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Top Testing Tips to Increase Response Rates

Below are 9 key items to test in your PPC ads, email campaigns and your landing pages to boost your response rates. The tips come from Amanda Watlington, founder of Searching for Profit. She doesn't just talk the talk. She really does walk the walk.

While Amanda speaks to thousands of people at insider trade shows like SES, ad:tech and WebmasterWorld, she also employs the practices below regularly for her long list of clients. -LC

1. Headline Hooks

Your headline is the gateway to your copy. A compelling headline will bring readers deeper into the page, whether it is a landing page or a product page on your site. Try different variations: some that ask a question, others that simply present your offer. You might try formatting the headline in a different color or font. Sometimes, given the rest of the page, a single-word headline is enough, but you will never know unless you test.

2. Put Your Calls to Action in Your Meta Tags

There are often hidden opportunities to include calls to action. For example, when I write content for the meta description tag for search marketing, I always include a call to action. The description is frequently used as the second line in a search engine result for the site. This content gives you the opportunity to invite the reader to click through to the site.

Calls to action usually begin with an action verb such as shop, find, learn, enroll, subscribe, read, download and sign up for. The reader should have a clear mental picture of what the desired action is and what will be the positive result. Test a variety of calls to action and check which has the most positive results.

3. Should You Cut Copy or Answer More Questions?

Is your copy too short or too long or just long enough? The only way to find out if it is just right is by testing.

Recent studies have shown that well over 50% of potential leads or customers fail to convert because the Websites failed to answer prospects' questions and provide needed information.

This research suggests that most customers want more copy, but just how much more? This demand for more content is not an invitation to add filler just to make the page longer, but an opportunity to test and define what questions the prospect needs to have answered before making a decision.

As you develop copy, consider what questions buyers typically ask or what you would want to know before taking action. Then test to see if you got it just right.

4. Optimizing Page Layout

This is one of the most frequently tested elements. In my practice, we frequently test the performance of each of the templates on a site, looking for ways to improve their conversion.

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Sometimes, we test navigation tweaks, image size, content placement, color and content of buttons and text links, even the order in which multiple products are presented on a multi-product page.

The improvement in conversion is worth the effort spent on testing and tweaking. One round of tests and tweaks usually leads to another.

5. Figuring Out Fonts and Colors

Are your email offers lovely to look at but hard to read? You have a limited time to get your offer seen by your target. Test different fonts, sizes and colors to see which gets read most and generates the best responses.

Coordinate backgrounds and type color carefully. Develop a test plan to determine which type and layout combination works best.

Even if your copy is long, test to make sure that it is legible, that your call to action is visible and that you have included your key points where they can be seen easily.

6. Features Versus Benefits

Is a list of your product's key features more important to your buyers than its benefits? Testing will give you the answer.

For some highly complex products, such as most electronics, the user has an unspoken expectation of the benefit but wants to know the features. Which is more important? Test to see if a listing that places benefits first and downplays features converts better than feature-heavy text.

7. Testing Timely Offers

A classic "exploding offer" typically ends in hours rather than days or weeks. It telegraphs immediacy and demands to be read sooner rather than later. The downside is the email exploding offer might be read too late. Test a variety of offer lengths and see which works best for audience products and services.

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8. How Many Required Fields on Forms?

Are you asking prospects too many intrusive questions on your lead-generation forms? Would you get more leads and even better leads if you required fewer fields?

There is a trade-off between asking for too little information and getting unqualified leads versus asking too many questions and repelling qualified prospects. Test forms with different numbers of required fields. Then, rank the quality of leads from each effort.

9. Simplify Shipping?

You know that free shipping is a surefire way to increase online sales. But you might be losing sales if customers get all the way to the checkout page, only to find out that they didn't spend enough to qualify for free shipping.

Test various options, such as one-price shipping in the U.S. One of my clients found that this not only simplified the shipping process but also improved conversion.

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