• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Media Examiner

Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle

  • 🔥 Free Newsletter
  • 🎙️ Podcasts
    • Social Media Marketing Podcast
    • AI Explored Podcast
    • Social Media Marketing Talk Show
    • Our YouTube Channel
  • 🌟 AI Society
  • 🗓️ Marketing Conference
  • đź‘‹ About Us
    • Marketing Events
  • Search
  • Embrace AI & MarketingGet Ongoing Training & SupportBEGIN YOUR JOURNEY NOW

    Conversion Optimization: How to Split Test Your Way to Success

    by Michael Stelzner / November 4, 2016

    Want to get more leads and subscribers?

    Have you considered optimizing your opt-in forms?

    To explore conversion rate optimization for your online forms, I interview Chris Dayley.

    More About This Show

    The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

    In this episode, I interview Chris Dayley, who is the VP of site testing and optimization at Disruptive Advertising, an agency that specializes in site testing and analytics. Chris's clients include Fandango, Lids.com, and Citrix.

    Chris explores conversion rate optimization and split testing.

    You'll discover which elements to test for your opt-in forms.

    podcast 222 Chris Dayley shares what marketers need to know about conversion optimization and how to split test your way to success

    Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.

    Listen Now


    Where to subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube Music | YouTube | Amazon Music | RSS

    Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:

    Conversion Optimization

    How Chris Got Into This Space

    Chris got his start driving traffic to websites using search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC), and social media. The company he worked for was trying to figure out how to monetize their traffic because they were having a hard time getting visitors to convert.

    Because no one at the company knew about conversion rate optimization, Chris picked it up as a pet project.

    AI Business Society

    Ready to Unlock AI Marketing Breakthroughs?

    If you’re like most of us, you are trying to figure out how to use AI in your marketing. Here's the solution: The AI Business Society—a new AI marketing community from your friends at Social Media Examiner.

    The AI Business Society is the place to discover how to apply AI in your work. When you join, you'll boost your productivity, unlock your creativity, and make connections with other marketers on a similar journey.

    I'M READY TO BECOME AN AI-POWERED MARKETER

    When he first proposed to test some changes to the site design, there was a lot of pushback from the site designers. After he ran his first round of tests, some of the pages began to see 10% to 15% lifts in conversion.

    He fell in love with finding out how seemingly small changes could have a big impact on user behavior.

    disruptive advertising website

    Listen to the show to hear the company's initial reaction to testing and the results they got from it.

    Conversion Rate Optimization and Why It Matters

    Chris explains that conversion rate optimization is a scientific way to figure out what your audience wants to see on your website in order to convert, and he notes that it should be half of any digital marketer's focus.

    Driving traffic is only half the battle. While he used to assume that if he drove good traffic to a site, it was going to convert, years of testing have shown that a large portion of your audience won't convert unless you give them the experience they're seeking.

    conversion optimization image

    Conversion rate optimization is a way of testing different concepts and ideas on your site to find out what your audience actually wants to see.

    Listen to the show to discover why we use conversion rate optimization at Social Media Examiner and the effect it's had on our marketing.

    Where to Start Testing Opt-in Forms

    When doing form optimization, whether it's opt-in, lead generation, or checkout forms, the first things to look at are imagery, color, and font sizes. Make sure your form stands out in contrast to the page and that the image or lack of image is helping your users, Chris says.

    Chris recommends trying different variations of images, and to make sure the concepts are different, aren't distracting, and add some context to the offer.

    For example, in Social Media Examiner's previous pop-up, there was no image, even though our provider OptinMonster and other web-based form providers such as LeadPages allow you to include an image. Chris recommended testing an image of the cover of the actual product on offer, a graphic representation of the title, and an icon representation (shown in the image below.)

    pop up form

    The icon came out as the winner by a long shot!

    When asked about how many elements to test at a time, Chris advises different approaches for different projects. There are basically four elements in an opt-in form: the headline, content, a potential image, and a button to opt in. With so few elements, each one will have a huge role in the conversion rate, and it's easy to separate them out and test them one at a time.

    When you look at testing an entire website design, there are potentially dozens of elements on a page. In those cases, it's sometimes beneficial to change multiple elements at a time. Each element can play such a small role that you almost won't see any impact unless you change more than one element at a time.

    Listen to the show to hear more about the processes Social Media Examiner went through in choosing a new image for our forms.

    How to Do a Basic Split Test

    Chris explains that in a split test, you take an existing page or form, duplicate it, and change something on the alternate version; for example, add an image. You then run the original and the changed variation at the same time and split the traffic between them. Chris says you need to run a test for at least a week.

    split test results example

    At the end of the test period, you get a scientific result that shows how each version performed with the same amount of traffic during the same time period.

    Listen to the show to discover why you need to run a split test for a minimum of a week.

    How to Determine the Winner

    Discover Proven Marketing Strategies and Tips

    Want to go even deeper with your marketing? Check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast! Publishing weekly since 2012, the Social Media Marketing Podcast helps you navigate the constantly changing marketing jungle, with expert interviews from marketing pros.

    But don’t let the name fool you. This show is about a lot more than just social media marketing. With over 600 episodes and millions of downloads each year, this show has been a trusted source for marketers for well over a decade.

    CHECK OUT THE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PODCAST NOW

    After running your split test, Chris says the first benchmark to consider is performance; identify the variation that has consistently performed better.

