32 Split Testing Ideas From 4 of the World’s
Leading Conversion Experts
November 19th, 2014 by Lindsay Marder
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Ok, I’m super pumped.
We tapped the minds of four of the world’s top conversion rate optimization (CRO) experts to
tell us what they would test on this landing page for Rosetta Stone.
Here’s our panel of experts…
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Chris Goward – Founder of Wider Funnel, author of You Should Test That!• and
Traffic and Conversion Summit 2015 speaker.
Tim Ash – Author of Landing Page Optimization, CEO of Site Tuners and Founder of
Conversion Conference.
Justin Rondeau - Data Driven Marketing & CRO Trainer. Analyzed 2,500+ Tests
Across Virtually Every Industry.
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Brian Massey – Author of the The Customer Creation Equation and Founder of
Conversion Sciences.
You’ll get tons of split testing ideas that you can apply to your own landing pages.
Here’s what we asked our conversion experts to critique…
The Search
The Ad
The Landing Page: Rosetta Stone
The Questions
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What did you like on this landing page?
What would you test to boost conversions?
Here’s what four conversion experts had to say about what was done well and what could be
improved on this landing page. (NOTE: We’d love to hear how you would improve this landing
page. Give us your thoughts in the comments section.)
Chris Goward, WiderFunnel Marketing Optimization
What I liked:
Value Proposition: Known Rosetta brand gives them some leeway to overcome some conversion
barriers. But not enough.
Value Proposition: Good font and graphic standards add to credibility.
Value Proposition: Box shots and app screenshots add tangibility for an intangible service.
What I would test:
Unfortunately, the rest of the design, layout and copywriting leaves a lot of money on the table.
From a conversion perspective, there’s a lot of opportunity for testing.
The way I always approach a landing page test is to analyze it from the perspective of the
shopper and look for barriers to conversion. Categorizing them using the LIFT Model gives
structure and helps with idea-generation.
Here are some of the LIFT points I identified for Rosetta:
At WiderFunnel, we don’t just toss around test ideas willy-nilly. The structured process ensures
we narrow down the best test variations that achieve two priorities: 1. Conversion rate and profit
lift and 2. Insights from test isolations.
The next step after the LIFT Analysis is to convert these LIFT point problems into test
hypotheses. For example:
There are a lot of potential things to test here. So much so that I’d recommend doing some
dramatic A/B/n redesign and re-copywriting testing as a starting point before drilling into many
individual hypotheses.
We’d get one of our conversion-trained designers to work with the conversion strategist to
design smooth eyeflows and design treatments that will enhance the clarity of Rosetta’s value
proposition.
Any of the LIFT points above could be isolated as a hypothesis, depending on the long-term
conversion strategy. In other words, which isolations will lead to the biggest insights for further
testing? That’s an important discussion to have when planning a test.
No optimization test is done with one test round. It should be viewed as an ongoing test plan.
Hear more from Chris at Traffic and Conversion Summit 2015.
♦♦♦♦
Justin Rondeau, Data Driven Marketing & CRO Trainer
What I liked:
This page has a great look and stacks the content perfectly. The main CTA is above the fold,
followed by descriptive content, and finally persuasive content via social proof.
What I would test:
Though this is a great looking page, there are some things I’d suggest to test.
1) Match your ad with your landing page! If you know the visitor is looking to speak Spanish,
have that language pre selected! Your ad did the hard work for you; if a visitor were looking to
speak a language other than Spanish they wouldn’t be clicking your ad! Do yourself a favor and
match each bit of content with the desired language.
2) The first part of the headline is highly branded, though I think the most compelling piece of
copy is the second line, ‘Language Learning that really works’. Rosetta Stone is a well-known
brand; they don’t need to add branded copy here. I’d suggest eliminating the first line and only
use the sexier hook. This gives a succinct description about what sets your product apart and also
helps reduce vertical space in the process!
♦♦♦♦
Brian Massey, Conversion Sciences LLC
What I liked:
Marketing 101 is “Show the product.” I think Rosetta does a good job of showing what you get.
However, could they show the “demo” better? That is really what they are selling on this page.
The offer is made early. It is displayed in a high-intensity gold box that makes it hard to miss.
Good use of proof; 8000 Corporations, 9000 Agencies, 20000 Schools.
The testimonial here is one of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s a story. It has love. It has a great start
and a fantastic ending.
What I would test:
The landing page does a poor job of keeping the promises made in the ad.
Promise 1: Learn Spanish
Promise 2: Free shipping
Promise 3: 30-day Guarantee
Promise 4: Chat with tutors
I would test:
1. Mentioning Spanish in the headline.
2. Having the “Select a Language” pulldown default to Spanish
3. Test the copy written at a post-graduate college level against copy explaining the free
shipping, 30-day guarantee and chats with tutors.
4. Test current copy against copy that explains what a demo is. Is this a lesson? What will I
discover? How long will the demo take?
5. Get rid of the designer that made (1), (2), (3) and (4) readable, but made “Sights and
Sounds”, “Word”, “Sentences” and “Conversations” too small to read. Test making the
numbers smaller and the words larger. We’ve seen good luck with steps on landing
pages.
6. Get rid of the designer that separated the numbers from the metrics. “20,000”… why is
this important? Test bringing the words “Corporations” etc. close to their respective
numbers. This could be important proof for the page.
♦♦♦♦
Tim Ash, SiteTuners
What I liked:
1) The production quality (professionalism) of the page is pretty good.
2) The page uses social proof in the form of large numbers of corporate and institutional users
3) The page uses a third-party endorsement from the Wall St. Journal
4) The page uses a testimonial from an actual user
What I would test:
The page is a hot mess and does not deliver on the promise of the original PPC ad that led to it.
There is a huge mismatch between the calls-to-action on the page and the one in the ad. The title
of the ad is “Learn Spanish – Start Speaking Spanish in Minutes” and the URL is
www.RosettaStone.com/Spanish. Despite this there is not a single mention of “Spanish” visible
anywhere on the page. Instead we see buttons for “Ready for a FREE Demo?”, and “Get Product
Details And Pricing”. The social proof and testimonial are also not Spanish-specific. In fact, the
lone testimonial on the page is about someone learning Mandarin Chinese.
I would focus the redesign on matching visitor intent.
Here are some page elements that I would combine is an alternative redesign:
1) Page Title “Learn Spanish – Start Speaking Spanish in Minutes”
2) Enlarge the packaging (box shot) portion that clearly indicates that it is the Spanish version
3) Put in some common Spanish phrases as background in the top image (e.g. “Que Pasa”, and
“Como Esta”, Etc.)
4) Have a single call to action, “Try Our Free Spanish Demo” (I doubt anyone would buy it
without first trying it, so the alternative call to action of getting pricing is very premature) –
without the need for a language dropdown in the form (since they have already indicated their
language of choice by clicking on the ad).
5) Have 15-20 testimonials from people that bought the Spanish product at the bottom of the
page, along with a specific number of people who have taken the Spanish course (e.g. “Over
1,200,000 satisfied Spanish learners”)