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LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions

Name: LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions
Author: Tim Ash
ISBN: 9780470174623

by Tim Ash

January 2008

Intermediate to advanced

384 pages

10h 10m

English

Sybex

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Advance Praise for Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Dear Reader
About the Author
Introduction
I. Background
1. Setting the Stage
1.1. A Few Precious Moments...1.2. The Three Keys to Online Marketing1.2.1. Acquisition1.2.2. Conversion1.2.3. Retention1.3. The Myth of Perfect Conversion1.4. What's Wrong with This Picture?
2. Understanding Your Landing Pages
2.1. Landing Page Types2.2. What Parts of Your Site Are Mission Critical?2.3. Who Is Your Landing Page Designed For?2.4. What Is the Desired Conversion Action?2.5. What Is the Lifetime Value of the Conversion Action?2.5.1. The Financial Impact of Conversion Rate Improvement
3. Understanding Your Audience
3.1. Empathy: The Key Ingredient3.2. Covering the Complete Story3.3. Demographics and Segmentation3.3.1. Web Analytics3.3.2. Traffic Sources and Their Variability3.4. Behavioral Styles3.4.1. Myers-Briggs3.4.2. Keirsey-Bates3.4.3. Platinum Rule3.5. User-Centered Design3.5.1. Usability Testing3.5.2. Personas3.5.3. Roles3.5.4. Tasks3.6. The Matrix