    You can also plug your test data into a calculator such as Optimizely to see how statistically significant your result is. You want a statistical significance of at least 90%.

    optimizely

    If you have high amounts of traffic and conversions, you may see 90% in a single day, which is why Chris stresses the importance of testing for at least a week. Alternatively, Chris notes that if you get low amounts of traffic and conversions, it may take longer than a week to reach 90%. In this case, you might need to run your test for a month.

    Listen to the show to hear why you shouldn't base all of your optimization on the results for a single form.

    What to Test Next

    First, Chris reminds listeners to test the mobile versions of their forms separately from the desktop versions. Then, he says, once you've gotten through the basics (images, color, and font size), you can look at optimizing the messaging by testing headlines, calls to action, the amount of copy, and what the copy says.

    Chris explains that optimizing the amount of text can be a bit challenging. Because business owners, in particular, tend to want to say everything about their offer, they often have too much copy. In other situations, there isn't enough copy.

    To find the balance, you can run split tests to see whether you should have one paragraph, three paragraphs, or one sentence. Then, if you settle on a single paragraph, determine if it should have four sentences, four bullet points, and so on. You can then test versions of your copy by using the same verbiage but broken up differently or rearranged in each variation.

    exit intent

    Also test the opt-in button text to see if using Yes or No instead of the default text can impact user behavior.

    Using the words “yes” or “no” on your button text accomplishes a couple of different goals. First, when users get to decide whether to see the form, they feel like they're taking control of the experience. If they click yes, they've already mentally bought into the idea of the offer and are more willing to fill the form out.

    Second, there's a percentage of the population that immediately wants to reject anything that feels like an offer. If they see a button that says no, they may give some thought before declining, rather than close the offer immediately.

    Listen to the show to learn why you should test design concepts for your forms.

    Discovery of the Week

    Crowdfire, a web app for iOS and Android, lets you publish to Twitter and Instagram, engage with your followers, clean up your followers, find new followers based on keywords, and schedule based on the best times to publish.

    crowdfire

    Because Instagram's API doesn't allow scheduling, Crowdfire walks you through the process of creating content on your smartphone and then allows you to save it in a hopper. The app then pings you at the scheduled time so you can manually publish your post.

    Crowdfire is free for one account with limited features but offers several paid account options to fit a variety of business needs.

    Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how Crowdfire works for you.

    Listen to the show!
    http://traffic.libsyn.com/socialmediamarketing/SocialMediaMarketing-222-16-11-04.mp3

    Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:

      • Learn more about Chris's work on the Disruptive Advertising website.
      • Get the A/B Testing Starter Guide.
      • Follow @ChrisDayley on Twitter.
      • Explore OptinMonster and LeadPages.
      • Take a look at Optimizely.
      • Check out Crowdfire.
      • Watch our weekly Social Media Marketing Talk Show on Fridays at 8 AM Pacific on Huzza.io, or tune in on Facebook Live.
      • Learn more about Social Media Marketing World 2017.
    • Read the 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

    Help Us Spread the Word!

    Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet.

    If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review, and subscribe. And if you listen on Stitcher, please click here to rate and review this show.

    Social Media Marketing Podcast w/ Michael Stelzner

    Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast:

    • Click here to subscribe via iTunes.
    • Click here to subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed).
    • You can also subscribe via Stitcher.

    What do you think? What are your thoughts on conversion optimization? Please leave your comments below.

    Chris Dayley talks with Michael Stelzner about conversion optimization for marketers and what you need to know about split testing.

    AI EXPLORED

    Curious About How to Use AI?

    Our newest show, AI Explored, might be just what you're looking for. It's for marketers, creators, and entrepreneurs who want to understand how to use AI in their business.

    It's hosted by Michael Stelzner and explores this exciting new frontier in easy-to-understand terms.

    Pull up your favorite podcast app and search for AI Explored. Or click the button below for more information.

    I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AI

    Tags: Social Media Marketing Podcast, Social Media Strategy

    About the authorMichael Stelzner

    Michael Stelzner is the founder of Social Media Examiner and the Social Media Marketing World conference. He's host of the Social Media Marketing Podcast and he's founder of the AI Business Society. He also authored the books Launch and Writing White Papers.
    Other posts by Michael Stelzner »

    Get Social Media Examiner’s Future Articles in Your Inbox!

    Get our latest articles delivered to your email inbox and get the FREE Social Media Marketing Industry Report (43 pages, 50+ charts)!

    Industry Report Cover

    Worth Exploring:

    Facebook

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Instagram

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    YouTube

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Linkedin

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    AI

    Next Frontier Explore More →

    Social Media Marketing Industry Report

    Get Free Report →

    Social Marketing Trends

    The data you've been missing!

    Need a new plan? Discover how marketers plan to change their social activities in the 17th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report. It reveals what marketers have planned for their social activities, content marketing, and more! Get this free report now and never miss another great article from us. Join more than 385,000 marketers!

    Simply click the button below to get the free report:

    Footer

    Your Guide to the Marketing Jungle
    Copyright © 2025 Social Media Examiner®
    All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy.

    Helpful Links

    • About us
    • Our content via email
    • Our podcasts
    • Our YouTube channel
    • Our live show
    • Our social media marketing industry report
    • Our generative AI marketing industry report
    • Sponsorship opportunities
    • RSS