline on one of the sites we manage. Already the conversion rate looks like it will jump a good 10% (from 4% to 4.4%).
That’s a significant jump.
Keep testing, testing, testing your site so you can gather the information you need to make effective decisions.
Brendon

Previous post:

Next post: