How to Improve Single Copy Sales by Running Two Different Front Pages on Your Website
Split testing, or A/B testing, is the process of running two separate ad copies at the same time and measuring the results to see which ad produces more sales. By continuously creating new ads and testing them, you can slowly develop advertisements that generate higher sales conversion rates. On the Internet, creating a split test for a single copy sales page is as simple as putting a small bit of special code onto two versions of your Web page.
This technique is useful for those of you who sell your own products directly, and those who promote affiliate products. In either case, split testing allows you to gauge which sales approach, design or style generates the best results. Here’s a quick look at how to accomplish this:
Step 1: Create a copy of your current sales page with all HTML code intact. The file name you choose for the copy doesn’t matter, but tracking is easier over time if both versions of your test have a similar name. In advertising speak, the original working sales copy is known as the control and the second version is the test, so for this example we’ll use control.html and test.html as our assumed file names.
Step 2: Change whatever you’d like in the test copy of your sales page. Depending upon your current test goals, you may want to make tiny, incremental changes each time because something as simple as a font color change in your primary headline can cause massive differences in sales conversions.
Step 3: Change the buy button code on the test copy page. Change the product ID number or description for example, so you’ll easily be able to see when sales are made from the test copy page instead of the control copy page. If you choose to create a new product ID, be sure to set it up if needed in your credit card processing system to ensure all other automated systems such as delivery still work properly when sales are made from the new page.
Step 4: Create an index.php text file and put this PHP code in it:
<?php
if (date("z")%2 < 1) {
include("control.html");
} else {
include("test.html");
}
?>
This will be the front page of your website and it’s only job is to automatically display either the control or test copy of your sales page. In this specific code, one page is displayed on even numbered days and the other is displayed on odd numbers.
Step 5: Save the changes you made to all files, then upload them to the root or home directory of your server. Visit your sales page to ensure everything is working properly.
Tips:
PHP gives you many different ways to do the same thing. The following code would show your control and test copy alternating between visitors instead of even and odd days:
<?php
srand((double)microtime()*1000000);
if (rand(1,2)==1)
{
include("control.html");
}
else
{
include("test.html");
};
?>
This approach accommodates for fluctuations in the number of visitors your website receives from day to day.
Warnings:
If you edit PHP code with a word processing application such as Microsoft Word or Open Office Writer, the software will insert invisible characters that create errors in the script and prevent it from being able to run. Always use plain ASCII text editors when creating or modifying website code.
An automated way to perform split testing is to use a tool such as Split Test Profits…
References:
Dave Wooding: Split Testing Google Adsense The PHP Way
Explain That Stuff: How to split-test a website with PHP
