Scenario: You’ve recently launched a sales page for a new product, but it isn’t converting as well as you’d hoped. You’re getting a lot of traffic thanks to solid PPC ad campaigns and good search rankings, but fewer people than you expected are buying.
The question is: why?
When you think you’ve done everything right – a great design, professional copy, and competitive pricing – and things still aren’t working, what can you do?
The fastest way to get insights into what is (or isn’t) driving the right user behavior is to conduct A/B testing. It’s relatively easy, allows you to systematically test key areas of a webpage, and gets you quickly iterating new versions that perform better. Quick iteration is important when every non-converting customer hurts your bottom line.
What is A/B testing?
A/B and split testing is the process of systematically looking at whether specific variables affect user behavior.
The concept has its foundations in direct marketing. But A/B testing has quickly been adopted as a way to more effectively guide customers, subscribers, and website visitors to take specific actions on websites, email marketing, and social media.
With an A/B test, you take a single variable and produce two different versions. For example, you might try two versions of a headline:
- Example 1: “Experience true comfort with custom fit insoles.”
- Example 2: “Experience less pain with custom fit insoles.”
Or you could try changing the color of your email subscribe box. The text and positioning are the same. But in one version, the box is blue and in the other it’s red.
As visitors come to your site, they are served up different versions of the page. You might learn in the example above that 5% of your visitors buy your custom fit insoles when the headline emphasizes ‘true comfort,’ while only 2% buy when the headline offers ‘less pain.’ You can then use the most effective copy in your campaigns.
The big takeaway for A/B testing is to change one thing at a time. Once you see how that changes impact performance, you can test other variables in conjunction to keep developing a better product.
Where can I apply A/B testing to get the fastest results?
Every element on a page can be tested for performance, and highly optimized campaigns continually refine over time. A culture of constant testing can increase your profits, subscribers, and repeat visitors significantly. But a number of factors can easily be tested in a short period of time, and are logical places to start when you know something isn’t working but you aren’t sure what.
1. Headlines
Whether the subject in an email message or the headline on your landing page, these need to be attention grabbers. Research shows that more than 80% of searches are people seeking information, and as they click through web sites they are following an “information scent.” Is your current headline interesting? Does it relate directly to the needs of the people landing on your page? Does it use target keywords and promise benefits relevant to your audience?
2. Call to Action
Is your call to action clear? Is it repeated throughout the page? Does it visually stand out? You can test wording, positioning, visual elements, color, size, and more of your calls to action. Start with just one variable – such as the wording, color, and placement of your “order now” or equivalent button. (You DO have a call to action button, right?)
3. Trust Signals
Do you have a Better Business Bureau rating? Display it. Do you offer a money back guarantee, or a return policy? Do your products come with a warranty? How about shipping insurance? Do you use a secure payment method? Are all these signals easily visible and simple to understand? In the online landscape, trust is key and the more ways you tell users you are trustworthy, the better. Different signals have different levels of effectiveness…..so test, test, test.
4. Visual Elements
Do you have a screen shot or image early on? Try removing it, replacing it, or adding one in. Change the positioning of images. Experiment with colors of headlines, background, and key blocks of text. Try adding more white space, or less, to the overall page design.
5. Pricing
Do your prices end in .00 or .99? Are prices high or low relative to the market? Adjusting your pricing strategy, how it’s displayed, and details as small as the numbers prices end in can influence buying habits. Are you offering a sale price, relative to a higher price point? Is that clearly displayed? Experiment with price and see how it impacts the way people take action.
Last modified: July 12, 2025