Thrive Themes have released a new plugin to members called Thrive Optimize.
It’s an A/B testing plugin, where you can create clones of web pages using Thrive Architect and then change elements and send a mixture of traffic to those pages, testing the elements against each other.
The aim is to find which sales page converts the best, so you can get higher conversions.
I haven’t tried the plugin yet, but I will. It’ll likely make everything easier, faster and more effective for my online business.
But before we talk about the new tech, let’s talk about the key thing you need to remember with online testing – and online business in general.
The Big Mistake People Make With Split-Testing
Before you use your super-duper software to do split-testing, make sure you aren’t making a crucial mistake.
Don’t test two completely different sales pages against each other.
I see this advice a lot on affiliate marketing forums and the like.
“Write five different sales pages and test which one works!”
Let’s say you have a skin care product, and you write five short sales letters.
“Get Better SkinCare Now – Top Ten Tips”
“Super Skincare+ Review”
“How Does Kendall Jenner Get Super-Clear Skin?”
“Why Sugar Is KILLING Your Skin, And How You Can Fix It!”
“This Skincare Product Is Going To KILL The Competitors… Here’s Why”
Now… all of those could be good articles.
They’d naturally have a different slant. One’s a top ten. One’s a straight review and one is an implied celebrity endorsement.
You have different headlines, different structures and different calls-to-action for all of them.
That’s where the problem lies.
You have no idea what works or doesn’t work about those articles.
Maybe people love the headline about Kendall Jenner but hate the call to action?
Or, maybe people want a list of skincare ideas but hate the headline?
When you split-test completely different pages filled with completely different elements… then you have no idea what is working and what isn’t.
Instead, you should do this:
Create one big mega-template article with all the elements you’d include in a sales letter.
Headline/Nightmare Story/Features and Benefits/Call-to-Action/Guarantee/P.S. Section
Then split-test the elements.
If you need to find “the idea,” then you create a test article with multiple links in to test the idea.
In any case, you must know what you’re testing and what the outcome should be.
The ideas above are pretty exhaustive for an article… but this leads into a bigger issue with internet business stuff.
The Tech Comes After The Fundamentals
When it comes to online business, there are a few fundamentals that you need to know. After that, everything becomes straightforward.
This doesn’t guarantee success at everything, but once you have the framework, you can learn and expand your knowledge and everything makes sense and fits together.
Things like:
Ads>Lead-Gen>Funnel>Sale>Upsells
Or…
Social media>Limited Time Offer>Add to Cart>Upsells>Checkout
Once you have an overview of “the system” you can say, “Right… I am rubbish at Instagram. Let’s fill in that piece,” or, “Everyone comes to my site but nobody buys… what do I need to change?”
Online business is filled with gadgets and inventions. People who’ve never had a sale or have no visitors to their site want to split-test scarcity plugins or special offer coupons.
It’s very easy to get caught up in the flashy stuff. I do, everyone does.
But success is always found mostly in the fundamentals. They’re the 90% of what’ll get you sales or whatever you’re after.
The flashy stuff is used for incremental improvements over time.
You might have a sales letter that outperforms another by 1%. Or you might have an email opt-in that converts at 4% versus 1%.
Those situations are excellent, and can raise the value of your business substantially. However, if you only get fifty visitors to your site a month, a 1% increase in conversions won’t make any notable difference.
So it’s best to concentrate on the fundamentals that underpin your business as opposed to the tech.
So Why Do You Need Tech?
You need new technology, gadgets and gizmos because they make things easier and more effective.
Here’s the crazy thing.
You can start a profitable internet business without any money invested. It’d look something like this:
Concentrate on Twitter or IG > Use a Free Mailing List > Send Emails and Offers > Get those to convert.
You could do this and get a lot of subscribers before you had to pay anything. With Twitter, Tumblr and other platforms like that, you have access to thousands of people immediately and as long as you write stuff that people want to read, you’ll get subscriptions.
As long as you work in a specific niche, chances are you’ll be able to sell your subscribers something. Most email marketing services like Mailchimp have a free option up to a certain subscriber count.
So you can get started with no money, and by doing this, you’ll learn social media marketing, email list building and writing sales letters in email.
Obviously as a long term play, you’ll introduce more things. Maybe you’ll get a website for lead generation. Or you’ll start writing blog posts.
This is an organic approach that concentrates on the fundamentals. By the time you’re talking about split-testing headlines or running coupons, you’re a long way down the list of skills you’ve learned and value you’re getting for each pair of eyeballs.
Once you’ve developed those fundamentals, picking the right tools and using them effectively become a lot easier.