Tag Archives: engagement

How to A/B Test Your Website [Step-by-Step Guide]

Posted on August 5, 2019 by Hosting

The post How to A/B Test Your Website [Step-by-Step Guide] appeared first on HostGator Blog . With over 181 million active websites on the internet, it may seem impossible to build a website that stands out in the crowd. But don’t let that big, generic number scare you off from taking your website seriously and giving it your all. Not only is it possible to run a successful website in a sea of other websites, but it’s possible to design your website in a way that pleases your target audience, increases conversions, and edges out your competitors. Does this like a secret you want in on? The big secret is simply A/B testing your website instead of making decisions based on a “feeling” or your own preferences. A/B testing is a powerful way to learn exactly what appeals to your customers and what small decisions boost conversions. Don’t believe it? Studies show that simple decisions (e.g. where to place your CTA button, what colors to use, what copy to include, etc.) can increase conversions significantly. For example, remember when a red CTA button beat a green one with a 21% increase in conversions ? A/B testing is the perfect way to build a high-performing website, and this guide will give you all the ins and outs of how to get started. What Is A/B Testing And How Does It Work? A/B testing is a randomized experiment that tests two variables, A and B. In plain English, and as it relates to websites, A/B testing is when you test two versions of your website to determine which one performs better.  This testing process takes the guesswork out of website creation and optimization. Rather than relying on your own preferences or your gut feeling, you can make data-based website decisions that generate winning results. So, how does A/B testing work? With A/B testing, you modify one element on your website and create a second version. Then, you randomly show the original version to 50 percent of your audience, and the modified version to the other 50 percent of your website visitors.  Once you’ve run your test long enough to determine statistical significance, you measure engagement results. Whichever version performs better provides you with your data-informed answer. Keep in mind, you should only change one element of your website at a time during an A/B test. For example, you may be interested in learning which call-to-action (CTA) button drives more conversions. Variations could include color, copy, and size.  If you tested color, copy, and button size all at the same time, you would have no clue as to which change is influencing engagement. When you test only one element at a time, you know exactly what had an effect on visitors’ engagement.  Why A/B Test Your Website? It’s kind of like this. Your dad is 100 percent sure it’s a good idea to go out wearing crew socks and open-toed sandals. When he walks out of his closet and asks the rest of the family if he looks okay, you do something he thinks is unfathomable. You tell him to march right around and put on some close-toed shoes, so he’s not the next subject of ridicule on the nearest teen’s SnapChat account. It’s similar with A/B testing a website. You may be absolutely sure you know what works best on your website, but chances are, you’re wrong. Similarly, what works well for you might not resonate well with your target audience, especially if there is a demographic difference between you and your website visitors. When you A/B test, you get the inside scoop from your audience to find out if your website is wearing metaphorical mom jeans and needs some adjustments. In short, A/B testing is a data-driven way to collect insightful feedback on your website. With this information, you can implement careful changes to your website all while collecting data on the results. And, here’s the best part. Not only does A/B testing help you make better design and messaging decisions, but it ensures you’re making business decisions that align properly with customer preferences from the get-go.  This is solid for business since 79% of US consumers say they only consider brands that show they understand and care about “me.” Not to mention, 56% of US consumers say they feel more loyal to brands that show a deep understanding of their priorities and preferences.  A/B testing your website is a surefire way to lean into audience preferences and show your visitors that you “get” them. What Should a Novice A/B Test? While it’s true that nearly everything on a website can be A/B tested, it doesn’t mean you have to, or even should, A/B test everything. After all, you want to get your website up and running sooner rather than later. A good rule of thumb is to test anything that can influence visitor behavior or directly affect conversion. For example, you could A/B test whether the “About” section should come before or after your “Services” section on the navigation menu. Since this element of your website doesn’t carry much weight over how your visitors interact with your site, it probably doesn’t matter too much, and you can stick with the standard. Here’s what to test instead. 1. Copy Did you know that compelling copy draws 7.8 times more site traffic and produces brand recall, which leads to higher engagement rates? Top-notch copy is key to the success of your website, so it’s smart to find out what copy your target audience likes most. Here are some copy elements you should be A/B testing: Headlines and Subheadlines. Your headlines and subheadlines are what your visitors will see first. Test to find out which headlines are leading your visitors down the conversion funnel. Copy Length. Do your website visitors prefer short and snappy quips or do they need more information to help them engage? There is only one way to find out. You guessed it: A/B testing. Tone. Your copywriter can take several approaches when it comes to tone, but only your audience can tell you what tone works best. A/B testing will give you insight into what tonal direction your website needs. 