By testing various landing pages, you can figure out which version is the most effective in terms of converting new customers. This process helps to ensure that you are always making the best sales pitch possible.
But how much effect can experimentation bring in?
- A simple color change for the CTA can increase opt-ins by 86% on the landing page.
- Switching from light to dark background without changing anything else can land 10% more conversions.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. You can improve your landing page conversions by implementing simple ideas.
These ideas did not just randomly appear.
It’s the result of a very targeted planned approach. Yes! Landing page testing and optimization.
Carefully crafting each aspect of your landing pages to perfectly match your target audience is a winning strategy.
That’s why we’ve compiled this blog. You will want to create a landing page testing strategy for your business after reading this.
What do we have in this blog for you?
- Ideas on what to test on your landing page.
- Case studies of big and small businesses that successfully implemented landing page tests to achieve great results.
Let’s start with the basics first.
What is Landing Page Testing?
The focus of landing page testing is to identify which elements of the page are most effective in converting users or getting them to sign up. By testing different versions of the page and measuring the results, you can identify which elements are most effective and adjust the page accordingly.
The following is a multi-step approach for continuously improving landing page optimization by changing small elements without redesigning the entire page in one go.
Here’s what a typical landing page testing process looks like:
- Using customer and analytics data to identify which elements need to be improved on the landing page.
- Building a clear hypothesis to showcase what needs to be changed in the elements like color, text, position, etc.
- Creating an altered landing page version called variation with the proposed changes in the elements.
- Setting up clear goals to measure the performance of variation and original page.
- Running the landing page test.
- Segmenting and analyzing the data to declare the winner of the test.
- Deploying the solution.
Even if the tests do not produce the desired outcome, the data collected can be used to improve future testing.
Types of Landing Page Testing
There are three different techniques that can be used in order to test the effectiveness of landing pages. These techniques are experimentation, A/B testing, and multivariate testing. Each technique offers different testing opportunities and methods. Let’s quickly go through each of them:
1. A/B Testing or Split Testing
Testing one page element at a time is what A/B testing lets you do. You can create multiple variations of the same element. There are slight variations in color, text, size, orientation, etc. on each page.
The original page is called the control, and the altered version is called the variation.
One of the most used optimization methods for landing pages is A/B testing, which is relatively simpler to set up than other methods.
2. Multivariate Landing Page Testing
Multivariate testing is a type of testing that allows you to test multiple elements at the same time. This allows for a more accurate understanding of how each element impacts conversions.
Which changes had a positive effect on the test results, and which ones did not? Since multivariate testing is more complicated than A/B testing, it requires more time and effort to set up and execute.
3. Split URL Testing or Redirection Testing
Every variation and control in Split URL testing is hosted on individual URLs. The traffic is divided between URLs during the test to measure the goals.
A/B testing is when two pages use the same URL, while split testing is when pages have different URLs. Because A/B split testing is only testing one element of the page, the changes you can test are more limited. In A/B split URL testing, you can only test one element on the page, so the changes you can make are more limited.
This method only measures the overall change in each page’s conversion rate and does not consider the impact of each individual element.
As long as the goals for each page remain the same, the entire page design can be updated.
How Important Is It to Test Your Landing Page?
Test, test, test, till you succeed!
Even though we changed the phrase, it’s still accurate. To create a landing page that is successful in converting potential customers, you need to build a strategy focused on experimentation.
It makes it easier to find the right audience for your page by taking the guesswork out of the equation.
Helps to Locate Unknown Issues
Even if you try to be careful, problems can still happen.
Your customers are aware of them, even if you’re not.
If these issues aren’t addressed, visitors may have a negative experience and may not be able to complete their desired actions.
Aligns Your Page’s Messaging With the Target Audience
Every landing page is created with a particular audience and goal in mind. In order for your website to be successful, it is important that your unique selling point and product offerings match what customers want to see.
The question is, how would you ensure it?
If the conversion rate of your landing page is low in comparison to the amount of traffic it receives, you might want to consider making changes to improve the page.
One reason people might stop using a product is that they can’t find what they’re looking for. The page source code and the actual content on the page mismatched.
Landing page testing can help you find the right combination of content, messaging, and call-to-action headlines to increase your conversion rate.
Lets You Optimize the Page Without Overhauling It
There are more than eight elements that go into making your landing page successful. (More on that in the next section)
This is a question – What can improve the conversions and engagement of visitors to the page?
Landing page testing can help you identify which individual elements are working and which need to be changed, without having to entirely overhaul the page.
The same approach allowed TruckersReport to increase the conversions on their landing page by 79% through six successive landing page tests:
- First Test – Switched to a shorter lead form to increase conversions by 13.56%.
