How to Conduct Conversion Testing: 11-Step Guide (2023)

The key to unlocking your website's full potential lies in conversion optimization, a process that involves fine-tuning your online presence to encourage visitors to take desired actions. With a well-planned and executed conversion testing strategy, you can significantly improve your website's performance and achieve your business objectives.

This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step roadmap to conduct successful conversion testing, covering everything from goal setting and audience identification to test implementation and continuous optimization.

Let's begin our journey towards mastering the art of conversion testing!

1. Establishing conversion goals

Before embarking on any conversion testing efforts, it's crucial to set clear and measurable conversion goals. These goals should reflect what you want to achieve with your tests, such as increasing sign-up rates, boosting product sales, or enhancing user engagement. Be specific with your goals, and ensure they align with your overall business objectives.

For example, if your primary goal is to grow your email list, your conversion goal might be to increase the number of newsletter sign-ups by 10% within three months.

2. Identifying target audience

Understanding your target audience is vital for successful conversion testing. Start by creating detailed buyer personas that represent your ideal customers. Consider factors such as demographics, preferences, behaviors, and motivations when building these personas.

This information will help you create hypotheses for your tests and design elements that resonate with your audience, ultimately leading to better conversion rates.

3. Conducting a conversion audit

Before you start testing, it's essential to perform a comprehensive conversion audit. This audit involves evaluating your current website or landing page performance to identify areas of improvement. Analyze your site's analytics, heatmaps, and user recordings to pinpoint problem areas.

Look for high bounce rates, low conversion rates, and user drop-offs at specific points on the page. This process will help you identify high-impact areas that require optimization and inform your testing strategy.

4. Selecting the right testing tools

There are numerous conversion testing tools available, each with its unique features and capabilities. Some popular tools include Howuku, Google Optimize, and VWO.

When selecting a testing tool, consider factors such as ease of use, integration with your existing tech stack, and pricing. Additionally, look for tools that offer features like visual editors, advanced targeting, and robust reporting to streamline your conversion testing process.

5. Creating a testing hypothesis

A well-defined testing hypothesis is the foundation of any successful conversion test. Your hypothesis should outline the changes you're making to your webpage, the expected impact on conversion rates, and the reasoning behind these changes.

An example of a hypothesis could be: "By changing the call-to-action button color from blue to green, we expect to see a 5% increase in sign-ups due to higher visibility and contrast with the background."

6. Developing a testing plan

A comprehensive testing plan will help ensure that your conversion testing efforts are systematic and well-coordinated. Your plan should include the following components:

• Test objectives: Clearly outline the primary goals of your tests and the metrics you'll use to measure success.
• Test prioritization: Rank your tests in order of importance based on factors such as potential impact on conversions, ease of implementation, and resource requirements.
• Test schedule: Develop a timeline for your tests, taking into consideration factors such as test duration, resource availability, and any seasonal trends that may impact your results.
• Test documentation: Maintain detailed records of your tests, including hypotheses, test variations, results, and learnings. This documentation will be valuable for future reference and continuous optimization efforts.

7. Preparing your website for testing

Before running your tests, make sure your website is ready for the process. This includes:

• Ensuring that your website is responsive and optimized for various devices, such as desktop, mobile, and tablet.
• Implementing proper tracking and analytics to accurately measure conversions and other relevant metrics.
• Ensuring that your website has a consistent design and user experience across all pages to minimize any distractions or confusion during testing.
• Making sure your website is fast and has a low page load time, as slow-loading pages can negatively impact user experience and skew your test results.

8. Designing and implementing test variations

Once you've prepared your website for testing and created a well-defined testing plan, it's time to design and implement your test variations. Depending on the type of test you're running (A/B, multivariate, or split URL), you'll need to create different versions of your webpage or specific elements on the page.

Keep the following considerations in mind when designing test variations:

• Stay true to your brand: Ensure that all test variations align with your brand identity, messaging, and overall design principles.
• Focus on high-impact elements: Prioritize testing elements that have a significant influence on conversions, such as headlines, call-to-action buttons, images, and forms.
• Test bold changes: Don't be afraid to test bold and innovative ideas, as these can often lead to significant improvements in conversion rates.