2. Images & Videos If pictures are worth a thousand words, then you need to choose the right images and videos for your website. With the perfect imagery on your website, your visitors will only need a quick glance to understand what you’re trying to convey. And, A/B testing will tell you which images get the job done best. To give you a better idea of how image and video A/B testing works, let’s look at a recent split test from Zagg. Zagg wanted to know what type of images led to higher conversion rates, so they conducted A/B testing for a static image, a 360º product image, and a video on their product page, and the results were astounding. Zagg first tested the static image against the video. They found that the video yielded a 27% increase in revenue per visitor. This told the team that video yielded better results than a static default image. But, remember how they also wanted to test 360º product images? In a second A/B test, the team tested the video against the 360º image on their product pages . The results were interesting. They found the 360º image produced an additional 12% increase in revenue per visitor. Video Version of Zagg’s Image A/B Test 360º Variation of Zagg’s A/B Image Test Simple A/B testing of a static image, a 360º image, and a video provided Zagg with valuable insight into how to boost revenue based on customer preferences.  You can do the same. 3. Call To Action (CTA) The call to action button is arguably the most important thing to A/B test on your website. Your call to action button can make the difference between a conversion and a user clicking out of your site. When it comes to A/B testing your CTA, here are some things you can test: Copy length Copy phrasing Copy length Size of button Color of button Placement of button To give you an idea of how testing a CTA can work wonders, here are some interesting results from experts: Helzberg Diamonds saw a 26% increase in clicks by adding an arrow icon to their CTA buttons, according to Marketing Tech Blog . ContentVerve saw a 90% increase in click-through rate by using first-person phrasing: “Start my free 30 day trial” as opposed to “Start your free 30 day trial.” SAP found that orange CTAs boosted their conversion rate over 32.5%, according to QuickSprout . As you can see, A/B testing your CTA button makes a difference, and it’s a great place for beginners to start. What Is the A/B Testing Process? Now that you know what to test, let’s talk about the process of setting up your first A/B test. The first thing to remember is you don’t have to go it alone. There are several tools on the market that will guide you through the A/B testing process. Tools like Optimizely, VWO, and Omniconvert provide intuitive tools that help you create variations of your pages. The best part? You don’t need to know how to code. You just point-and-click. Once you have settled on an A/B testing tool, here is a basic framework that will guide you through the process. 1. Identify Conversion Goals.  Before you start testing, it’s imperative that you know what you want your website users to do. Subscribe to an email list? Sign up for a seminar? Buy a product? Your conversion goals will help you determine what you need to test. 2. Write Down Your Hypothesis. Congratulations! You officially have conversion goals. Now it’s time to generate A/B testing hypotheses for why you think specific changes will be better than what you already have on your website. Again, these ideas will help you know what modifications to make before you start your testing. 3. Create Your Variations. Now it’s time to make the desired changes to your website and get ready for testing. Remember, you don’t have to do this alone or strain yourself too hard to create your variations. There are several A/B testing software tools on the market with visual editors that will help you create changes and run your test. You can even use the drag and drop features in your website builder to help you easily modify your site. 4. Run Your Test. This is the exciting part. Once you initiate your test, website visitors will start to participate. A/B testing works at random, so you won’t know which website visitors will see which variation. All you need to know is 50 percent of your visitors will see one variation and 50 percent will see the other.  5. Keep Your Test Running Long Enough. There is no magic set number for how long you should run your A/B test. The general rule of thumb is to run your test long enough to determine statistical significance. This will vary from website to website depending on how much traffic you get. Thankfully, most A/B testing software has a built-in calculator that will determine this time frame for you. 6. Analyze Your Results. Once the time frame is up, take a look at your results and see where there is statistical significance. Again, this process is automated with the help of an A/B testing software tool. All you’ll have to do is login to your dashboard and look at the results. Your dashboard will show you whether your control (option A) or your variant (option B) has greater statistical significance. And, that’s it. Rinse and repeat until you have a solid idea of what website design, copy, and engagement elements to implement. Make A/B Testing Work For You It’s true that A/B testing requires hard work and patience. However, when done correctly, it always pays off in the end. When you have a strong understanding of what your website visitors like, you’re one step closer to accomplishing your goals. For more information about starting your website, check the Gator Website Builder . The website builder makes it easy to drag and drop elements, so A/B testing is a cinch. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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How to Set Up an Email Drip Campaign for Your New Small Business

