Men have become the tools of their tools.
Henry David Thoreau
Whether you’re a CX optimization agency, consultant, or in-house at a startup or enterprise, investing in the right conversion optimization tool is a big decision.
We’re asked often whether a tool is good, bad, or downright awful, and until now, haven’t put it all together into a cohesive post.
There’s a fine line between online persuasion and manipulation.
Marketers of all stripes are obsessed with tools.
This obsession has bred comprehensive lists of growth tools, SEO tools, and general online marketing tools. It is no different with us in conversion optimization. We nerd out on testing tools.
Though no optimization program has ever hinged on which tool you used, there are important distinctions between A/B testing tools—from the statistics they use, their price, and more.
One thing that is often either overlooked or misunderstood is the difference between client-side and server-side testing tools.
Customer personas are often talked about in marketing and product design, but they’re almost never done well.
Nothing is more frustrating than filling out a badly designed form.
It’s a common experience, though. How many times have you entered a password only to be taken back with red ink proclaiming “Error! Password needs a capital letter, two numbers, a special character, and a quote from a Fetty Wap song.”
Most product descriptions are either terrible or non-existent and often overlooked by brands in conversion optimization strategies. But for companies doing it right, writing excellent product descriptions is a great way to sprinkle brand personality in a place most people don’t expect.
In fact, some companies do product copy so well that it’s almost a feature of the product itself. But, is product page copy actually that important?
A good conversationalist knows that asking closed-ended questions is no way to make real friends.
Similarly, in marketing research, there are good survey questions, and there are bad ones.
Almost all business owners hate Yelp, but they understand its power.
In general, user-generated reviews are tremendously influential when it comes to persuading people to buy.
In marketing, the call to action is where a page, ad, or email asks for the conversion: the “Start free trial” button on a landing page, the “Get a demo” link on a homepage, the “Shop now” in a promo email. There’s a lot of theory about how to tweak CTA copy, color, size, and other elements, but it’s often easiest to learn from real examples.
Testing tools are getting more sophisticated. Blogs are brimming with “inspiring” case studies. Experimentation is becoming more and more common for marketers. Statistical know-how, however, lags behind.
This post is filled with clear explanations of A/B testing statistics from top CRO experts. A/B testing statistics aren’t that complicated—but they are that essential to running tests correctly.
Here’s what we’ll cover (feel free to jump ahead):
And just in case you’re uncertain about why A/B testing statistics are so essential…