One of the best ways to start CRO on your site is to start studying what your competitor’s are doing, identify what could be working for them and apply it for your own site. You could start by studying your competitor’s HTML output to see if they are using any A/B testing tools such as Visual Website Optimizer, Google Experiments, Optimizely etc.
Once you have established that your competitor is carrying out A/B tests, you then need to keep an eye on their site or specific landing pages to capture their various tests. This process enables you do learn about their tests and at some point you will be able to identify their winners – you can then use elements of their “winner” variation and apply them within your landing pages.
Doing this manually may be feasible in some instances; however, it requires time, patience, and a lot of cache clearing, IP rotation, etc. You can choose to do this manually, or you can use CRO Monitor, which automates the entire process and notifies you when it comes across a new variation. The following are some examples of variations that we detected using CRO Monitor.
KISSMetrics A/B Tests
Below are three different KISSMetrics variations that CRO Monitor has identified.
Variation 1
Notice how KISSMetrics is using a simple message, a person’s image and a simple call to action to persuade users to sign up. The main thing about this test is the fact that KISSMetrics is enabling users to sign up with their Google Account which means that the sign up process looks easy and a click of a button away.
Variation 2
The second variation uses a simple form and persuasive messaging. The key aspects of this variation are the compact form and the credit card messaging. Effectively, KISSMetrics indicates how simple it is to sign up, that users don’t need to enter credit card details, and that they can cancel anytime. This type of approach creates a sense of simplicity and trust in users’ minds.
Variation 3
The third variation is slightly complicated, but it contains further messaging that highlights KISSMetric’s benefits. In this variation, KISSMetrics emphasizes the benefits of its product. Note that they are not emphasizing the features of their product but shouting about the benefits—this is crucial. Furthermore, the compact form using a contrasted background in the sidebar stands out.