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Hosting

The post How to Set Up an Email Drip Campaign for Your New Small Business appeared first on HostGator Blog . The early days of running a small business are typically the hardest. Getting your name out there so you can start earning your first customers is a big hurdle when starting from scratch. And all the work you do to raise awareness of your business goes to waste if the people who hear about you once promptly forget. One of the most important things you can do for your new business right now is to start building an email list. An email list is one of the most powerful marketing tools a small business can have. Email marketing is nearly 40 times more effective than social media channels at turning leads into customers and delivers a much higher ROI than many other marketing tactics. Someone that takes the step of subscribing to your email list is showing an active interest in your business — that’s meaningful. But for email marketing to really pay off, once you’ve gotten someone to sign up, you have to work to keep them. Setting up an email drip campaign is a good strategy to do that. What Is an Email Drip Campaign? An email drip campaign is a series of automated emails sent at set intervals after they’re triggered by a specific action. Most frequently, that action is someone signing up for an email list. B ut you can also set up drip campaigns triggered by someone downloading a piece of content, signing up for a free trial, or making a purchase — to name a few examples.   Why Your Small Business Should Use Email Drip Campaigns You’re busy running a new small business. To add a new marketing tactic to your to-do list, you need to be sure it’s worth your time. There are three main reasons for a small business to consider using email drip campaigns.     1. They’re easy. Any good email marketing software makes it easy to set up a drip campaign. Because the emails are automated, once you write and design the emails in your drip campaign once, your software takes care of sending them out to your subscribers at the right time moving forward.     2. They build a relationship with your customers. When you’re browsing your inbox and trying to decide which emails are worth opening, what’s the main deciding factor? For a lot of people — 64%, to be precise — it’s recognizing who the sender is. For many consumers, all the work marketers put into crafting the perfect email subject line ultimately matters less than whether or not they remember who you are when your email lands in their inbox. Setting up a drip campaign for your new subscribers ensures that they hear from you a number of times within the first few weeks after they sign up.  Instead of being a business whose website they landed on once and then forgot about, you become a business they’ve interacted with enough to now see as familiar. That makes a big difference in how they’ll view all the future emails you send.     3. They’re effective. Drip campaigns get results. Various studies have found that open rates for drip campaigns are 80% higher than single send emails and they generate 50% more sales-ready leads. Drip campaigns nurture your leads. They’re your opportunity take someone from a mild interest in your business to a strong understanding of what you do and why it matters.   How to Create Successful Drip Campaigns Before you start setting up email drip campaigns for your business, take a little time to learn some basic best practices.   1. Clarify your goals. Every email drip campaign should have both an overarching goal, as well as specific goals for every email included. Before you start on your emails, sit down and figure out what you want your drip campaign to achieve. Then figure out what you want each email to achieve on the path to that overall goal. Your overall goal in a drip campaign will often be to get your subscribers to make a purchase, but you don’t want every email to make a hard sell. You wouldn’t want to be friends with someone who asked for a favor every single time you saw them, so don’t be that guy in your  emails. Some good (non-purchase) goals to have for specific emails in your drip campaign include:      Education (less about driving action than building a relationship)      A click through to a piece of content      A download of a piece of content      Getting a response with feedback Choose a mix of goals to focus on for your individual emails that all support your overall goal of gaining new customers.   2. Make sure your emails provide unique value. Your email subscribers are extremely valuable. Your emails should reflect that. Don’t just send them the same content and offers that every visitor to your website gets, find ways to provide them with unique value. That could mean creating exclusive content for your drip campaigns that only subscribers get or providing a special discount code or a free gift with purchase for subscribers only. Think of ways you can use your drip campaign to give your subscribers the VIP treatment.   