A/B TESTING FOR EVERYONE

Podcamp NashvilleMay 4, 2013

Sue Anne ReedThe Engage Group

@Sue_Annesueanne@engageyourcause.com

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WHAT YOU NEED FOR SIMPLE WEBSITE TESTING Spreadsheet Google Analytics Access to basic stats regarding email

signups, social media signups, etc. Access to bit.ly / Google URL Builder

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EMAIL SIGNUP LIGHTBOXES AKA POPUPS

AKA POPOVERS AKA POPUNDERS

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A SIMPLE TEST FOR EMAIL “LIGHTBOXES” What are you testing:

Does having a lightbox increase email signups? (good)

Does having a lightbox increase bounce rate? (bad)

Determine length of the test: One dayOne weekOne month

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TESTING STEPS Have no lightbox for one week and

monitor signups and bounce rate Record numbers in spreadsheet

Turn lightbox on for one week and monitor signups and bounce rate

Did email signups increase with lightbox?

How did lightbox impact bounce rate?

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GREAT POSTS ABOUT WHETHER LIGHTBOXES WORK Christopher Penn -

http://www.christopherspenn.com/2011/02/do-welcome-popups-work/

Waldow Social - http://waldowsocial.com/popovers-work/

Email Audience - http://www.emailaudience.com/email-pop-ups-from-worst-to-best/

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EMAIL SIGNUP LOCATION

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EMAIL SIGNUP LOCATION What are you testing?

Does the email signup location matter? Do you get more signups if the signup bar is

above the content or in a column alongside the content?

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OTHER EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION ITEMS TO TEST Does asking for more information (first

name, last name, location) impact number of sign-ups

Does the text of the button matter? (Submit, Sign Up, Subscribe)

Does the size or color of the button matter?

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SOCIAL SHARING BUTTONS

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SOCIAL SHARING TO TEST Location of buttons

Above content Below content (between content and

comments area) To the left or right of content – Static or

dynamic Amount and type of buttons

What social network is most important? Do additional buttons decrease amount of

sharing on priority network?

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OTHER ITEMS TO TEST

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THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS … Page Layout

Entire post vs post block with link to entire post

Size of pictures (and, do pictures matter at all?)

Size of text Font

Does adding related links increase traffic to other posts?

Commenting systemNative vs Facebook vs Disqus / Livefyre

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SOCIAL MEDIA TESTING

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FACEBOOK Type of Post:

Photo, Video, Text Update with no link (Length of content), Text Update with Link and Preview

Day of Week / Time of Post Metrics to Measure:

# of Shares# of Likes / Comments How many clicks to the content on your web

site

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TWITTER Type of Post:

Regular Tweet Video / Photo

Day of week / Time of Post Metrics to Measure:

# of Shares# of Likes / Comments How many clicks to the content on your web

site

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SOCIAL MEDIA MEASUREMENT TOOLS Metricly - http://metricly.com/ Crowdbooster - http://crowdbooster.com

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EMAIL TESTING

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EMAIL TESTING What impacts open rates:

Subject line From line Day of week Time of Day

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EMAIL TESTING What impacts clickthrough rates

SubjectDay of week / Time of Day From line Content, content, content

Length of text Font & font size Picture Buttons # of links & location of links

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EMAIL TESTING What impacts conversions

All of the same things that impact open rates and clickthrough rates PLUS

Landing Page Content & Design Length of content Placement & size of photos Button text Button color

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OTHER TOOLS FOR WEBSITE A/B TESTING Optimizely - https://www.optimizely.com/ Adobe Test & Target -

http://www.adobe.com/products/testandtarget.html