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Lots of companies direct their campaigns to landing pages, but very few use multivariate testing (MVT) to optimise these pages.

Yet MVT, when done right, can greatly enhance the page’s performance.

What is it?

Multivariate testing (MVT) is a technique to test the optimal combination of multiple factors within a web page to achieve the desired visitor behaviour.

Typically, MVT solutions will test and measure various combinations of factors, such calls to action, copy, positioning of elements, font size, colour, and so on. You can test multiple variations of each factor – for example, you may test three or four different images at the same time as you test different variations of a call to action.

To find the optimal combination, you need to measure the conversion rate against the same goal. The goal is any significant action carried out by the visitor, such as purchasing a product, downloading a PDF, or signing up to a newsletter.

Additionally, most MVT solutions will allow the marketer to design different landing pages depending on what segment the visitor falls into. So you can show different landing pages to visitors based on their keywords, referral sites, time of day and so on.

MVT can automatically be deployed using specific solutions such as Optimost, SiteSpect, Omniture Test&Target and Google Website Optimizer,

How does it work?

The MVT solution directs equal samples of traffic to the variations of the page being tested, in order to measure what the optimal combination is.

It can be a simple test, or very complicated.

In its simplest format, you would just test one change against another. This is normally called AB testing, where you essentially test two variations of the same factor.

Site owners can also choose to test three different images, together with three different versions of a call to action. So this makes nine tested combinations.

However, say you would like to test four factors and three variations at the same time within a landing page:

Image

• Image 1
• Image 2
• Image 3

Call to action

• “Apply now”
• “Download application form”
• “Contact us”

Color of font

• Black
• Blue
• Red

Position of “Call to action”

• Top right
• Top left
• Bottom right

You would then be looking at:

• 4 factors and 3 variations
• 34 = 81 tests (combinations)

For websites that do not attract a lot of traffic, it would take a long time to generate sufficient data that would make 81 tests statistically significant.

In this situation, you could use experimental design (some solutions use the Taguchi method). Using this technique, you can reduce the number of combinations required for testing but still achieve statistically sound results for each factor.

Remember, though, even though experimental design can help to reduce the number of combinations to test, more combinations will always mean that you require more traffic and longer time to make the results significant.

Most solutions do the maths for you, calculating upfront the amount of web traffic required to obtain significant results, given the number of combinations being tested.

A good starting point is to conduct incremental single factor analysis where one does not expect other factors to interact, and to conduct tests on several factors when one suspects interaction.

Why use MVT?

When you look at the benefits of MVT, you start to wonder why you have never considered it before. Here are three compelling reasons to give it a go:

1. Increased ROI

MVT is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to optimise the effectiveness of a campaign or web page, in order to increase ROI for marketers.

Marketers can use this technique to optimise email, paid search, or ‘DM to Web’ campaigns, or simply to optimise conversions on a website.

In our experience, there is often substantial difference in conversion rates between the worst and best performing combinations. By simply testing three different images or three different calls to actions, you could make a big difference.

2. Action-oriented research

MVT is one of the most action-oriented forms of online research available. Within a short timeframe, you know what works best for a particular page; then you can make the change, and see the improvement.

Action-oriented research works equally well for the main website, landing page optimisation, email campaigns or paid search campaigns.

3. Target different segments

From a marketing perspective, the ability to present different segment groups (based on keywords searched, links clicked, cookie recognition, and so on) with a different landing page is also a very powerful feature. In this case, you may not even want to do any tests, but simply design a customised landing page for different segments.

If you are interested in building this capability, get in touch with Bienalto. We work with leading MVT solutions, and can help you build in-house capability or offer MVT services as an outsourced provider.