There has been some buzz around the conversion topic lately. Most internet marketers should know that conversion rate optimization (CRO) is important to their efforts online. Whether you think website conversion rate per form submission is the ultimate measuring stick for website performance or if you have a difference of opinion to what is measured as a conversion. We can all agree that lead performance is important. And, any internet marketer who agrees that conversion rate or lead performance is important, should be A/B testing (or multivariate) their site/pages.
A/B or Split Testing isn’t anything new and certainly isn’t any secret sauce. eCommerce sites have been utilizing this practice for years! It is simply one practice you can implement today to grow your website metrics.
Now while A/B testing, be warned, there’s always going to be the question – “Why or what about the winning variation makes it convert better?”
The great thing about it is, there may always be the wonder of “why”. The science to “why” boils down to the habits in human psychology. Example – we (humans) read top to bottom. Read left to right. The same way we have read newspapers for years. We (humans) also associate colors with an action and with emotions. Example – Red makes us think “stop!” or “blood” vs Green makes us think “go!” or “money”.
So using these habits in human psychology, you can then map an efficient design to navigate a website, a better understanding where a search widget would best be placed in the design, what colors to make calls to action (CTA’s), etc. And by all means, use year’s worth of this trail and error into designing new websites.
Of course, you have to have a framework around A/B testing. It isn’t a spray & pray stagey. Think about this framework to A/B testing. Remember “M.A.S.T.E.R”
- Motivation – are you creating motivation for the consumer to take an action?
- Action – what exactly is the action? A cluttered VDP will confuse what the action is.
- Simplicity – a simpler web is a better web, make the action clear, make the action simple.
- Trust – have you built trust with the consumer? Is their info safe and going to be used to help?
- Education – have you educated the consumer on what completing the action will achieve?
- Relevancy – if the consumer completes the action, is it relevant to what they are completing it for?
Here is an example of using this framework on a VDP:
In this example, it never tells the consumer that the vehicle price is discounted. However, in this example by adding small verbiage –
We have created motivation to see if there is a more favorable price.
We have created an action, request sale price.
We have made the action simple, 1 call to action.
We have built trust; trust that the action will provide a sales price.
We have educated the consumer that we provide savings based on inventory and there could be a sale price.
And lastly, this is relevant to a VDP as its regarding price. Price is also the motivating factor on a VDP, making this framework come full circle.
Now I’m not saying by utilizing these practices you will see a 50+ percent website conversation rate or anything of the sort. And the definition of a conversion, again is subjective – just make sure that the A/B testing that you’re running is measuring what YOUR DEALERSHIP is trying to maximize; form submissions, calls, both, or perhaps some other metric.
The only proven method to definitively increase your conversation rate or lead performance is the practice of repeated A/B testing. If your focus is to move units, then partner with a vendor that designs websites with this data behind the reasons. If you have a vendor partner that is nothing more than a support team after the site goes live, then your site will never grow, nor improve. Leaves something to think about…
