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. So, what to do instead? Just test every idea that pops into your head? No again! That will result in bitter disappointment because your tests will fail over and over again. The key is to get to know your visitors before you start testing. Research their behavior on your website. Learn how to create AB-tests that really make a difference thanks to user research. So you can focus on what your visitors want: their needs, their priorities and their actions.

1. How to Create Better A/B Tests &
Why You Shouldn’t Bank on Best
Practices
Karl Gilis
@agconsult

2. Some of our clients

3. Part 1
The joy of A/B testing?
@agconsult

6. It's not because you
own a typewriter,
that you'll become
the next
best-selling author.

7. Welcome to my world

8. The world of AB-testing

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

11. Because most of these ideas are stupid

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

13. Tell users what (you want them) to do
One of the oldest tricks in the book…
@agconsult

15. 72,3% more clicks to product pages

17. 13,1% more clicks to product pages

18. 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.

19. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

20. 3,2% drop in conversion

22. Put a reassuring message near your
call-to-action
Make sure you use positive words. You don't want to frighten the visitor.
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23. 23,2% more conversion
19,4% more conversion

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

26. 3. Don't blindly follow so-called best practices

27. Green check marks always work!
Really?
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28. No matter what the bullets said, the
green checkmark versions always
won.

29. And so the green checkmark myth was born
 This product sucks
 Burning your money is better than buying this sh*t
 Read my lips: DO NOT BUY THIS!
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30. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. -5,1% -5,9%

32. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

34. "AB-testing isn't a research tool.
Use it to validate your homework."
Karl Gilis - @AGConsult

37. "The more I learn,
the more I realize how much I don't know."
Albert Einstein

40. Be careful with graphs and numbers like these.
There is no such thing as the ideal number of fields.

42. You have to find out what works best for
your website
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43. You have to find out what works best for
your audience
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44. You have to find out what works best for
your product or service
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46. Do your user research

48. Part 2
Solid user research = better AB-tests
@agconsult

49. My preferred methods & tools
• User testing (Morae)
• Eyetracking (MyGaze eyetracker, Tobii)
• User Analytics (Google Analytics)
• User session recordings (Mouseflow, Inspectlet, Hotjar)
• Mouse heatmaps (Hotjar, CrazyEgg)
• Form analysis (Formisimo, Hotjar)
• Targeted mini surveys (Qualaroo, Hotjar,…)
@agconsult

50. User testing with eyetracking

53. + 45,9% clicks on "Get a quote"
+ 15,6% clicks on "Book a test drive"

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

57. • 83% more clicks on 'Get a quote'
• 44% more on 'Where to buy'

58. The right-hand bar is probably not
the best place to put your main CTA
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59. Google Analytics

63. 78% more clicks to a
product page

64. Use bullet lists
Especially on category pages and above the fold on product and landing
pages.
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65. + 10% brochure requests

66. Don't hide (important) stuff on
mobile
People do scroll. Don't worry.
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68. 25% of all clicks
20%
35%
2 to 5%

69. 28% more clicks

70. Sliders suck. Always.
Except when they are just image slides. Without separate messages.
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72. 55% more clicks in the same screen real estate,
after reducing the number of messages from 4 to 2.

73. Don't overwhelm your visitors
Less is more.
White space has never killed a visitor.
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74. "Less is more.
White space has never killed a visitor."
Karl Gilis - @agconsult

76. On this landing page, we deleted the
floating main navigation.
This resulted in an uplift of over 24,2%.

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

79. Remove navigation for people
coming from specific search queries
When navigation turns into a distraction, remove or hide it.
@agconsult

80. "Web design isn't about adding stuff.
It's about keeping only those elements
that add to the bottom line."
Karl Gilis - @agconsult

81. User session recordings & mouse heatmaps

82. Name of the tool: Hotjar

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

84. Original

85. Variation

86. 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

87. Use tools to find where the problem
areas are
And use your brain or user input to make them better.
@agconsult

88. 43,8% more clicks

89. Repeat your CTA at the bottom of
the page
Believe me. This works. Almost always.
@agconsult

90. Form analysis (& user session recording)

91. Formisimo reveals which fields caused most problems

92. 52,9% more requests for offer

93. Make forms as easy as possible
Use tools to find out where the real problems are. Don't guess.
@agconsult

97. When we made those fields optional there was
a decrease with 6,3%.

98. And now
WHAT?

99. 25,4% more submitted requests for proposal

100. Cool, we'll fix that in
June 2016

101. 14,2% more submitted requests for proposal

102. Keep on testing. Iterate!
Your first variation will almost never be the best one.
@agconsult

103. Targeted surveys

104. Some of my favorite questions
• On website
• What is the purpose of your visit to our website today?
• What are the most important things when buying …?
• What convinced you the most to decide to ask a quote?
Was there something that made you hesitate? If so, what?
• Existing clients
• What would you miss the most when your X broke down / when we took away X
• What do you like the most about X
• What's the most important thing X helped you to achieve?

105. On the homepage of a webshop,
do you push products or
product categories?

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

107. + 188% more clicks
+ 75% more sales from homepage visitors

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

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

111. 23 x more people use the dealer locator

112. Give people what they want
As long as it helps your business.
.
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114. 14,3% more dealer searches

115. Use the same words your users do
Not the ones you use.
.
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116. 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

117. Know what your clients & visitors want
And get filthy rich 
.
@agconsult

118. “Stop selling your products/services the way
you want to sell them.
Sell them the way people want to buy them.”
Karl Gilis - @agconsult

119. Find it!

120. 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
 www.slideshare.net/agconsult
Already more than 3.216 downloads

121. That's it!
Thx
@agconsult