Want to know how to improve your marketing messages? Split testing is the key to generating more conversions and is one of the best (and most cost-effective) ways of optimising your online marketing activities. Making small, incremental changes in ads or emails can help you determine what your visitors respond to best.

Colours, headlines, calls to action, fonts, special offers, and images can all be tested, the better to maximise effectiveness.

Optimise your Online Advertising with Split Testing
First, here are a few basic rules for split testing, whether you are trialling emails, PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns, or online ad campaigns:

1. Determine what you will measure.
2. Measure before you start, so that you have comparison figures.
3. Change only one thing at a time. This could be the headline, the colour of the image, or whether a male or female is depicted in the image.
4. Give the new ad content some time then measure again.
5. Improved numbers? Keep the change. Decreased numbers? Change again, or revert to the original.

Improve Your Email Marketing
Effectively split-testing your emails can dramatically improve your sign ups, lower spam reporting, and increase readership. There are many simple split-testing strategies that you can apply to your email marketing:

• Personalise one broadcast and not the other. Do your subscribers prefer you to be familiar with them or not?
• Try different subject lines. Your email subject line has a big effect on how much your message gets seen.
• Send the same email at different times of the day and compare which time period gets the best results.
• Vary the words on your call-to-action for signing up. Keep your original for comparison, and think of a few short phrases that mean the same thing. For example, instead of using "Sign up," try "Yes, I want to be kept informed," or "Yes, send me..." or even the well-used "Submit".

Split Testing for PPC (Pay Per Click) Campaigns
Split testing your PPC campaigns is an excellent way to ensure that you maximise your ad spend. It is important to remember that you need to use the original ad as your control; then only change one thing at a time, and remeasure.

Many factors can be tested in your PPC ads, such as the headline, the ad copy, altered keyword use, a changed call to action, inclusion of the price (if appropriate) as opposed to a special offer, and mention of the brand as opposed to a product description.

Yahoo! and Google Adwords both offer the option of split testing your ads, allowing you to rotate two different versions simultaneously.

Don't treat split testing lightly; even though the difference in the results may not seem dramatic, the compounding effect can be significant. If you would like help with split testing your marketing activities, please contact us.