4. Understanding The Decision Process
4.1. Overview of the Decision Process4.2. Awareness (Attention)4.2.1. Banner Ads4.2.2. Entry Pop-ups4.2.3. Exit Pop-ups4.2.4. Home Page Awareness4.2.5. Keys to Creating Awareness4.3. Interest4.3.1. Self-Selection4.3.2. Need Recognition4.4. Desire4.4.1. Do You Have What the Visitor Wants?4.5. Action4.5.1. Should the Visitor Get It from You?4.5.2. Transacting
II. What and How to Tune
5. Why Your Site Is Not Perfect
5.1. Your Baby Is Ugly5.2. Uncovering Problems5.2.1. Audience Role Modeling5.2.2. Web Analytics5.2.3. Onsite Search5.2.4. Usability Testing5.2.5. Usability Reviews5.2.6. Focus Groups5.2.7. Eye-Tracking Studies5.2.8. Customer Service Reps5.2.9. Surveys5.2.10. Forums and Blogs5.3. Welcome to Your Brain5.3.1. Your Three Brains5.3.2. Learning Modalities5.3.3. Constraints and Conventions5.4. Usability Basics5.4.1. Information Architecture5.4.2. Accessibility5.4.3. Language5.4.4. Visual Design
6. Selecting Elements to Tune
6.1. How to Think About Test Elements6.1.1. Breadth of Impact6.1.2. Granularity6.1.3. Sweep6.1.4. Coherency6.1.5. Audience Segmentation6.1.6. Longevity6.1.7. Baggage6.2. Selecting Elements to Tune6.2.1. Page Structure6.2.2. Information Architecture6.2.3. Presentation6.2.4. Emphasis6.3. Tuning Multiple-Page Flows6.3.1. Systematic6.3.2. Connected6.3.3. Flexible6.4. Timeless Testing Themes6.4.1. Less Is More6.4.2. Personalize It6.4.3. Test the Offer6.5. Price Testing6.5.1. Qualitative Methods6.5.2. Quantitative Methods
7. The Math of Tuning
7.1. Just Grin and Bear It7.2. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics7.2.1. Throwing Away Part of the Data7.2.2. Biased Samples7.2.3. Overgeneralization7.2.4. Loaded Questions7.2.5. False Causality7.3. You Are Here7.3.1. Probability Theory7.3.2. Statistical Methods7.3.3. Applied Statistics7.4. Have I Found Something Better?7.5. How Sure Do I Need to Be?7.5.1. Collecting Insufficient Data7.5.2. Confusing Significance with Importance7.5.3. Understanding the Results7.6. How Much Better Is It?7.7. How Long Should My Test Run?7.7.1. Data Rate7.7.2. Size of Improvements Found7.7.3. Size of Your Test7.8. Variable Interactions
8. Tuning Methods
8.1. Introduction to Tuning8.1.1. Input and Output Variables8.1.2. Variable8.1.3. Value8.1.4. Branching Factor8.1.5. Recipe8.1.6. Search Space Size8.1.7. Test Construction8.2. Common Tuning Issues8.2.1. Measuring and Counting8.2.2. Audience Changes8.2.3. Technology Changes8.3. Overview of Tuning Methods8.4. A-B Split Testing8.4.1. A-B Split Testing Advantages8.4.2. A-B Split Testing Disadvantages8.5. Multivariate Testing8.5.1. Data Collection8.5.2. Data Analysis8.5.3. Fractional Factorial Parametric Testing8.5.4. Full Factorial Parametric Testing8.5.5. Full Factorial Non-parametric Testing
III. Getting It Done
9. Assembling the Team and Getting Buy-in
9.1. The Usual Suspects9.1.1. User Experience9.1.2. Product Manager9.1.3. Webmaster9.1.4. System Administrator9.1.5. Graphics Designer9.1.6. Copywriter9.1.7. Marketing Manager9.1.8. Programmer9.1.9. Quality Assurance Tester9.2. The Company Politics of Tuning9.2.1. Brand Guardians9.2.2. I.T. Staff9.2.3. Procedural Gatekeepers9.2.4. C-whims9.2.5. Finance9.3. Strategies for Getting Started9.3.1. Start Small9.3.2. Stay Below the Radar9.3.3. Sneak It Through Your Affiliate Program9.3.4. Outsource9.3.5. Make the Financial Case9.3.6. Build a Coalition9.4. Insource or Outsource?
10. Developing Your Action Plan
10.1. Before You Begin10.2. Understand Your Business Objectives10.2.1. Building the Financial Model10.3. Build Support and Assemble Your Team10.3.1. Assembling the Team10.4. Determine Your Landing Pages and Traffic Sources10.4.1. Selecting Traffic Sources10.5. Decide What Constitutes Success10.5.1. Selecting the Right Confidence Level10.6. Uncover Problems and Decide What to Test10.6.1. Deciding on the Tuning Elements10.7. Select an Appropriate Tuning Method10.8. Implement and Conduct QA10.8.1. Implementation10.8.2. Quality Assurance10.9. Collect the Data10.9.1. Preparing for Data Collection10.9.2. Monitoring Data Collection10.10. Analyze the Results and Verify Improvement
11. Avoiding the Pitfalls
11.1. A Final Warning11.2. Ignoring Your Baseline11.3. Collecting Enough Data11.4. Variable Interactions11.5. Seasonality11.6. Assuming That Testing Has No Costs11.7. Delayed Conversions11.7.1. Case Study: Power Options11.8. Search Engine Considerations11.8.1. Fear11.8.2. Technical Issues11.8.3. Cloaking11.8.4. PPC11.9. Inaction
A. Closer Look at the Google Website Optimizer
A.1. BackgroundA.2. Requirements and CapabilitiesA.2.1. Technical RequirementsA.2.2. Alternative Content Variations Stored by GoogleA.2.3. Page Rendering and ScriptingA.2.4. Possible Types of TestsA.3. Example Test Setup: SF VideoA.3.1. Step 1: Identify Experiment PagesA.3.2. Step 1b: Test Page Section PlanningA.3.3. Step 2: Add Tags to the Experiment PagesA.3.4. Step 3: Create VariationsA.3.5. Step 4: Review Experiment Settings and LaunchA.3.6. Step 5: View ReportsA.4. AdvantagesA.4.1. Full Factorial Data CollectionA.4.2. Robust TechnologyA.4.3. Ease of ImplementationA.4.4. Price Point and Staying PowerA.5. DrawbacksA.5.1. No Variable Interaction AnalysisA.5.2. Does Not Support Recipe Bandwidth ChangesA.5.3. Big Brother Sees AllA.5.4. No Easy Support for Nested or Conditional Testing ElementsA.5.5. Only Works for Counting Conversion EventsA.5.6. Rough EdgesA.5.7. Requires Engagement SupportA.5.8. Lacking Enterprise-Level Features
Glossary

Content preview from LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions

Part II. What and How to Tune

It does not matter how you mathematically find the best landing page design if the alternatives that you are testing do not "move the needle." In this part of the book you will learn how to diagnose potential problems with your landing pages, and to identify specific elements to test for creating the highest potential conversion rate improvements.

I will gently introduce you to the math of tuning, and the available methods for conducting tuning tests. There are hidden assumptions behind most tuning methods, and significant limitations to the kinds of answers that they can provide. What you do not know will definitely hurt you.

Part II consists of the following chapters:

Chapter 5 Why Your Site Is Not Perfect

Chapter 6 ...

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Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions, 2nd Edition

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LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions

by Tim Ash

Part II. What and How to Tune

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.