9. Running the tests

With your test variations in place, you can now launch your conversion tests. During the testing period, keep the following best practices in mind:

• Test one variable at a time: In A/B testing, test only one variable at a time to ensure that any changes in conversion rates can be attributed to the specific variable you're testing, rather than a combination of multiple factors.
• Ensure statistical significance: Statistical significance is critical for reliable test results. Aim for a confidence level of at least 95% to ensure that your test results are trustworthy and actionable. This may require a larger sample size and longer test duration.
• Minimize external factors: Avoid running tests during periods of unusual traffic, such as during a promotional campaign or seasonal peak, as these can skew your test results.

10. Analyzing and interpreting test results

Once your test is complete, it's time to analyze the results and interpret the data. Follow these steps to make sense of your test data:

• Review your test metrics: Examine the metrics you defined at the beginning of the testing process, such as conversion rates, bounce rates, or time on page, to evaluate the performance of your test variations.
• Determine the winning variation: Compare the performance of your test variations and identify the one that delivered the highest conversion rate or met your desired success metric.
• Evaluate statistical significance: Ensure that the differences in performance between your test variations are statistically significant, which indicates that the results are not due to random chance.
• Consider secondary metrics: Analyze other metrics that might provide additional insights into user behavior and engagement, such as scroll depth, click-through rates, or session duration.

11. Iterating and optimizing based on results

Conversion testing is an ongoing process that requires continuous optimization and iteration. Use the insights gained from your tests to inform future tests and continuously improve your website's performance. Keep in mind the following best practices for ongoing optimization:

• Don't stop at one test: Even if you achieve significant improvements in conversion rates with a single test, there's always room for further optimization. Keep testing and refining your website to drive continuous growth.
• Test iteratively: Use the learnings from your initial tests to inform subsequent tests, iterating on your hypotheses and test variations to maximize your conversion rates.
• Share learnings across your organization: Conversion optimization is a team effort. Share the insights and learnings from your tests with relevant stakeholders, such as designers, developers, and copywriters, to ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal.

Conversion Testing Tools

These three tools have consistently delivered positive results for CRO professionals, showcasing their effectiveness in optimizing websites and driving conversion rates. When selecting a tool, consider your specific needs, budget, and the features that align with your testing strategy to achieve the best outcomes.

Here are three highly recommended tools based on first-hand experiences of professionals in the field:

Howuku

Howuku is an all-in-one CRO platform that offers a suite of tools, including A/B testing, heatmaps, and on-site surveys. Users have found Howuku's visual editor to be user-friendly, making it easy to create and launch tests without any coding knowledge.

The platform's real-time analytics and segmentation capabilities provide actionable insights that help target specific user groups and improve overall conversion rates.

Pricing: Free plan available, paid plan starts from $29 monthly.

Optimizely

Optimizely is a leading conversion optimization platform that enables users to conduct A/B tests, multivariate tests, and split URL tests. Known for its robust targeting and personalization features, Optimizely tailors website experiences to different audience segments.

The tool's comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities empower users to make data-driven decisions and continuously optimize their website for better conversion rates.

Pricing: Custom pricing only.

Unbounce

Unbounce is a powerful landing page builder and conversion testing tool designed specifically for marketers. The platform offers a range of pre-built templates and a drag-and-drop editor, making it easy to create and optimize landing pages for higher conversions.

With its dynamic text replacement feature, Unbounce allows users to personalize their landing pages based on user search queries, further enhancing the likelihood of conversions.

Pricing: From $99 monthly.

Conclusion

Conversion testing is a crucial aspect of digital marketing and CRO efforts that can significantly impact your business's bottom line. By methodically planning, executing, and analyzing tests, you'll gain valuable insights into your target audience's preferences and behaviors, allowing you to optimize your website for better user experiences and higher conversion rates.

Don't forget that conversion optimization is an ongoing process that requires continuous learning and adaptation. Keep iterating and optimizing based on your test results to unlock the full potential of your website and drive sustainable growth for your business.