Split testing can have a profound effect on your site's
profitability. Split testing involves splitting traffic
evenly between test pages, and then tracking them through
the conversion process.
Simple split testing
Simple split testing can be used to measure the effect of
a single element on conversion rates It can be as simple
as having 5 different versions of the same page, with different
calls to action on each version. The split test program
splits the traffic to each page, evenly, and records which
pages result in conversions. After 5,000 visitors have gone
through the test, each page will have had 1,000 visitors.
The program will report the results of that test, and which
page had the best conversions. The downside with simple
split testing is that it only tests one thing at a time.
It will take a long time, and lots of traffic, to determine
the best combination of variables. That's where multivariate
testing excells.
For more info on split
testing, click here.
Multivariate testing
Multivariate, or Taguchi split testing
is like simple split testing on steroids. This method is
named after Dr.
Genichi Taguchi , who is an expert in Design Of Experiment
methodology. Using the Taguchi method's sophisticated test
arrays, up to 15 elements can be incorporated into a single
split test. This allows us to compress what would normally
take up to 20,000 test pages into only 18 pages. It's this
compression technology that allows Taguchi testing to yield
impressive results, up to 300% improvement in website conversion.
What's needed to do Multivariate testing?
Test Pages
You will need to create test pages, based upon a
test array. Using the array, you structure a test for
a number of design elements, with a minumum of two versions
for each element. When you know which elements go on each
test page, you can construct test pages and upload them
onto your server, in a separate directory, as you do not
want the search engines crawling them (Use robots.txt to
restrict access to that directory).
Split test software
Our customized software solution recognizes visitors, sets
a cookie, redirects them to a test page, and then tracks
them until they either leave or convert. It will allow for
an unlimited number of test pages and campaigns. After enough
visitors have been tested, our user panel will indicate
how many visitors to each test page, and what percent converted.
You have the option of either printing the page, or exporting
the results in an Excell spreadsheet.
Analysis Spreadsheets
We use a custom spreadsheet, which allows us to enter visitors
and conversions for each test page, and then the spreadsheet
tells us which combination of elements and variants will
yield the very best conversion rates, and what conversion
rate to expect.
If you are interested in our split testing services, please
contact us.
