Are best practices actually "best" - or rather "common practices"? Justin is testing common 10 best practices on 10 different pages across several industries, and will share his insights.

1. @jtrondeau
Best Practices or
Common Practices
Which is it?

2. @jtrondeau
10 SIMPLE TESTS
80% WIN RATE
14.79% AVERAGE LIFT
4.3%-38.7% LIFT RANGE

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THIS PRESENTATION
IS NOT…
1. Promoting one
common practice over
another.
2. Saying common
practices can replace a
CRO strategy.

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THERE IS NO BEST PRACTICE
FOR ALL USERS.
-Optimization Axiom

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BUT WHAT IS
COMMON TO YOUR
AUDIENCE IS BEST.-Justindamus

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EFFICACY OF
COMMON ELEMENTS
1. Identify 10 common
elements.
2. Find pages that are
missing an element.
3. Test to see if it helps,
hurts,or does nothing.

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COMMON ELEMENTS CHOSEN
FORM FIELD REDUCTION
ACTIVE CTA
TOP LEFT HAND LOGO
OPTION REDUCTION
SINGLE STEP OPT-IN
ADDING‘FREE’
NUMBERS IN HEADLINES
HUMAN IMAGES
SOCIAL PROOF
NO SLIDER

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INDUSTRY
BACKGROUND
1. Business owners and
marketers 8/10 Tests
2. Survival enthusiasts
(Men from mid to
upper income
brackets).2/10 Tests

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FOLLOWALONG WITH
THE CASE STUDY
SLIDES
1. http://bit.ly/DM-CXL
2. Go to slide 29

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10 common practices,10 tests,2 industries
Common Practice Converting
Action
Page Type Common Practice
Win?
Winning Variant
Lift
Confidence Total Sample Size
Form Field
Reduction
Opt-in Landing Page Yes 7.42% 99% 6,315
Standard CTA vs.
Active CTA
Clicks Blog Post Yes 25% 98% 4,274
Top Left Logo Opt-in Landing Page No N/A - 2,476
Reducing Options Purchase Sales Page Yes 38.7% 99% 3,239
Single Step Opt-In Opt-in Landing Page Yes 4.8% 96% 5,779
Add FREE to CTA Opt-in Landing Page Yes 14.4% 99% 952 (LM converted
>50%)
Use numbers in
headline
Opt-in OSR Offer Yes 18% 99% 7,143
Use an image of a
person
Opt-in OSR Offer No 18.85% 99% 7,163
Add social proof Purchase Sales Page Yes 5.7% 95% 6,582
Stop using a slider Clicks Homepage Yes 4.3% 93% 9,708

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IT’S NOT ABOUT
REINVENTION…IT’S ABOUT
MEETING EXPECTATIONS.

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COMMON ELEMENTS,
LAYOUTS, & FUNCTIONALITY
MEET USER EXPECTATIONS.

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WHAT IS
MARKETING?

15. Distance = Value
Your Product/Service
AFTERBEFORE
“Good marketing and copywriting
simply articulates the move from the
‘BEFORE’ state to the ‘AFTER’
state…”

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DON’TTHINK
MARKETING
WILL FIXA
BAD OFFER!

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GOOD OFFER BAD OFFER
OPTIMIZED
NOT OPTIMIZED

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Low Conversion Rates Are
Caused By Either:

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POOR ARTICULATION
POOR OFFER
CONSTRUCTION
POOR OFFER/
AUDIENCE MATCH

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If common practices are a way
to improve articulation…

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…then they are useful to the
optimization strategy.

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SO STOP
WITH ALL
THE HATE

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HOW TO APPLY
COMMON PRACTICES
Gather base data
Challenge a variant that
can potentially benefit.

24. @jtrondeau
Create a page using a
familiar layout (OMG
TEMPLATES) and
include standard CPs
Get the page baseline. Continue to iterate
and improve.New copy,
dynamic content,etc…

25. @jtrondeau
1. Find a page that isn’t performing up to par.
2. Ask“Would the addition of X improve the
experience?”
Test the variant
If Yes,then…
If No,THEN DON’T
ADD/TEST

26. @jtrondeau
WHO COMMON
PRACTICES HELP
1.Teams with limited dev
resources.
2.Companies without a testing
culture or filled with office
politics.
3.Teams with low traffic.

27. @jtrondeau
FINAL
THOUGHT

28. @jtrondeau
Thanks!
Questions?
Follow me on Twitter: @jtrondeau
Connect on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/jtrondeau

29. @jtrondeau
Test cases from the
table!
They are in the same order as the test table.

30. @jtrondeau

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Results:
7.42% Lift In
Opt-Ins
Confidence:
99%
Test Duration:
2 Weeks

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4 Form Fields 3 Form Fields
Traf0ic 3187 3128
LM Conversions 1,241 1,310
LM Conversion Rate 38.95 ± 2.21 41.84 ± 2.24
LM Relative Lift N/A 7.42% at 99% Con0idence
TW Conversions 54 65
TW Conversion Rate
(Compared to LM Conversions)
4.3% 4.9%
TW Relative Lift 13.95% at 77% Con0idence

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Results:
Slot 1 -42% Lift in Clicks
Slot 2 -25% Lift in Clicks
Confidence:
97% & 98%
Test Duration:
1 Week

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Mixed CTA Only Learn More Only Get Certi0ied
Traf0ic 2135 2154 2139
Total Cert LP Visits 428 406 419
Total Click Conversion Rate 20.05 ± 1.11 18.85 ± 1.08 19.58 ± 1.10
Total Click Relative Lift N/A -6% at 16& Con0idence -2.3% at a 35% Con0idence
Slot 1 Clicks 27 39 47
Slot 1 Click Rate 1.26% ± .31 1.81% ± .37 2.20% ± .41
Slot 1 Relative Lift N/A 43.2% at 93% Con0idence 73.7% at 99% Con0idence
Slot 2 Clicks 131 108 138
Slot 2 Click Rate 6.14% ± 66 5.01% ± .60 6.45% ± .68
Slot 2 Relative Lift N/A -18.3% at a 5% Con0idence 5.1% at 66% Con0idence
Cert Purchases 11 10 11
Cert Purchase Rate .52% ± .20 .46% ± .19 .51% ± .20
Cert Purchase Relative lift N/A -9.9% at 41%Con0idence -.2% at 50% Con0idence

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Results: No Difference :(
Duration: 4 weeks

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No Branding Digital
Marketer Logo
Machine Logo
Traf0ic 840 832 804
Conversions 332 314 314
Conversion
Rate
39.54% ± 4.21 37.76% ± 4.25 39.07 ± 4.36
Relative Lift 4.7% at 51%
con0idence
N/A 3.46% at 37%
con0idence

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Results:
38.7% increase
in sales
Confidence:
99%
Test Duration:
2 Weeks

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WHY?!

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Results:
4.87% increase
in opt-ins
Confidence:
96%
Test Duration:
4 Weeks

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Results:
14.4% increase
in opt-ins
Confidence:
99%
Test Duration:
5 Weeks

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Results:
18% increase in opt-ins
Confidence:
99%
Test Duration:
3 Weeks

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Results:
18.85% increase in opt-ins
Confidence:
99%
Test Duration:
3 Weeks

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Results:
5.7% increase
in sales
Confidence:
93%
Test Duration:
2 Weeks

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No Slider Slider

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Results:
4.3% increase
in clicks
Confidence:
93%
Test Duration:
2 Weeks
No Slider

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