The other day I wrote about Email Split Testing as part of a post. A few questions came in asking for more information about split testing in general, so I am happy to share the 3 most important things to split test.
I am sure that if you ask 5 people what is more important, you will probably get 4 or 5 different answers. Just keep in mind that there are never any hard and fast rules on what HAS to be done. After all, depending on your niche and your audience, your mileage may vary!
If you read the previous post, you saw that a question that was asked in the comments was,
What are the most critical aspects of your sales page that you should split test first?
What changes could you make to your website that would have the most immediate and significant impact?
There are three primary things to split test, in this order:
- Price/offer,
- The headline, and,
- The sales letter’s overall tone.
Each of these items can be tested individually to see which produces the best results. Don’t try to go and test more than one things at a time; just go with an A/B split. This means that you are only testing on3 change at a time. There is something called multi0variant testing, but it gets much more complicated.
Price and Offer
The most important thing you could split test is the price. Along the same lines, your offer can also make a big difference on your bottom line.
More than even the headline, price will determine whether or not someone buys. No matter how good you are at price justification, people won’t buy if your product is priced too high. On the other hand, if you’re under charging then you’re leaving money on the table.
The offer can often be just as important. For example, if you’re selling a $500 product, one thing you could definitely split test is splitting up the payments by 5 months or even 10 months. Lowering the barrier to entry could as much as double your conversions.
Start your split testing with the price and the offer, then move on to other factors.
Headline (and Everything Else above the Fold)
The headline comes next. More accurately, everything that comes above the fold, starting with but not limited to the headline.
Try split testing several completely different headlines first. Once you’ve split tested at least five drastically different headlines, take the best one and start testing its specific wordings, fonts and punctuation to get the best results.
Also split test the images people see above the fold. Gary Halbert once penned a credit card sales letter that didn’t convert at all until he found the right image – it then became a blockbuster campaign.
An image can make a huge difference when used properly.
Other things to split test might include autoplay audio and autoplay video, along with design aspects and whether or not to put a navigation bar above the fold.
Overall Tone
Should you sell to someone based on the amazing benefits of your product? Or should you lead with the pain of the problem?
What kind of “tone” should your sales letter take? Should it feel like you are both sharing a problem and that you understand their pain? Should it sound more like a stern warning against potential future disaster?
Or should it sound more like a promise for a brighter future? Should it sound like a credible, scientific presentation for a chance to change your life?
Each of these approaches work for different products. Experiment with different tones and approaches to selling.
These are three of the most important things you could split test. Start with the price and the offer, then move on to the headline and finally the tone of the sales letter.
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