What Is Split-Testing & How Does It Work?

July 11, 2020June 23, 2020 by Sam The Man

In online marketing, you often hear the word split-testing being thrown around.

And, it’s for a good reason, as split-testing can have great benefits on your conversions.

If your conversions are higher, then you’re going to make more money.

It’s that simple.

What Is Split-Testing?

Split-testing also is known as A/B testing is the process of testing different variations in marketing.

The reason why some call it A/B testing is because you are testing variation A vs variation B to see which one generates more conversions.

Before modern technology, you used to have to manually create both pages (or whatever you’re testing), drive traffic the same amount of traffic to them and then compare the analytics of each page.

However, today, technology is a little more advanced and most software will give you an option to test two different variations.

By doing this, the software will then split the traffic into an equal amount between the two variations and show you the analytics of variation a and b.

Where Can You Split-Test

You can split-test pretty much anywhere and anything you want, but here are some common places which marketers like to split-test.

Emails

Firstly, we have emails.

If you’re building an email sequence, you probably want to know whether Email A or Email B converts best.

So, you can then split-test those emails.

For example, you could see if your story generates more clicks or Email B which is a more personalized email but doesn’t contain a story.

ActiveCampaign and GetResponse even lets you split-test inside of your automation workflow which is great.

GetResponse vs ActiveCampaign

This can also work well throughout your entire automation, combined with lead tagging based on the automation variation they went through.

If you split-test two different variations of the entire automation workflow and your leads with the variation b tag converted much better, then you know to use that variation of the workflow.

I also like to test variations if I send an important email to see which one land in the inbox and which one land in the promotions tab.

Then, I can use the one which lands in the inbox and get a much better open rate.

Landing & Sales Pages

This one is super important.

On your landing pages & sales pages, conversions are probably the most important thing.

If you can change a sales page to convert 10% better, then that same sales page is generating 10% more money.

So, by creating two landing or sales pages, then split-testing them, you’re likely to find which one does better.

Two great platforms that let you split-test extremely well are Kartra and InstaPage.

The next one is also extremely important.

It’s ads.

If you are paying for your ad to be clicked, you can drive the cost down by generating more clicks.

Google, Facebook, and the rest optimize their platforms to make money, so they sell the spaces cheaper to advertisers that generate the most clicks.

If your ad isn’t generating clicks and somebody else’s is, Google & Facebook are going to prefer that advertiser and reward him by lowering his cost per click.

When you are buying thousands of clicks, this is a huge advantage.

Plus, you can also split-test different ads to see which one and its audiences convert better with your offer or qualify the visitor better for your offer, then this also has a direct impact on your sales.

Pop-Ups

Lastly, we have Pop-ups.

And, this is also a really important place to split-test.

If you have a pop-up on your blog which is converting at 2%, there might be a variation that converts at 4%.

That’s a huge difference.

Now, every 1,000 visitors, you are collecting 40 emails instead of 20.

What Elements Can You Split-Test?

You can split-test pretty much anything you want.

Images
Videos
Button Size
Button Font
Button color
Font size
Font Color
Background Image

Pretty much anything on your page or email.

However, what I usually like to split-test is the:

Headline
Offer
Discount
Video (If it’s very different or one page uses a video and one doesn’t)

I like to test things that will have a bigger impact.

If your customer really wants/needs whatever you have to offer, then changing the button color and font size, will probably not make a big change in conversions.

And, unless you are testing with a huge data set of visitors, you won’t even know if that small change in conversions was due to whatever you were testing or just because the people were a little different.

This would then result in more testing and you probably wouldn’t know when to stop.

But, if you would split-test something which would make a bigger impact like the offer, headline, etc. then, you can find meaningful changes much quicker.

That’s just how I do it, I’m sure there will be some people who like to split-test those little elements too.

Benefits of Split-Testing

Split-testing really just has one benefit which is that you can find what works.

By split-testing you can find which variation:

converts best
generates the most amount of traffic
is opened or read the most

You get to experiment and see which one will work the best.

That is pretty much the only benefit, but it’s huge.

If you can change a page or an email to even just convert 1-2% better in the long run, you’re going to make a lot more money.

Final Thoughts

I hope this article has shed a little light on what split-testing is and how it works.

It’s definitely a useful feature that is available in most sales funnel software and autoresponders which you should be using, once you generate a significant amount of traffic.

If you have an extremely small data set, I wouldn’t worry about it too much as you don’t know if the changes in conversions are due to your changes or if the visitors were just different.

What are Order Bumps, Upsells and Downsells? | Comprehensive Sales Funnels Tools Explained

September 12, 2020June 21, 2020 by Sam The Man

Conversions are probably one of the most important factors in online business.

Yeah sure, you will need the traffic to get conversions, but if your traffic is not converting, it’s practically useless.

