This covers the various aspects and strategies involved in A/B Testing, how A/B testing helps to improve your conversion rate, and how that can ultimately help your business.

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Conversion Rate Optimization
Increasing Revenue via A/B Testing and Improving the User Experience
Kari Schroeder
Paid Media Specialist
Michael Stormberg
SEO Coordinator

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Contents
03 | Conversion Rate Optimization
06 | Conversion Optimization Plan
07 | Landing Page Optimization
15 | Button & Call to Action Optimization
21 | Copy Optimization
25 | Email Copy & Design Optimization
28 | Conversion Optimization Checklist
29 | Tools and Resources

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What is Conversion Rate Optimization
Conversion Rate Optimization or (CRO) is the process a business uses to create,
implement, and analyze elements of a website that affect whether an individual user will
take a desired action, or “convert”.
One popular method of testing out website elements for Conversion Rate Optimization is
A/B testing. A/B Testing also known as split testing allows you to compare two versions
of your site or app against each other. In A/B Testing two or more variations of the site
are shown to users at random, and through statistical analysis it is determined which
version performs the best for the conversion that is being tested.
Examples of elements you can A/B Test that we will talk about today include:
— Landing Page optimization
— Button and call to action optimization
— Copy optimization
— Email copy and design
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6 Factors Affecting Conversion Rates
1. Value proposition: overall perceived benefits and
costs in your customer’s mind
2. Relevance: how closely your content matches what
they are expecting to see
3. Clarity: how clear your value proposition, main
message, and call-to-action is
4. Anxiety: elements on your page creating uncertainty
5. Distraction: conflicting or off-target content
6. Urgency: why should customers take action now?
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Conversion Optimization Plan
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• Google Analytics
• LiveBall
• Conversion
Tracking
• Delete Losers
• Review Data
• Revise Testing
Strategy
• Overall
Template
• Headlines
• Images
• Call To Action
• Template Design
• Write Copy
• Code Page
• Verify Tracking
1.
Build New
Landing
Pages
2.
Test Element
Variations
3.
Record Test
Results
4.
Implement
Winning
Combination

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Landing Page Optimization
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Landing Page vs Homepage
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Home Page Landing Page
Goals
Inspire visitors to go to
another page that satisfies
their informational needs
Turn visitors into leads
Be the page that satisfies their
informational needs (response
page)
Desired Action Draw visitors deeper into
the website
Click on a single call-to-action
Visitor Intent Broad range, typically serves
people in the awareness
stage
Specific
Navigation Full range of options None (or minimal)
Traffic Sources Varied Specific Campaign
Content Overall business category
and positioning copy
Specific to benefits of the
desired action

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Landing Page vs Website Optimization
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Website Landing Page
Goal Compel visitors to dig deeper into your
site
Get visitor to convert on this page
Contains • Social proof, testimonials, case studies,
trust badges, etc.
• Category pages
• Dives into more detail about the
company and their offerings
• Short and sweet forms
• Compelling copy
• Call-to-action
• Trust badges
• Short and succinct
Call-to-action 2-3 CTAs that direct visitors to different
stages of the buying cycle
One specific CTA
Attention Ratio Multiple interactive elements One interactive element
Image/Video What your company offers, capture
emotions, and cause action
Shows what they are going to get from
converting
Navigation Provide a clear path through your site.
Simple and easy to find.
None (or minimal if it’s for an ecommerce
site)
Headline Value proposition - what you offer Call-to-action - what you want them to do

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5 Core Elements of a Landing Page
1. Your Unique Selling Proposition
— The main headline
— A supporting headline
— A reinforcement statement
— A closing argument
2. The hero shot (images/video showing context of use)
3. The benefits of your offering
— A bullet point list summary of benefits
— Benefit and features in detail (shouldn’t be more than a few
sentences)
4. Proof
— Social proof
— Trust indicators
5. A single conversion goal – Call-To-Action (CTA) preferably as a button
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Landing Page Best Practices
— Start with a simple, proven template
— Make unique value propositions clear
— Keep copy short and sweet
— Utilize short forms liberally
— Include trust marks
— Incorporate chat/click-to-call
— Test price-based messaging ($, %, #)
— Segment your visitors
— Test multi-step pages to identify weaknesses
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Landing Page Best Practices
— Create landing pages that focus on one goal.
— Keep headlines bold and short to get your user’s attention
instantly, all landing pages should pass the “blink test”.
— Landing page copy must be convincing, to the point, and
genuine.
— All images used must be in sync with the content, keep it
cohesive.
— CTAs color, size, and message matters.
— Loading time should be instant.
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Landing Page KPIs
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Landing Page KPIs
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Button and Call to Action Optimization
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Elements of your call to action buttons that should be considered for A/B
testing include
— Contrast: A contrasting color is the best way to make your button stand
out from the rest of the page. Choose the color that makes it stand out
the best, rather than the color you like the best, but don’t make it clash
— Clickability: Make it look like a button! With a clear CTA.
— Look: Prominence and visibility is essential. If your button is buried on
the page it’s less likely to be clear that it’s the target element for a
conversion. Make it stand out! Always make sure it’s above the fold.
— Directional cues: Guide your prospects attention to where you want
them to click, using some kind of directional cue. (i.e, an image of a
person pointing to something in the direction of your button or an
image of a person looking in that direction to draw attention.)
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Guidelines of Effective Button Design

