If you’re serious about online profits, you need to be carrying out split tests on your webpages. The results from split testing can be amazing; increases in revenue of over 100% are not uncommon.

Google Website Optimizer

In a simple split test, different visitors see different versions of one of your webpages. For example, some visitors may see the existing version of a page, whereas others see a new version. Special software “keeps score” of which version generates the most conversions.

Once you have enough data, the software announces which page was the winner…at which point you promote that page to be the new “champion”.

The test described above would be called an A/B test, because two page versions were tested: Version A and Version B. A test with three page versions would be called an A/B/C test. “A/B/n” can be used as shorthand for a test that has n different page versions.

Depending on how frequently you get conversions, it can take weeks or months—or longer—to collect enough data to declare a winner. You may get frustrated waiting for one test to finish before you run the next one. If so, multivariate testing allows you to carry out several A/B/n split tests on different page elements simultaneously. For example, you may choose to test two different headlines whilst testing two different calls to action.

If you haven’t heard of multivariate testing, maybe you know it by another name, such as

  • MVT
  • Taguchi method (which is a type of multivariate testing)
  • The name of one of the software tools, such as Google Website Optimizer, Optimost or Omniture Test&Target

Most of the software tools allow you to carry out both multivariate tests and A/B/n split tests.

So, which software should you use? The answer’s not obvious.

Yes, it’s easy to compare the features of the different software tools, but there are many more important issues:

  • How easy is it to set up?
  • How helpful is the customer support?
  • Will it be compatible with your website?
  • Does it “do what it says it does”?