Today, we’re going to take a look at three key features that most of the funnel builders online have to offer.

These features are Order bumps, Upsells, and downsells.

What these features do is they allow you to get more conversions out of one customer.

Order Bumps, Upsells & Downsells Explained

Order bumps, upsells and downsells are tools used by online marketers and online businesses to increase conversions.

Here is an explanation for each individual feature:

Order bumps: Order bumps are a little tick box or a switch offering a special deal at the bottom of the cart when a customer is checking out.

Upsells: Upsells are an offer made, usually on a page where the customer is being redirected to after they have made a purchase.

Basically, a special offer once the customer has already made a purchase.

Downsells: Lastly, we have the downsells. These are offers made when the customer has rejected a previous offer.

Again, usually on another page.

This is often a discount or a smaller version of the previous offer.

Related: Sales Funnel Template (free to download)

Order Bumps: What Are They & How Can You Use Them?

Order bumps can be great if you want to get your customer to spend more money with you.

Common products I see in order bumps are training, coaching, and consultations after the user has bought something less personal.

The reason for this that people want personal help, so if they see that they can get it at a discounted price, they often will tick it.

However, you don’t have to offer those sorts of products.

Here take this example of GoDaddy offering domain privacy & protection. This is an order bump.

Upsells: What Are They & How Can You Use Them?

Our second feature is an upsell.

If you go and purchase a product and afterward, you are taken to another page being offered something else, this is an upsell.

When your customer has already committed to you and has pulled out their credit card, it can be easier to get them to purchase your upsell, that’s why they exist.

Offering something that combines well with whatever they just bought usually works great.

What are One-Click Upsells?

One click upsells are pages as explained above, but the only difference is, the customer doesn’t even have to pull out their credit card again, they just click the purchase button, as they have already given you their credit card details.

This just adds a couple of more conversions and makes the customer experience even easier.

We will talk about a software later on in this article that lets you do this.

Downsells: What Are They & How Can You Use Them?

Lastly, we have downsells.

These can be used when your customer has rejected your previous offer.

What you want on these is usually a discount or a smaller offer of what you previously offered. Why?

As the risk or disadvantage (the money spent) outweighs the benefits of your product.

So, you reduce the risk or disadvantage and give them another offer.

This is basically the last try (for today) to convert them.

Offers like this are often used on rejected upsells or sometimes even in exit pop-ups.

Why You Need These Tools If You Sell Products

They are just going to make you more money, it’s that simple.

If you add these features to your sales funnel, you can make more money by spending the same amount of money on getting people into that sales funnel.

You’re making more sales without increasing your ad spend or whatever your marketing budget is.

The point is, you’re making more sales from the same amount of people being thrown into that funnel.

Which Tools Offer These Features?

There are a couple of tools that offer these features, but my favorite is hands-down Kartra.

It offers a nice & easy-to-use drag & drop builder which you can use to build funnels as described in this article.

Plus, if you’re selling courses, you can host them with Kartra’s membership sites.

It also has a powerful autoresponder with automation workflows, lead tagging, and split-testing.

And, that’s not all here are some of the other features:

Lead & Sales page builder
Video hosting
Helpdesks
Calendar

All of this starts at just $99 per month which is insane if you ask me.

You can try Kartra for yourself by using the link below. Or, if you would like to learn more about it, check out my review where you’ll find everything you need to make a decision.

Try Kartra For $1 (14 Day Trial)

Order Bumps, Upsells & Downsells: Final Words

As you have seen throughout this article, order bumps, upsells and downsells have huge benefits.

They allow you to convert one customer multiple times in a short space of time.

Using these features, you are ultimately making more money, while spending the same amount.

So, I definitely recommend that you use this feature, as it will help your product sales tremendously.

What Are Automation Workflows and Why Do You Need Them?

September 12, 2020June 21, 2020 by Sam The Man

Today, we’re going to take a look at a useful email marketing feature, which should be part of your automation marketing strategy.

Most email marketing tools will have this feature and many other features.

However, in the rare case that your autoresponder doesn’t have this tool, we are going to take a look at 3 autoresponders that do offer this feature.

What are Automation Workflows?

Automation workflows are several automated emails that are sent based on the actions of your subscriber. This feature is used to send more targeted and more personalized emails.

Below is an example of an automation workflow.

For example, if your lead clicks a link, you can send email A, but if they don’t you can send email B.

Your autoresponder will do this for you and like the name says it’s automated.

How Do They Work?

Using email marketing software, you can create your automation workflow for your list with the behavior triggers for specific emails.

Now, when somebody joins this list, they will be sent your emails.

And, depending on the actions they take, they will be sent specific emails that you set up.

All without you having to manually check the actions of your subscribers.

How To Setup Your Automation Workflow

First, you will need an autoresponder.