3. Segment your lists. Getting a new email subscriber is a big deal. The last thing you want is to lose them soon after they’ve signed up. If a visitor to your website signs up for your emails because of an interest in content about dogs and your first few emails are all about cats, then they’re not getting what they expected and are more likely to unsubscribe. Receiving irrelevant content is the third biggest reason for unsubscribes. But if you own a pet supplies store that sells items for both cats and dogs, what can you do? Email marketing software like Constant Contact makes it possible to create a number of different email lists so you can better target your emails to the people interested in them. You can either let people select which topics they’re interested in when they sign up, or make sure they’re put on the right list based on how they signed up. For example, the person who signed up by downloading a guide on dog training would go on your Dog People email list, rather than the Cat People one. Make sure the drip campaign you create is relevant for the specific list people join. And just as importantly, make sure that the way you describe and promote your email list to future subscribers accurately communicates what they’ll get. When your subscribers know what they’re signing up for, they’ll be happier with what they get out of it.   4. Use a consistent design. The emails in your drip campaign are all part of a series. You can signal their connection to each other visually by making sure they all have a consistent design. Make sure the style of your emails fits in with the style of your website. Include your logo and go with a similar color scheme. Many people are visual learners and will more easily be able to associate your different emails with each other and your overall brand if they’re all linked with a familiar style.  In most email marketing software programs, you can create templates you can use when creating each email to keep them within the same general style and structure.   5. Include CTAs. We already covered the importance of making sure every email you write has a clear goal. Anytime the goal of your email is for the recipient to take an action, explicitly ask them to take that action. In each email, include a CTA to help your subscribers know the next step you’d like them to take. Even if the goal of a particular email is to raise brand awareness, you can add in a CTA like “Contact us if you have any questions” to provide an option that encourages further engagement. But make sure each email is focused on only one CTA — you don’t want to confuse your list or muddy your focus.   6. Make sure your emails look good on mobile. People frequently use smartphones to check their email. About half of all email opens now occur on mobile devices. For the emails in your drip campaign to achieve their goal, they need to work at least as well on mobile devices as they do on desktop. Design your drip campaign with mobile in mind. Test out the emails on your own mobile devices to make sure they look good and the links are easy to click on. If you have employees or friends that own different types of mobile devices than you, ask them to check how it looks on theirs as well. Your emails need to provide a good experience on mobile or you’re alienating a lot of your audience and could lose subscribers over it.   7. Pay attention to your analytics. Because it’s automated, a drip campaign is in theory something you can create once and then leave on autopilot. But if you care about the results you get, you need to commit to tracking the analytics that show how people interact with your drip campaign so you can make it better over time. Your email marketing software will provide analytics on the number of opens, clicks, and unsubscribes you get with each email. Analyze what’s working and where there’s room for improvement. Test out different approaches in your drip emails. Try out different CTAs, wording, and images. Or see if shaking up the order you send them out in makes a difference. The more data you gain, the stronger you’ll be able to make your drip campaign.   Engage Your Small Business Customers with Email Drip Campaigns When your small business is new, getting those first followers and customers is hard. An email drip campaign will help you develop a relationship with the leads you gain in your early marketing efforts, so you can begin converting them into your first customers. For more tips on email marketing for your small business, check out these  email marketing best practices . Are you a HostGator customer? Learn how you can save on email marketing from Constant Contact! Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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Using a Website Builder? Dive Into the Analytics

