Pen to Profit: How A/B Testing Impacts Copy

Introduction 

Collecting and analyzing data is a gigantic piece of our world. We’re taking in metrics, deciding what customer will buy which product, and we do thousands of sweeps through the analytics on websites and purchases. Many business owners have learned to measure the data when making decisions, and although some of those measurements can prove to be a hassle, there’s easier, more efficient ways to delve into the data.

Enter, stage right: A/B testing!

Starting in the 1920s (that’s right, this method is around 100 years old), this testing method is a way to compare two versions of something to see which performs better. While we hear about A/B testing in the world of technology (think app development), it’s crucial to our understanding of content and clients.

So what’s testing got to do with copywriting?

You’ve all heard me harp on the need for copywriting, but since you’re here…

Copywriting is critical for marketing efforts including landing pages, social media marketing, websites, long-form content, and more. This means it’s vital for your copy to be interesting and focused on consistency, hitting the right tone, and encouraging your audience to take action.

And A/B testing is a valuable tool for improving the effectiveness of copywriting and thus - your marketing.

Understanding A/B Testing

Let’s get into it with more specifics on A/B testing. Otherwise known as split testing, A/B refers to a random experimentation process where visitors are segmented into separate groups and shown two slightly different variables (this can be web page, sales page, or other materials).

For all my visual learners out there, here’s a graphic to make sense of it.

In the above graphic, we’re able to see how version A is just slightly different from version B, but version B saw 25 MORE sign-ups than version A. So, in basic terms, it’s a great way to compare two versions of something to see which performs better - and in the marketing world, which one leads to more sales.

And if you want to get REAL nerdy, A/B testing is a component of the process called Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) which is both qualitative and quantitative user insights. This means you can use data through testing to understand your client’s behavior, engagement rate, their problems, and see how they react to specific areas of your website.

Importance of testing in Copywriting

Since there are no true measurements to test copywriting effectiveness, it’s up to the writer to test different versions to see which produces a higher conversion percentage. This makes copywriting one of the easier marketing tools to test as changes are easy to put into practice and you can tweak as much as you want. Believe it or not, minor changes in your copy make a vast difference on conversions.

If you’re not actively testing on your website, ads, and sales offers, you’ll be potentially missing out on some significant leads and prospects.

What should you test

I can sense a few bombastic side eyes being thrown my way. 

“You mean I need to have two different websites? All my marketing materials need to be doubled to perform tests?!”

Nooo…no no. Don’t panic! 

If your business is online, most of your website is words and pictures to depict your offerings. A few things to consider testing can include:

• Headlines

• Sub headings

• Calls-to-action (CTAs)

• Paragraph/sentence length

As you test, please remember there are no best practices guaranteed to work for everybody. To learn what works (and what doesn’t) means testing different options, wording, and sentence structure to narrow down the best performing ones.

Headlines

When you hop on most websites, you’ll notice the headlines first. These will typically give you an overview of the company, their offerings, team members, and portfolio. Headlines can also inform visitors and encourage them to keep reading, sign up for a trial, book a call, etc.

Examples of A/B headlines to test:

• FOMO: “You’re missing out on tons of traffic because of this simple solution. Click for details.”

• Questions: “Ready to get more calls? Click here to learn more.”

• Numbers: “5 best practices to lead to more conversions.”

• How-to: “How to grab the reader’s attention and keep it.”

• Curiosity: “How we helped NameOfWeb get 75% more calls in THREE days.”

You can even test the style of these headlines by including emojis, capitalization, punctuation, etc.

CTAs

Your calls-to-action are the most crucial element of copy as they tell your potential client what to DO (i.e. what action) with what they’ve read. This is a great time to mention that the average reading level of adults in America is between 7th and 8th grade. 

Meaning: site visitors need to understand what you want them to do before they’ll determine if it benefits them. And if you tell them in simple terms, the more likely they’ll take action.

Try to keep your CTA buttons and text simple, straightforward, and consistent with your branding and business persona. A few options to test include:

• Style: Download My eBook or DOWNLOAD MY EBOOK! or Download my ebook 

• Pronouns: Buy your ebook now or buy my ebook now

• Verbs: Get my ebook now or download my ebook now

After nailing down the verbiage, did you know the style of your button can determine if someone clicks or not? I know it sounds whacky, but it’s true! Test between circular buttons, square buttons, and test the color of the text and see which gets a better response.

Length

Copy length is something I will harp on until I’m no longer copywriting (or since I’m really opinionated, probably longer). 

Attention spans of site visitors have declined over the years and is now speculated to be approximately 8 seconds per person (which is less than a goldfish. Yikes). For your copy, this means the length of your content needs to cater to this.

Vary up your content with how many sentences are in your paragraphs, sentence length, and add plenty of breaks. This allows readers to follow along, scroll down, and keep paying attention.

Summary

Getting creative with your content ensures you’ll continue to learn your customers and the user experience better. While words are all around us, advertising and marketing is all about testing the little bits and pieces that are important to drive the best results.

If you’ve read to the end of this blog and still aren’t sure how to go through your copy and A/B test, let’s talk and come up with some solutions. You don’t need to figure it out alone.