Then, you will start an automation workflow, some autoresponders also call them:

Automations
Automation sequences

These names all mean the same thing, this feature.

Once, you have it set up, you need a place to collect emails.

Some autoresponders such as GetResponse come with landing pages that you can use too.

But, you can also use forms or a plugin to collect emails from your blog.

If you’re planning to collect emails from social media, you should use landing pages, again GetResponse has this feature built-in.

Once, you have a place where you collect emails, you need to integrate this part with your automation workflow.

This is different for every software, so just search up how to integrate the two pieces of software you are using (after this reading this post😃).

What Behavior-Triggers Are There?

There are many behavior-triggers and they do differ from autoresponder to autoresponder.

But, here are the main ones most autoresponders will offer:

If opened
If clicked
Has been sent
Has replied
Is in list
Has been applied a tag
Has shared socially
Has forwarded
Is in automation
Goals (Less common)

There are many more.

ActiveCampaign even offers Geography, Time Zone, and many more triggers.

Why You Need Automation Workflows

You need automation workflows, as they allow you to send more targeted emails.

If your lead hasn’t opened your email, you can resend it automatically if you want to.

But, if you had to do this manually with thousands of emails, it would be pretty hard.

Or, if a link is clicked, you know they are interested.

And, if they have purchased from you, you can apply a tag so that you know they have purchased from you.

Later on, you can send everyone without that tag a promotional email, so you don’t annoy the people who have already purchased from you.

Benefits of Automation Workflows

Automation have many benefits, but here are a few:

More targeted emails
Time-Saving (You couldn’t even do this manually due to the amount of work involved)
It allows you to make more sales.

Any business needs this, as with automation workflows you are not just sending your list random emails, you are sending emails tailored to each individual and their behavior.

This will increase conversions.

Best Autoresponders that offer Automation Workflows

Most autoresponders will offer this feature, as I mentioned earlier.

The real difference is how advanced the features are such as triggers.

So, here are my 3 favorite autoresponders that offer automation triggers:

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign has one of the strongest email marketing tools on the marketing and they still offer more than an email marketing tool as it offers SMS marketing and a powerful CRM too.

And, in terms of automation workflows, they have the best features.

Or at least from all the tools I have used, and I have used most of them at some point.

Overall, it’s a strong email marketing solution for businesses of any size.

Try ActiveCampaign For Free! (14 Day Free Trial, No Credit Card Required)

GetResponse

GetResponse is another brilliant solution.

If you remember this screenshot from earlier, this is GetResponse.

It’s a great tool that offers powerful email marketing tools, as well as funnels & landing pages and a basic CRM tool too.

Definitely a tool worth checking out.

Try GetResponse For Free (30 Day Free Trial, No Credit Card Required)

GetResponse or ActiveCampaign

Kartra

Lastly, we have Kartra which is so much more than an autoresponder. In fact, it’s my favorite funnel builder.

But, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have strong email marketing tools too.

Using Kartra, you can also build powerful automation workflows, split-test, and apply tags.

In case, you are wondering what the other features are, here they are:

Landing pages, sales pages & funnels
Membership sites
Affiliate management
Video hosting
Helpdesks
Calendar

It’s a true all-in-one platform.

And, it starts at just $99 per month. If you feel like you want to learn more about it before purchasing, you can read my Kartra review.

Try Kartra For 14 Days! (14 Day Trial For $1)

Automation Workflows: Final Words

As you have seen throughout this article, automation workflows are a fantastic feature which you should be using.

They allow you to send more targeted & personal emails based on the actions of your subscribers.

Of course, this will increase your conversions tremendously, so using them is a must.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure to leave a comment and/or share it!

Your Blogging Strategy Sucks | 8 Signs You Need to Fix Your Blogging Strategy

August 10, 2020June 20, 2020 by Sam The Man

Blogging takes time, there’s no doubt about that.

But, that doesn’t mean that you should use the fact that it takes time as an excuse that it’s not on track.

Of course, in each niche “on-track” will mean something else and it also depends on your overall strategy, but if you have been using it as an excuse, deep down you will know.

And, I must admit I have done the same, I think most people have at some point.

The important thing is that you fix your strategy.

That’s why in this article, we’re going to cover 8 signs you need to fix your blogging strategy.

8 Signs You Need To Fix Your Blogging Strategy

Keep in mind, these signs are signs, not definite indicators.

For some, these signs may appear, but they might be on-track.

So, here are the 8 signs you need to fix your blogging strategy:

You’re not focusing on SEO enough
Your readers don’t stick around
You put too much time into one thing.
You cry too much
You don’t have a lot of content
You don’t have a clear monetization strategy
You can’t create a lot of content
You ignore tasks you don’t like

Chances are, you’re guilty of one or two of these, so am I and it’s probably the same for some really successful bloggers.