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Hosting

The post Using a Website Builder? Dive Into the Analytics appeared first on HostGator Blog . Do Website Builders Offer Analytics? You’ve built out your site and know people are using it. But, in the competitive online space simply building your website isn’t enough. You’ll need to constantly improve it to better meet the needs of your visitors. What’s the best way to do that? By diving into your analytics. Below you’ll learn the importance of understanding your analytics data, the most useful metrics to look for, and finally, how you can use this data to improve your website.   Why Are Website Analytics Important? If you’re using a website builder , then you’ve hopefully turned on the integrated analytics tools. A lot of people turn on these tools, but then never even look at the data. This is a shame, as the data you can uncover from your analytics reports can be incredibly valuable. Your website should be ever changing. And chances are the website you built the first time around isn’t going to be the best website for your visitors today . Your analytics data can help show you what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. And it’ll help to illuminate any glaring holes in your website and elements you need to fix. With this information, you’ll be able to improve your user experience , patch any holes that are losing you visitors, and optimize your site to help you generate the most revenue. Your site visitors are telling you what they want. By using your analytics data you can actually listen to them and give it to them.   The Most Useful Analytics Metrics in Website Builders A lot of people shy away from their analytics data because it can be confusing. Yes, there’s a lot of data in each report, but you’re not going to need to pay attention to every little thing. Instead, you’ll need to look at a few crucial metrics that’ll give you the most actionable information.   1. Your Bounce Rate Your bounce rate will tell you the percentage of people who landed on your website and then hit the back button. Typically, this will tell you that this page isn’t serving your visitors and they’re leaving the page for a specific reason. This could mean that the traffic you’re sending to your site isn’t in alignment with the page, it loads very slowly, or the page isn’t high quality. Usually, it means this page needs to be improved and match the reasons the visitor is coming to your page in the first place.   2. Your User Engagement Your user engagement metrics will tell you how much your visitors are engaging with and enjoying your content. Overall, the more time they’re spending on a page, the better it is. If you have any pages with a very low time spent on page, then these pages could be improved. This means you either need to up the quality of the content, add more media, or determine if your traffic source is out of alignment.   3. Your Site Speed If you have a slow loading site, then visitors aren’t going to stick around and wait for the site to load. By improving your loading speeds you’ll see an improvement in your user engagement and create a better user experience overall. By seeing which pages load the slowest, you’ll be able to determine if it’s an issue with the media you have loading on the page, or whether it’s a sitewide issue.   4. Your Page Exit Data Your page exit data shows you the proportion of visitors who will leave your site after viewing a given page. In some cases, this will make sense. For example, if you have a page that purposefully sends people offsite, then a high exit rate will be a good thing. However, if a page has a high exit rate, but you’re not actively sending people away from your site, then there may be a problem with the page that needs fixing.   Improving Your Site With Analytics Data As you can see your analytics data can give you a ton of useful information that’ll help you improve your site. It’ll show you things like: Which pages are underperforming and can be improved Which pages are causing your visitors to leave your site Which pages are loading slowly and can be improved How your users are interacting with certain pages All of that information can then be used to make your site higher quality. For example, maybe you’ve found your site loads slowly and you need to optimize your existing media and take additional steps to speed up your site. Or maybe you have some pages that cause visitors to leave and the existing content needs to be improved? By spending time digging through your analytics data you can greatly improve the experience a user will have on your site. Then, with all the information in hand you just login to your website builder and make the necessary changes. Your website will be ever-evolving. By using analytics data the right way your website will continuously shift towards providing a better user experience and become a booming viable asset for your business. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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Ways to Boost User Engagement on Your Site

Posted on February 23, 2017 by Hosting

The post Ways to Boost User Engagement on Your Site appeared first on HostGator Blog . It’s one thing to have a website, but it’s another to have one that people actually like to visit on a regular basis. If it were easy to engage users with a website, then there wouldn’t be countless agencies and professionals employed in online marketing. Getting people to want to view and use your website is […] Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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5 Blog Metrics To Measure Audience Engagement

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Hosting

The post 5 Blog Metrics To Measure Audience Engagement appeared first on HostGator Blog . Do you know if anyone is actually reading your blog? Maybe you threw up a company blog, because you felt the pressure and felt like you should. Or, maybe you’ve been executing a content strategy, but you can’t tell if it’s bringing you any results. Creating epic content truly takes time, so you’ll need to […] Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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