{"id":97627,"date":"2021-12-15T07:48:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T15:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/?post_type=insights&p=97627"},"modified":"2025-05-21T09:40:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T16:40:43","slug":"copy-testing","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/insights\/copy-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Guide to Copy Testing For Ecommerce Brands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Words make a difference. You might not realize it, but the language and phrases you use on your website can make or break the buying cycle. While it can be tempting to jot down a few sentences and hope for the best, making sure you nail your copy is crucial if you want to increase sales and forge deeper connections with your audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how do you make sure you\u2019re choosing the right <\/em>words? It\u2019s often a case of trial and error and tracking which combinations of words and phrases have the biggest impact. This is where copy testing comes into play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is copy testing? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Copy testing is the process of testing your copy. It\u2019s a form of market research that identifies how successful your website will be based on visitors\u2019 perceptions of the words you use.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It helps to understand what your customers actually want to know and pinpoints what terms and descriptions drive the most clicks, conversions, and sales. There are a number of different ways you can test your copy depending on how much time you have, what resources you have available, and what information you want to know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While ad copy testing is commonly associated with marketing campaigns to determine the effectiveness of an advertisement on social media, for the purpose of this article we\u2019re using it in the context of ecommerce brands and their websites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the four main types of copy testing: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. A\/B testing<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A\/B testing involves creating two identical pieces of copy but tweaking one element to make them slightly different. It might be changing the header or the phrasing of the call-to-action. Whatever the change is, it has to be small. <\/em>This is so you can determine exactly which part of the copy makes a difference so you can build up a bigger picture over time of what works with your audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, you might create two of the same product page but alter the product title on one of them. You would then serve the pages to half of your audience each and see which one gets the best results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite A\/B testing giving you valuable information about specific parts of your copy, there are some downsides. It doesn\u2019t tell you exactly why one variation was more popular than the other. On top of this, you need a significant amount of traffic to send a decent amount of views to each page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"xerox\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2. Multivariate testing <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Where A\/B testing trials two separate pages, multivariate testing shows visitors more than two variations. If you create three different CTAs and three different headlines, you can weave them together to make nine different page variations that you can then serve to different visitors. The best-performing one will show you the \u201cwinning\u201d headline and the \u201cwinning\u201d CTA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ran multivariate testing for Xerox, creating different versions of their product pages to see what worked best. By simply streamlining the layout and optimizing the CTA, we were able to generate an 86.7% increase in return visitor conversions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Split testing<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Split testing is similar to A\/B testing in that you\u2019re sharing two different pages with your audience, except this time the pages are totally different. You\u2019re not just tweaking one element, you\u2019re changing everything, <\/em>from the header and description to the call-to-action and social proof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. User testing <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

User testing gets your audience involved and encourages respondents to answer questions about your copy to see what works best for them. There\u2019s nothing quite like getting the information you need straight from the horse\u2019s mouth, so to speak. Share your copy options with a handpicked group of your target audience and invite them to answer questions like: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • What did you think about that information?<\/li>
  • Would you change anything about it if you could? <\/li>
  • Were there any parts that were difficult to understand? If so, why? <\/li>
  • Can you summarize the information in your own words?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The goal of user testing is to determine whether the message you want to get across to readers actually works in real life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How copy testing compliments conversion rate optimization<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Copy plays a huge role in optimizing your conversion rates. While it\u2019s just one part of the whole customer experience, it\u2019s important for explaining your product to potential buyers and giving them the confidence they need to buy or get in touch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Copy hooks shoppers from the start and takes them on a journey that presents your product or service as a solution to a problem they\u2019re struggling with. Every part of the journey will involve copy in some way, from the headline to the product description to the CTA. When you test and optimize all these key ingredients, your conversion rates will increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, simply tightening up your CTA can make a huge difference – CTAs with 10 words or less have higher conversion rates than those with more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n