MixRank Ideas on Testing your Landing Page

In this webinar hosted by Convert Academy, we have Jana Fung discuss the scientific method behind conversion optimization. Jana is the marketing manager at MixRank, a leading competitive intelligence tool for online display advertising, wherein with the world’s largest database of ads, traffic sources and landing pages. they analyze millions of ads daily to identify patterns from your competitors’ advertising strategy, campaign structure, and content.

Method of Inquiry

One of the topic tackled in the webinar dealt with the the methodology of conversion optimization. When we talk about scientific methodology, we often have:

1. Formulation of a question
2. Hypothesis
3. Prediction
4. Testing
5. Analysis

This process is also applied in conversion optimization. During optimization, we often make several tests to make something as fully functional and effective. And to continuously improve our conversion rates, we usually implement tests after a certain period of time.

We often rely on our landing pages when we talk about conversion rates. Landing pages are often linked to from social media, email campaigns, or search engine marketing campaigns in order to enhance the effectiveness of our advertisements. The general goal of a landing page is to convert site visitors into sales or leads. What are the tests we need to do to improve our landing page conversion rates?

Four Types of Landing Page Test

There are different kinds of landing pages tests that inquires into to the specific aspects of a website. While each landing page test serves its purpose, all of these tests are done to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

1. Template Variation Test
2. Usability Test
3. A/B Test or Split Test
4. Multivariate Test

1. Template Variation Test

This allows you to test multiple pages with a different look across your entire site. The copy can remain the same but the color may have a different scheme, or the placement and sizes of the images differ between the different templates. This test could be implemented by ‘cookie-ing’ the visitor to ensure that the same visitor sees the same template no matter what landing page they are visiting on your site.

2. Usability Test

This test uses eye-tracking technology to measure how a visitor views and takes in the presentation of the information in your landing page.

3. A/B Test or Split Test

This involves two versions of landing page with only one differing variable. Whether that’s the headline, the number of fields in a form, the call to action size, or anything you want to test; only one differing variable is tested. This type of tests does not require any eye-tracking or cookie technology to measure the results, but rather just a simple analytics package to see which version of the landing page receives more conversion.

4. Multivariate Test

This test is similar to A/B test and could also be measured with a web analytics tool as well. The only difference is that, in multivariate test, you can conduct many experiments simultaneously. You can test multiple versions of a landing page with multiple combinations of different variables rather than just two versions of landing page.

* For the purpose of this topic and it’s following articles, the strategies that we are going to discuss will be geared towards Split Test and Multivariate Test.

Split Test and Multivariate Test are more often used when we try to increase our conversion rate. But,  which test should we use? According to Neil Patel article, both are important in raising your conversion rate – but one is not better than the other.

“It’s important to understand the differences between these tests as they can give you numbers that are all over the map – and to the untrained eye, all that data can seem overwhelming.”

The Importance of a Landing Page Test

The main reason why marketers test their landing pages is that their conversion rate isn’t at 100%. There is always a percentage of visitors that fail to convert on a landing page, and that means there is always a room to improve.

Unfortunately, there are no definitive guides that will tell you what versions will perform better. All they can do is to perform experiments to see what factors are impeding our conversions. This is the scientific method behind conversion optimization. These experiments are conducted to increase conversion that are quite synonymous with science experiments that we conducted in school. In a science experiment, we test what variables would cause a variable to grow faster. This type of test is similar to what marketers are trying to test with their landing pages. Try to identify what factors would drive more conversions and a higher overall conversion rate.

You can also always assume what variables can affect your conversion rates. However,

[Tweet “in conversion optimization marketing, assumptions are worthless and cannot be trusted until they are fully tested”]

The reason we need to test a landing page is so that we can make assumptions on what can drive more conversion and figure out which assumptions are true.

A landing page can help you uncover what reasoning is better with your audience. Testing a landing page should only have one goal – to be well optimized for conversion. If you want to learn more about the webinar, you can view the entire presentation here.