It might sound like a ridiculous question; if you have a form on your website and you would like people to submit some information, should you have the submit button in green or in red? The thing is, it really isn’t such a ridiculous question. In fact, it’s a decision which can seriously affect the number of leads you will get through this form. So let’s find out what the best option is, and even more important, how to discover it with these three tips!
1. Small changes can lead to great outcomes
To discern between red and green you have to carry out an A/B test. It works as follows. You present the form with the green button to a random audience, called group A and check what they do. You present the form with a red button to another random testing group, called group B. After a few weeks of testing you find out in group A (green button) 30% decided to click the submit button, while in group B (red) this was 40%. Clear evidence red is the best color.
So it seems, these decisions can potentially lead to big differences. Colors, figures, numbers and sizes, they all do matter in our subconsciousness. The decisions we follow while designing or ordering a website will emerge based on assumptions we make. But how do you know these assumptions are really true? Only by performing A/B testing.
2. Test till you drop
If only changing the color of one button can lead to a significant change, how much can you achieve if you investigate all buttons, all figures, all numbers and all content on your site? Probably a lot. Many companies invest a lot of money on ads and SEO to attract visitors, but forget to invest in converging them to clients. Again, the best tool to achieve is by performing A/B testing.
So, second tip, don’t just test before and just after you launch your website, but keep on doing it. A/B testing should be part of your daily rhythm, if you are (un)lucky enough to be the responsible marketeer. Also, the current online market is definitely not a stable one. Preferences can change overtime. The results of a test from three years ago may not be reliable anymore over time. So, when you’re finally done testing all 216 buttons on your website. Don’t forget to start testing them all over again.
3. Duration
The final tip! You might have guessed you need a testing audience big enough to extract a valid outcome from your test. If your test group only consist of five people and four of them accidentally really love red because it reminds them of the red roses they bought yesterday for their spouses, you have a problem. The best way to tackle this issue is duration. The longer your test lasts, the more reliable the outcome is. When you notice in week 6 the outcome is hardly different than the one from week 4 and 5, you can be pretty sure you have a solid result.
Do you want to know more about A/B testing, or can you use some help by deciding between red and green? Get in touch with one of our experts for more information or some help finding the answer.