- Second Test – Optimized the page heading to improve the conversion rate by 21.7%%
- Third Test – Removed a redundant step from the registration process to earn 21.7% more opt-ins.
The last three tests were conducted in order to improve the headline and change the page design. The new landing page had 79.2% more traffic than the original page.
Improves Conversion Rate
The goal of testing landing pages is to increase the number of potential customers and to make more sales. Regular testing of the website helps to ensure a positive customer experience. It helps to remove any extra or unnecessary steps that would prevent them from converting.
The CTA is more likely to be successful if the transition between clicking on the page source and browsing the information on the page is seamless.
Tips for performing the analysis
The analysis is simple- once you become aware of the need for clarity and relevance, it is easy to spot areas of the landing page that reduce these levels. However, asking yourself the following questions can be helpful:
- Does my landing page have a clear value proposition?
- Does it give the prospect a good reason to accept the offer?
- Does it make it clear to the prospects that they’ve come to a relevant page?
In my experience, the best way to increase clarity and relevance is to work with copy and images.
4 very effective techniques for finding out what to test on your landing page
1. Identify Sources of Friction
Friction is a psychological resistance people may feel towards a given element in the sales process, in this case, on the landing page. Friction is caused by things on the page that bother or confuse potential customers.
In every situation, friction is a bad thing that makes it more likely people will choose to leave your website instead of staying and converting. The more frictionless an experience is, the more likely someone is to accept an offer. I believe that reducing friction is a great opportunity to improve your website with minimal effort. A/B testing can help you identify areas where friction is causing problems for users and make changes to improve the experience.
Page length – too long / too short
A common problem with landing pages is that they contain too much content, making them too long.
More content on a page can actually make it easier to use by reducing friction. In other cases, adding content will increase friction. Confused yet? Don’t be, it’s pretty logical. If you have a complicated offer or you are asking for a lot of commitment from your prospect, you will probably need more content to make the prospect feel comfortable enough to accept your offer. And vice versa with more simple, lower scrutiny products.
Think about what your landing page is offering to customers. Is it a product or a service? From here hypothesize on whether you have might have too much or too little content on your landing page. This simple exercise should provide enough material for at least one test.
CTA placement – too high / too low
I often come across friction that is caused by CTA placement. The mistake here is not having a call-to-action. You need to have a CTA on the page, but it also needs to be in the right spot.
You can make it easier for users to take your desired action by making your CTA more visible and placing it prominently on the page, such as at the top. However, this is also not a given. The more complex your offer is and/or the more commitment you’re asking for, the longer you should wait to ask for the conversion.
When designing your landing page, think about what kind of product or offer you are pitching to your potential customers. Assuming your CTA is too high or too low on the landing page, try testing different placements to see which one causes the least amount of friction.
2. Ask Why, What, and How
If you want to get accurate answers, you need to ask the right questions. Asking what, why, and how in that order is a super effective way of getting the right answers to the question, “What should I test?”
I see a lot of marketers who focus on the ‘How’ too soon instead of taking the time to ask the other questions first. They approach landing page optimization by asking questions like, “How can I improve this landing page?” or “How can I make a better converting landing page?”
You can be misled by asking ‘How’ questions to soon and miss crucial steps. The goal of LPO is not to simply make your landing page look better, but to improve the way prospects make decisions on your page so that you can increase conversions. You need to understand what motivates your prospects and impacts their choices in order to optimize their decisions.
3. Perform an Analysis Focusing on Clarity and Relevance
Your potential customers’ decision-making process is likely to only take a few seconds, so a lack of clarity and relevance can kill conversions.
The longer it takes for customers to understand your offer and how it will benefit them, the more likely they are to go to your competitor’s website.
The more you can show your potential customer that your offer is valuable and relevant to what they need or want, the more likely they are to accept it.
The clarity of your landing page content is important in conveying the value of your offer and the details surrounding it.
The relevance of your product or service must align with the motivations and needs of your potential customers. Is your landing page relevant to what the user is looking for? Does it make it clear that they have landed on the right page? Is your landing page convincing potential customers that your offer is what they need?
4. Talk to your customers
Instead of spending a lot of time trying to guess what is in your customers’ minds, why not get the answers directly from them?
Many marketers overlook this technique because it is so obvious. Your customers have already decided to accept your offer. Your team members are your most valuable source of information.
Start Planning Your Next Landing Page Test Today!
Not everyone is cut out for landing page testing and it can be overwhelming for some people. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the number of variables and steps needed to set up landing page testing for your website, it might not be for you.
It’s true that you’ll have to put in a lot of work and use up a lot of resources to get good results on your first test.
Building a continuous landing page testing loop makes it easier to run successive tests.
Today, start using these tips to make the landing page that your users want.
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