Brenda StoltzNo one is a mindreader. As much as you might wish you had that superpower, it’s impossible to flawlessly know what other people are thinking. Customer research and audience profiles are a 
good start to learning about an audience, but these tools can only provide limited insight.
To get to know what your audience wants, you have to ask.
You don’t want to go through the painstaking process of conducting in-depth interviews for each new campaign. There’s a better way to tap into the mindset of your buyer and learn what he wants.
What are A/B Tests?
A/B tests happen when you send test page A to half of your incoming traffic and test page B to the other half. When you get enough traffic (at least 100 people on each page) you will know which one performs the best and which one your audience preferred.
When conducting A/B tests, work slowly. Make small incremental changes (no more than one element at a time) to see specifically what your customers like and what they don’t like. Over time, you can evolve your landing pages to turn them into the perfect sales tools for your customers.
Knowing what to test is one of the hardest parts. Here are three of the main conversion driving components we love to tweak in our A/B testing process.
Headline and Copy
The first thing a person will notice about your page is your headline. Does it speak to your audience? Does it use your visitor’s language? If not, you could lose the traffic you fought so hard to receive.
Make changes to your headline slowly. Once you find a headline that works, only then should you move down to the supporting copy.
The verbiage you use must be sharp enough to grab your customer’s attention and compelling enough to keep it. Slowly make changes to your copy’s message. When A/B testing, notice how long a person stays on the page. The longer the person is there, the more compelling your copy is.
Imagery
Your images also make a strong first impression on your landing page. They speak to your brand. They describe your product. And they set the tone for what the copy will say.
Images also hold non-verbal connotations. What might seem inoffensive to you could be wildly offensive to your target audience. Pay attention to how people react when seeing our imagery and play around with it. Try cartoon images instead of stock photos. Or use customer’s faces instead of screenshots. Tweak, test, and keep it moving forward.
Call-to-Action
Every landing page has a goal of driving the visitor to perform a specific action. The clearer you can make that call-to-action, the better.
The color, design, placement, and copy on your call-to-action can have a dramatic impact on how your landing page performs. Testing each of these elements shows you what inspires your customers to convert and what falls flat. Making simple tweaks can dramatically improve your conversion numbers so it’s worth paying attention to.
Do You A/B Test?
A/B testing is the best way to become the mind reader you always wanted to be. Make small changes and watch as your audience tells you what they want to see more of and less of from you.
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