Good data has a big mouth. That big mouth will tell you everything you wanted to know, information you didn’t think you needed, plus a little extra on top of that. And although the almost clairvoyant utility of good data can’t be overstated, numbers, graphs, and computers aren’t always right.
Keep a close relationship with data — but get comfortable with trial and error by playing with A/B testing when it comes to testing out a Call-To-Action message, abbreviated as a CTA, on your site.
Why is A/B testing important?
A/B testing, another term to store in your business intelligence jargon databank, is an experiment that tests at least two versions of an object — in this case, CTAs. The testing shows you which CTA is converting better with your site’s visitors and raising your chances for gaining more customers and sales.
There’s a number of CTA messages to choose from — you could encourage visitors to register for an upcoming event (“Click to register here!”), download a new eBook, or sign up for your newsletter.
We are using a content type in Optin Fire for our in post call to action widgets.
Inside of Optin Fire, first choose CTA template you want — maybe you want a simple, text-only CTA. Maybe you want to display the cover of your eBook in the CTA so you’ll choose a template that accommodates an image.
Type your message and modify the template colors, typefaces, dimensions and date range for your first CTA, and let your “A” CTA go live.
In Optin Fire, it’s as simple as just pressing one button to turn on the A/B test. Although certain A/B testing plugins allow for unlimited CTAs, sites with smaller traffic flow or site owners with limited A/B testing experience are encouraged to start with two CTAs or you can create A/B tests on popular posts and pages.
Time for the “B” CTA by testing out different variations of the “A” CTA. If “A” had a yellow backdrop, choose an alternative color for “B.” Tinker with various templates, images, headlines and differently-worded messages. Set the same date range as “A,” and air your second CTA. Below, we can even test various call to action types to see if which has a more positive effect on conversion rates.
Once two CTAs launch, head over to the front end of your site and refresh the page to watch your two CTAs in action — few clicks of the refresh button, and you should see both of your CTAs in action.
From here, you wait.
On the day you set to conclude your A/B testing, analyze how many times your CTAs appeared on your site and, successively, how many people were enticed enough by your CTAs to click on them.
An illuminating A/B test will have an obvious winner, but not everybody’s going to get so lucky. In either case, identify the most successful CTA and use it as the basis for a future round of A/B testing.
Optin Fire has a built in feature that lets you end tests and activate the winners right away so it helps you skip a few steps of analysis.
Remember as you continue to experiment with A/B testing that your findings won’t help if they aren’t recordered properly. Make a spreadsheet with columns for the tests you performed, the results you saw, and the decisions you confirmed.
There’s a lot of ways to get in the mindset of your site’s audience — CTA A/B testing is one way there.
