The web is full of best practices and results of AB-tests. Can’t you just copy those, lie back and watch your conversion rates go up? Bad idea. Best practices don’t always work. I’ll prove that with lots of examples.

1. Best practices don't always work
Karl Gilis
@agconsult
Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't. And sometimes they fail completely.

2. Some of our clients

3. Table of content
• A/B testing: the basics
• Main problems with A/B testing
• Best practices: yes or no?
• How to come up with better A/B testing ideas based on user research?
• Q & A

4. Part I
A/B testing: the basics

7. Part II
Main problems with A/B testing

8. Don't test stupid things

9. Don't test every idea that pops into your head

10. Make sure you measure the right goals

11. Don't copy tests you've seen on other websites

12. Know why you're running an A/B test

13. Make sure you've got a solid hypothesis
This example is from Michael Aagaard (@contentverve)

14. Part III
Best practices: yes or no?

15. Sliders suck. Always.
Except when they are just image slides. Without separate messages.

17. 28% more clicks

18. 55% more clicks

19. Remove navigation on landing pages
& for people coming from AdWords
This seems to work most of the time. But once again: test.
And after that: test again.

20. On this landing page, we
deleted the floating main
navigation.
This resulted in an uplift of
over 20%.

22. Removing the main navigation for AdWords visitors,
resulted in a significant lift in bookings. (Sorry, I'm
not allowed to share the exact number.)

23. Remove clutter
Consider everything that doesn't result in more conversion as clutter.

25. 11,3% more sales

26. Use bullet lists
Especially on category pages and above the fold on product and landing
pages.

28. 78% more clicks

30. • 159,79% more clicks to car pages
• 76,3% more conversions:
• Contact form
• Brochure
• Dealer locator
• Request quote

31. Put a reassuring message near your
call-to-action
Make sure you use positive words. You don't want to frighten the visitor.

32. 23,2% more conversion
19,4% more conversion

33. Booking.com uses this trick all the time

34. This is an A/B test from Michael Aagaard. Find more details at
http://contentverve.com/sign-up-privacy-policy-tests/

36. Green check marks always work!
Apparently not.

37. No matter what the bullets said, the
green checkmark versions always
won.

38. And so the green check mark myth was born
 This product sucks
 Burning your money is better than buying this sh*t
 Read my lips: DO NOT BUY THIS!

40. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

41. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. -5,1% -5,9%

43. - Minus 11,2% clicks on the products
- Minus 7,6% sales for these products

44. Tell users what (you want them) to do
These tests always surprise me. But this little trick seems to work on every
web site.

46. 72,3% more clicks to
product pages

48. 13,1% more clicks to product
pages

49. Yes.
I have found my holy grail of
category page optimization.
I now will become world
famous and people will ask me
to reveal my secret
everywhere.

50. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

51. 3,2% less clicks to model pages

53. A lot of those tips and best practices
do work on most webpages.
But sometimes they will fail. Because your website, your product, your
audience, your design … is unique.
So please: start testing instead of copying.

54. Part IV
How user research can help you to
create more successful A/B tests

55. Which methods can you use?
• Google Analytics
• User testing (Morae)
• Eyetracking (MyGaze eyetracker, Tobii)
• User sessions recording (Mouseflow, Inspectlet, Hotjar)
• Mouse heatmaps (Hotjar, CrazyEgg)
• Form analysis (Formisimo)
• Targeted mini surveys (Qualaroo, Hotjar,…)

56. User testing with eyetracking

59. + 45,9% clicks on "Get a quote"
+ 15,6% clicks on "Book a test drive"

60. Put your calls-to-action where
people see them
I know this doesn't sound very innovative. But it’s really important.

61. User session recording & mouse heatmaps

63. 43,8% more clicks

65. 3x more people going from a content
page to a product page

66. Repeat your CTA at the bottom of
your page
Believe me. This works. Always.

68. 27,2% to 46,0% more
clicks on these buttons
12,2% more clicks on these
product boxes
6,6% more clicks on the buttons at
the bottom of the page

69. Be careful with big headers & big,
useless photos
Focus on your message. That will result in more conversions.

70. Only 52,41% of visitors scrolled to this part

71. 32,5% more people reach this point:
- Our version: 69,45%
- Original: 52,41%
44,1% more people reach this point
100% more visitors go to a product detail page
76,2% more requests for quote
57,8% more brochure downloads

72. Use tools to find the problem areas
And use your brain or user input to make them better.

73. Form analysis (& user session recording)

74. Formisimo revealed which fields caused most problems

75. 52,9% more requests for offer

76. Make forms as easy as possible
And use tools to reveal where the real problems are. Don't guess.

77. 35,4% more forms submitted

78. Explain why you want certain
information
Make sure you use positive words. You don't want to frighten the visitor.

79. Targeted surveys

80. What is the purpose of your visit to our website today?

81. + 188% more clicks
+ 75% more sales from homepage visitors

82. Push product categories instead of
individual products
This depends from site to site. But most of the time it works. Big time.
.

83. What is the purpose of your visit to our website today?

84. 23 times more people use the dealer locator

85. Integrate first steps of interactions
in your pages
Ton from @OnlineDialogue calls this the 'foot-between-the-door-trick'
.

86. What’s important for you when choosing a new car?
Besides the way it looks.

88. 7,5% extra clicks to model pages

89. Make it easy to choose/compare
Make sure you use the main decision criteria and emotional triggers of
your users.
.

90. What are the most important things when buying a
used car?

91. 26% more reservations

92. Place what's important for your
visitors on the left side of your page
This can sometimes make a difference. Sometimes it doesn't do sh*t.
.

93. What convinced you the most to decide to ask a
quote?
Was there something that made you hesitate?
If so, what?
77,1% more requests for quote

94. Know what your clients & visitors
want
And get filthy rich 
.

95. Free bonus tip

96. Get my free ebook now
 10 conversion tips that work on every website
 15 cases from the real world
 6 best practices from leading websites
 www.agconsult.com/ebook.html
Already over 2.357 downloads

97. That's it!
Thx