 Split Testing - What is it
OK guys, here you go.
Split testing is a way of continually improving your website or in this case your ebay listings incrementally over time.
The way it works is you create two or more ebay listings you want to test, each one slightly different than the other. You “split” your traffic between these two versions and see which one performs better.
For example, if you’re selling a dog leash you might split test two different images: One of a dog on a leash, another of a pet owner who’s smiling.
After testing the images, you might find that surprisingly the pet owner smiling brings in more sales than the dog on a leash picture.
Instead of just creating a listing and hoping that it sells, split testing allows you to increase your conversions over time.
Types of Split Testing: A/B Tests and Multi-Variable Tests
There are two well recognized types of tests you can conduct: A/B tests and multi-variable tests.
A/B tests are the tests we talked about above, where you test two different listings against each other and see which performs better. It’s called A/B because there are two sites, one called A and the other called B.
The other type of test is called multi-variable testing. It’s a type of testing where you test many variables at once and use software to mathematically figure out the best combination of variables. It is highly unlikely you'll find this type of software for ebay purposes. Finding the A/B type software may be feasible.
For example, you might test the headline, the layout, the picture, the price and the shipping cost, all at the same time. The software will tell you which is the best combination of all the data.
What Should You Split Test?
There are a few things that affect conversions more than anything else. Start by testing these factors, then test less important factors later.
The Price
The price will often affect your conversions more than anything else. Should you charge $20, $40, $80 or $100? The only way to really know is to test it.
But be careful when testing prices. Generally you want to test it only for a limited time, or else you’ll be sending mixed messages to your market about what your price is.
If someone buys a product and later realizes someone else paid less, always refund the difference for them.
Headline
Next to the price, the headline is often the highest impact factor to test.
The headline’s main job is to capture the reader’s attention and get them to keep reading. It’s their first impression to your website.
The Layout/Design
The layout or design of your listing speaks to your users emotionally, non-verbally. By layout/design, I mean things like: font color, font size, width of the page, background color, etc.
Studies have shown that certain layouts can increase conversions quite drastically in certain markets, while reducing conversions in others.
A good example is color. Red headlines tend to work great for markets that aren’t heavily marketed to.
In markets like marketing, weight loss and dating tips however, people are so sick of seeing red headlines that a red headline actually reduces conversions. Instead, a deep blue headline which builds trust actually tends to convert best in these low-trust high-competition markets.
For those of you that have web sites or do work outside ebay you should be testing all the time. Hope this helps everyone understand split testing. If anyone finds software that will split test on ebay please let me know.
Thanks everyone.
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