Testing Newsletter Review
Within about 5 minutes of posting about the testing newsletter, I received a copy of the March 2008 version in my e-mail.
The testing news letter is based on providing the actual test data that James used on his sites.
This particular issue focuses on this page.
Before you read any further, click on that link above and read the page so that you’ve got a reference to some of the stuff I’m going to discuss.
Good - now that you’ve done that, what is my overall impression of the newsletter?
Bottom line, I would say it’s a no-fluff, direct approach to testing.
If you’re looking for a newsletter that goes into theory on testing with lots of bullet items like this:
- Move Bigger Levers First: List, Offer, Creative
- Test Shouts, Not Whispers
- Keep Test Notebooks
- Separate Signal From Noise
And so on…
Then this is the wrong newsletter for you. Similar to the intern page, James doesn’t go into a lot of details on why things are - he just gives you the results.
Speaking of the results, do they deliver valuable information?
Let’s look at one of the things tested:
The next variable under test is the top margin. I test
nothingness against having 3 blank lines at the top of the
virtual piece of paper (before the headline).Here are the results:
Version: 1 - Nothingness edit
Contender: 0.24รณ
Visitor Count: 455
Sale Count: 83
Sale Dollar: 830000
Conversion Ratio: 18.24%
Visitor Value: $18.24Version: 2 - 3 blank lines edit
Status: Winning!
Visitor Count: 317
Sale Count: 60
Sale Dollar: 600000
Conversion Ratio: 18.93%
Visitor Value: $18.93It’s a virtual tie. It doesn’t seem to matter if there is a top margin or not.
This test is there because it does matter for some sales pages. Some have done dramatically better with the 3 blank lines at the top.
Others have done better without those 3 blank lines.
Source: James Brausch Testing Newsletter March 2008
I find this rather fascinating. In the first place, what led him to think of having a margin at the top of the page and testing that on his sales pages?
In the second place, I can’t recall ever seeing anyone use a margin on their sales pages!
Little tweaks like this may not mean much at all to you but when you add them all together, it amounts to something much larger.
After his optimizations, his sales page has an 18%+ conversion rate. That’s pretty damned good!
As usual, the end of the newsletter mentions one of his products - in this case MuVar 2008.
At the end of the newsletter is this little snippet:
Did you receive this issue of Testing from a friend? Would you like to subscribe yourself? Here is the URL: http://www.DiegoNorte.com/testing (Note: At time of publication that link is broken)
So I am assuming it’s ok to post it for you to take a look yourself.
One last thing - would I recommend this newsletter?
Well, to be honest, I’m 50/50 on this. On the one hand, there’s some great ideas for testing in the newsletter - headlines, margins, colors, etc.
But, on the other hand, I’m not sure where he can take it in the following issues.
Let me clarify…if every issue is like the first in that it covers another one of his sales pages and the testing he performed on it - then no, I don’t see much value in getting the newsletter.
After you’ve read the first, you’ve got the basics down - go get yourself a copy of MuVar (I’m not linking to it because you can get it for less from his resellers).
Once you’ve got MuVar, start testing the elements on your sales pages.
It really is as simple as that…
If you like to be a voyeur and enjoy reading the stats of testing then, by all means, go ahead and subscribe!
G-Man
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