According to the MarketingSherpa 2011 Landing Page Optimization Benchmark Report (free excerpt at that link), the headline and call-to-action are the most impactful page elements to optimize:
“The headline has been repeatedly shown to provide high impact … often, it makes the difference between the visitor reading any content and going for the dreaded “x” button. The call-to-action is not surprisingly twice in the top five — supporting the reason and providing a clear opportunity to act, which are critical to conversion.”
Plus, copywriting and call-to-action tests are relatively easy to run, when compared to shopping carts (must get IT involved or perhaps install an entirely new cart), lead forms (must win buy-in from Sales), or homepages (watch out for the branding police). Often, you can make copywriting and call-to-action changes yourself, with no need for design help.
So, to help you formulate test ideas for these high-impact elements of your marketing, here are three free resources from MarketingExperiments …
Minor Changes, Major Lifts: How headline and call-to-action optimization increased conversion 45%
In this Web clinic replay, you’ll learn:
- The two most impactful elements to test on your page (I gave this away already in the intro to this blog post)
- 5 common headline errors to avoid
- 5 common call-to-action errors to avoid
Banner Ad Design: The 3 key banner objectives that drove a 285% lift
In this Web clinic replay, you’ll see:
- An experiment in which a copywriting change led to 285% more PDF downloads
- The Online Ad Sequence, to help guide your testing and optimization efforts
- Optimization of audience-submitted banners to help you gain ideas to improve your own banner copywriting and calls-to-action
In this Web clinic replay, you’ll see:
- An experiment in which Encyclopedia Britannica generated 103% more free trials by cutting meaningless “power copy” and clearly stating the value proposition
- A step-by-step copywriting framework that busy marketers can use to consistently write effective copy
Related Resources:
Copywriting Case Study: How Encyclopedia Britannica increased conversion 103%
Headline Writing: How a junior marketer beat the CEO’s headline by 92%
Calls-to-action Tested: 3 words that increased conversion by 43%