The Importance of Testing Your Sales / Promotions
There are many parts to a promotion that should be tested and checked, but once a few promotions are completed testing becomes second nature. There should be a comprehensive checklist of any particular issues that could arise that would need to be fixed before a launch could happen. Testing throughout the development stages is crucial to making sure a website can have full navigability and the tasks are easy for customers to perform. Especially in regards to an eCommerce website when there are many functions that have to come into play when creating a sale on so many products. The slightest flaw can kill a sale.
There are two types of testing: testing functionality and testing content. The difference between the two is simple: someone is testing how the site works the other is testing how well the content performs. Testing the functionality of the site is rudimentary, but fundamental. Testing simple things like the buy button and that a coupon code actually works are important, but often overlooked. Testing how well content performs is more involved and takes much more time. For example, testing content on an email campaign would involve at least two versions of the email. The test is which one got the desired response more. In this article, we will only focus on content testing.
Conversion Rate
Ultimately, the most important purpose of any campaign is making multiple conversions. Whether the campaign is trying to sell new inventory, unload last year’s styles or simply trying to inform users of a new item or topic, there is purpose behind every campaign. For the e-tailer, conversions are based on, among many things, different product photos, content, tagging, and presentation. Checking different analytics based on these variances can help reveal what tactics work best for each product.
A/B testing Is a great way to test the performance of each variation in content. A/B testing happens simultaneously, where some customers are getting one version of the campaign and then others are getting another. Web traffic on your website varies from week to week on your site and using different aspects of each version can make sure you have the highest conversion rates. Using the most effective method to market your product should improve the conversion rate drastically.
Offers
One important thing to test is the promotional offer you are going to have for your customers during the sale. Testing different offers can portray how profitable the sale will be. Making sure to price in a fair manner for the customer on the sale item and the lowest price to gain profit is important. Different types of methods such as a percentage off, free bonus items, or a specific dollar amount off. Testing for these different types of discounts is important as one may seem more enticing to customers
Target Content
One strategy that is important to test prior to launch is the targeted content that is based on pre-defined criteria. Content that is targeted is based on a number of times such a search terms, geo-location, or previous on-site behavior. Having your customers experience this during a sale can add an extra level of personalization that the user can experience. Personalization of website content is one the most important advances in the eCommerce world and helps bring relevant information to your audiences and helps increase conversation rates.
Banners
Testing to make sure that the promotional banners are visible for a sale is very important. Banner Blindness is real; it’s been noted that up to 86% of customers are blind to certain banners. An effective method to make sure that these promotional banners are in the correct location and correct visual ques is through a/b testing. Making sure that you test things like alternate marketing slogans, taglines that are prominent by your logo, and explicitly state value propositions like free shipping.