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Elements of your call to action buttons that should be considered for A/B
testing include:
— Call-to-action copy: The text on your button is of paramount
importance. As a general rule it should describe exactly what will
happen when it’s clicked. For instance: “Download free ebook” or
“Request a call”. Never use something like “Submit” or “Click here” –
they don’t describe what will happen.
— Supporting information: A headline or sub headline above a form with
a CTA or a short sentence right above the button to explain what they
get by clicking.
— Urgency: If there is a time or quantity limitation on your offer, be sure
to re-state it beside your button to encourage the click. For the text on
your button, try including words like “Now” or “Today”.
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Guidelines of Effective Button Design

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Example: CTA A/B Test
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Example: Button Test
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Example: Button Test 2
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Copy Optimization
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Copy Optimization
Along with making sure your site works in general, copy optimization is
one of the most important aspects of your web presence. If your copy is
not optimized to answer your users queries then your site serves no
purpose and will not drive conversions.
Elements like keyword and technical optimization are ongoing efforts but
in the world of A/B testing elements of copy that can be tested include:
— Copy Length and Format: Is this page or entire site better suited to
long form or short bits of copy, or maybe a bulleted list format is
best.
— Action and Motivation Oriented Phrases: are you motivating your
users to convert in the copy
— Headlines and Subheadings: Headlines grab readers attention,
testing wording and size may garner new insights.
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Example: Copy Length
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Example: Copy Length 2
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Email Optimization
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Email Optimization
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Three primary categories containing elements to test in an email campaign:
1. Content
− From Address: test using company name versus an individual’s name at the company.
− Subject Line: test word order, personalization (including subscriber’s first name),
character/word count, emojis, tone and voice.
− Preheader Text: test the same items as subject line.
− Body Copy: test personalization, use of bullet points, message length, tone and voice
− Call to Action: test different buttons types, links, wording, colors and placement of CTA
within the email.
2. Design
− Template: test single column vs. two columns, color palettes, formats, navigation structures,
etc.
− Images: test photos, illustrations, borders, header bars, etc.
− Plain text vs. HTML: Text only vs. Images included.
3. Timing
⁻ Time of the day: 10am vs 2pm.
⁻ Day of the week: Tuesday vs Thursday.
⁻ Frequency: number of follow up emails sent based on subscriber responses.

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Email Optimization
Preparing to conduct an A/B email test
- Define subscriber audience segmentation. For example, you may want to segment your subscriber
audience based on engagement metrics, purchase history or demographics.
- From the audience segmentation, confirm test group size (your test segments need to be large
enough to reach statistical relevance).
- Finalize what element will be tested.
- Determine time period between the send time and analysis time.
Determining a winner in an A/B email test
- For the 3 content elements of “from” address, subject line and preheader, a winner is determined by
the higher open rate since these touch points are seen before an email is opened. The open rate also
applies to “timing” elements.
- To determine a winner when testing the other elements, you will want to compare at least one of the
following:
- Click through rate.
- Click to open rate.
- Website conversion rate (once the email subscribers have clicked on to your website).
- After you have determined the winning element, send it to the remainder of your audience (that did
not receive either tests).
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Email A/B Testing Best Practices
- Have a clear hypothesis. Know what you are trying to achieve and have a solid rationale for why what
you’re testing will help you achieve the desired goal. For example, if you wanted to test if addressing a
subscriber by name in the subject line would increase open rate, you would test one subject line with
the personalization and another without.
- Test as large a sample as you can for more accurate results and split the sample randomly in half. One
half received test A and the other test B.
- Listen the data collected, not your gut instinct.
- Use the tools available on your email platform for quicker and easier A/B testing.
- Only test one variable at a time for best results. (If you want to test more than one, check out
multivariate testing instead of A/B testing.)
- Test and test again. Now you know the best subject line, calls-to-action, and hopefully more. Now, you
can try testing another element. Rise and repeat.
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Conversion Optimization Checklist
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Tools and Resources
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Landing Page Tools: Unbounce
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Landing Page Tools: Optimizely
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Landing Page Tools: CrazyEgg
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Email Testing Tool: MailChimp
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Email Testing Tool: Active Campaign
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Landing Page Tools
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CRO Resources
Turn Website Visitors into Customers via Conversion Optimization
The Top 10 Best Heatmap Tools Reviewed
The Beginner's Guide to Conversion Rate Optimization
Conversion Rate Optimization Fundamentals
21 Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices for Beginners
101 Landing Page Optimization Tips
How to Optimize Your Landing Pages for More Conversions
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Questions?