However, if most of these apply to you, there may be some trouble.

1. You’re not focusing on SEO enough

The first sign is that you’re not focusing on SEO enough.

In the long term, SEO will bring you the most amount of traffic and the highest quality traffic.

No other promotional tactic will compare.

If you’re ignoring SEO, then you’re doing it wrong.

Put the time into keyword research for some of your posts.

It doesn’t have to be all, I like bulking out a site with some posts that I feel like too.

For example, this article has 0 keyword research involved.

But, the point is you should be doing keyword research for most of your posts.

Otherwise, you will probably never rank on the first page. To improve your SEO strategy, you should start by choosing an all-in-one SEO software.

2. Your readers don’t stick around

The second sign is that your readers don’t stick around.

If you have a small amazon affiliate site that ranks for a couple of keywords and just makes direct commissions from Amazon or whoever else you are promoting, this may not apply to you.

But, for most types of blogs, you will want your readers to stick around as much as possible.

Try to collect email addresses, maybe add push notifications to your strategy and try to make your readers remember you.

6 Best Autoresponders For Affiliate Marketing: Which One Is best?

3. You put too much time into one thing

The next sign your blogging strategy needs fixing is that you put too much time into one thing.

Maybe it’s link-building, maybe it’s content or maybe it’s social media.

What you need is a bit of everything.

Not, a ton of promotion but terrible content.

You may be able to get away with just content, but if you’re in a competitive niche, you probably won’t.

The point is to find a balance between everything.

Maybe, put one day of the week into link-building, three into content, and schedule the social media promotion.

Doing that, you will have a bit of everything and that’s all you need for consistent growth.

4. You’re a Cry Baby

The next sign is that you cry too much.

I used to be in a lot of Facebook groups where this was always the case.

“I’m doing everything right, I have all green lights with Yoast SEO but I don’t rank and nobody visits my blog”.

Luckily, I don’t social media anymore.

But, the point is, if things aren’t going the way you like, then you aren’t doing everything right, so stop complaining and saying you are.

Someone might have given you a wrong tactic, but then it’s on you to find out and look for one that works for you.

5. You Don’t Have a Lot of Content

This one may be a little controversial, as there are many decent-earning affiliate blogs that have 10 pages or less.

However, if you’re in a somewhat competitive niche, don’t do a lot of link building and have a small number of posts or all your posts have a low word count, then you’re doing something wrong.

Your competitors are probably writing 5x more content than you or investing 5x more money, either way, that’s why they are succeeding.

So, unless your strategy involves having less content, if you have a little amount of content, you need to change that.

Otherwise, your blog will never get off the ground.

6. You Don’t Have a Clear Monetization Strategy

A good hint for this is you don’t get a lot of visitors and you’re targeting low volume keywords, but you are using AdWords.

Not having a clear monetization strategy does not necessarily mean that you have to be making money now or anytime soon.

However, you should have a plan on how you want to monetize your blog.

And, it shouldn’t just be “I’ll display ads”, you should filter out the topics and keywords you want to target in the long term that will pay you the most.

Or, maybe, you just want to build an audience on a specific topic then sell a course, that’s fine too.

Maybe, you want to start a software company in the niche that your blog is and use your blog too promote it, again totally fine too.

The point is you should have an idea of how you are planning to monetize your content.

An actual plan, not something so broad.

Your actions should also be aligned with this plan.

If you need help finding a monetization strategy, you should read: Is Blogging profitable? (And, how to make it profitable)

7. You Can’t Create Content

If this is the case, then you really might have some issues.

What I mean is, if you picked a niche and you can’t create content because you have no motivation, knowledge and you can’t afford to pay writers, then you messed up.

You need to either learn it and do it yourself, find the cash to pay writers or give up and use it as a learning experience.

There’s no point waiting if this is the case and waiting for something magical to happen.

Make a plan to fix the problem and fix it.

8. You Ignore Tasks You Don’t Like

The last sign you need to fix your blogging strategy is also something that can probably be applied to most people at some point including myself.

And, it’s ignoring tasks that you don’t like.

Doing this will just limit your growth.

If you think you don’t need to do them because you don’t like them, and you only want to do things you like, then I guess growing your blog is not something you like.

You have to understand that these small parts that you don’t like are part of the big picture that you do like.

Signs You Need To Fix Your Blogging Strategy: Final Words

Hopefully, this article has been helpful to you.

It might have not applied, but then you probably wouldn’t have clicked on the article.

And, if it offended you, then that is probably the biggest sign you need to fix your blogging strategy. If you are in a competitive niche, make sure to check out: How to blog in a competitive niche and succeed.

Anyway, if you did enjoy this article, make sure to leave a comment and/or share it.