10 Areas of A/B Testing on Your Website to Improve Lead Generation

What aspects of your lead generation site should you be using A/B testing to improve results? Here are our top tips.

Intro

A/B testing is a great way to fine-tune your lead generation website – but what specific aspects should you be testing? We did some in-depth research and the answer is…everything. But to get you started, here are some ideas.

1. Calls to action

What you do with your calls to action can make a big difference to how many leads you generate and convert. Think about phrasing, positioning, colour, and whether you use buttons or links. Do you have lots on the page, or just one?

 2. Content offers

 You have some great educational content that will help take visitors through the buying cycle. But which will you promote the most? You could offer an introductory guide as a free download on the home page. But perhaps linking to your blogs, and offering the download there, might get a better response.

3. Tone 

It’s not just what you say, but how you say it, too. You might have been writing blogs using an authoritative voice, but find that more irreverent copy generates more leads. Or perhaps you’ve been trying to express excitement, when actually a more down-to-earth voice will gain more trust.

4. Images

There are many different options for how to display images on your site. Will you use people, products, places or illustrations? Images can be appealing, but don’t jump to conclusions. They might actually be distracting from the action you want visitors to take. Sometimes, less is more.

5. Navigation menu

The navigation menu can have a big impact on visitor behaviour. Tweak the phrasing of menu items as well as the order, and see what results in more clicks. You could also try experimenting with different formats like a horizontal or vertical menu – or a fixed bar that stays put when visitors scroll down.

6. Forms

The design of your forms on landing pages can make a big difference to how many leads you generate, and this is a key area where people might drop out of the buying cycle. You need to make sure you are gathering important information without putting people off. Will you just ask people for an email address, or their name and job title as well?

7. Mobile UX

You absolutely must consider the experience of visitors using mobile devices. Mobile screens can display less content – so test different navigation options like scrolling, buttons, and blinds to see what works best. The size of images and headers is another important consideration.

8. Social media

Don’t forget to think about how you provide people with options for sharing your site’s content on social networks. You could test different sizes, designs and positioning of sharing buttons. How will you prompt people to join your networks?

9. Personalisation

You can personalise a website in many different ways including by location, recommended purchases, and different messaging for new and returning visitors. If you know someone has already downloaded content, you could test what follow-up offers work best.

10. Pricing

How you display pricing information is one of the most sensitive and important things to consider. Should you present prices immediately, or wait until further in the buying cycle? And how prominently should you do it? For subscriptions, is it better to display annual or monthly prices?

As you can see, there are lots of different aspects of your site you can play around with – and some of them can make a really big difference. Making judgement calls on all of this is a daunting prospect. Thankfully, A/B testing can help by giving you the hard data.

Takeaways:

• Think about the phrasing, positioning, and colour of calls to action, and whether you use buttons or links.
• You absolutely must consider the experience of visitors using mobile devices.
• The design of your forms can make a big difference to how many leads you generate, and this is a key area where people might drop out of the buying cycle.
• How you display pricing information is one of the most sensitive and important things to consider.

Get the lowdown on how your site can move visitors through the buying cycle. Download The CMO’s Guide to Lead Generation Websites