Posts Tagged ‘split testing’

Split testing works. Use it well, and you will improve your conversion rates, and, thus, your profits. And, if you are advertising, or have significant product costs, raising your conversion rate just a little can raise your profits a lot. But there are many different kinds of split testing software out there.

I can’t discuss every feature of every testing tool out there, but I can give you a major overview of the different kinds of split testing software.

One big distinction is between single variable and multiple variable (multivariate) testing.

Single variable split testing is very simple. You just try stuff and measure the results. And all you need is a tool that rotates and keeps score.

Google offers a single variable split testing tool, but you have to have an Adwords account to use it.

With multivariate testing, you can test many factors at the same time on your page. So, instead of just testing your headline, you can test your headline, your offer, the P.S. statement, and your lead image all at the same time. And with multivariate testing, if it’s set up right, you can use the same amount of traffic testing many variables that you would use to test a single variable.

So there’s the main distinction between single variable testing and multivariate testing. But once you get into the realm of multivariate testing the options seem to multiply again. One difference among multivariate tools is between tools that are hosted on someone else’s server, and ones that you install on the same server as your webpages. Hosted solutions can be slower, and more expensive, but you don’t have to install any software.

The Split Test Accelerator is a good choice if you want to install the software on your server. Kaizentrack is another optoin. If you want a hosted solution, you can look at Sitespect and Vertster.

The next distinction probably causes the most confusion among people looking into split testing for the first time. It’s also more important than the last distinction, becuase it determines how fast and accurate your tests can be. The three kinds of testers are 1) random independent rotators, 2) Taguchi testers, and 3) full-factorial testers. Taguchi ranks first for speed and second for accuracy. Basically Taguchi testing involves using a marvel of mathematics known as “orthogonal arrays”. These have special properties that allow you to test every combination in a space while running only a small fraction of the actual combinations. You have to be a little bit careful about interaction effects with Taguchi testing. The Split Test Accelerator and Kaizentrack are Taguchi testing tools.

If you want to get around interaction effects you can with a full factorial tool. It will take more traffic to avoid the interactions — a lot more — but with a FFT, like Google’s Website Optimizer, you can just see how every combination plays out, and live with the interactions.

The Taguchi and full factorial tools both use arrays to maintain a relationship between the options being served for one factor, and the options being served for another. Some split testers don’t do this, though. They simply treat each factor as independent from the other factors. This leads to more flexible test designs, but also to longer and less accurate tests.

Now that’s just the overview. There are many other features to compare and questions to ask. Does a tester allow you to exclude bots and spiders? Does it allow real time access to data? What kind of reports does it show? What kind of information does it track for each visitor, and is the visitor-level data available for viewing. Etc.

Dominic DeLong has used taguchi testing tools for years to improve web sites.

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No matter how small or how big your operation is you need all the help you can get. It is true there are millions and millions of potential buyers on the Internet. They are there for the picking 24 hours a day for each and every day.

This doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax. Prospectives have to be enticed to take notice of your advertisements. Then once they have read your ads they must be convinced it would be a good thing if they supplied their email address. When you put them on your email list you have to turn those prospectives into customers who spend money. This doesn’t just happen it’s called opt advertising.

There is software that can halve the job for you. Luckily, it’s the half that takes up the most time. It’s also the half that most of us steer away from ” the facts, figures and ratios. But if we don’t get to grips with this side of our business we won’t succeed.

Without facts and figures to guide us we may as well spend our money in a casino. Making money will be down to that elusive concept called luck. Having a software tool to take care of analyzed figures will give us control over what we do. The figures will tell us whether or not the opt advertising method is working as well as it should.

What we want to see after every opt advertising analysis is our sales boosting. This proves our prospectives are being converted into paying customers. The reason it’s working is because we are constantly adjusting our advertising methods according to what the software is telling us.

If you change your wording your software will analyze your lists to find out who and how many prospectives are buying from you.

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