Learn From Each Test and Improve on Everything as You Go Along
Well, we’ve covered a lot in our Testing and Tracking Series. You can’t know or implement it all at once. Pick an area that you want to work on. Concentrate on that until you are happy with it. Then, move on to another area. Keep in mind that you will always be working towards better testing and tweaking.
It’s crucial to realize that the process needs to be ongoing. In fact, you should always be testing just like you should always be marketing. It’s all part of the process of building a business that lasts. The reason testing is so imperative is that industries change, and even audiences change over time.
When you set up your testing and tracking, the key indicator that it needs to be tracked is whether it’s a metric you’d like to improve, such as customer retention, boosting average check out purchase amounts, or even things like engagement. If you want to do better, set up a way to track, test, and measure that enables you to figure out how to improve.
To make testing and tracking easier, you’ll want to follow these tips:
1. Use the Right Tools ![better testing and tracking tools]()
Don’t skimp on the tools of your trade. If you need autoresponder software, examine many choices, and choose the best one with the most features that you can afford. Choose something that will grow with you, and that offers the capability that you need.
2. Set Up Automation
You can’t do everything on your own, so it’s imperative that you learn about how to set up as much automation as you can. Using automation that you can through software like Zapier.com and others can help you automatically create the reports you need to make your testing job fast.
3. Create a Logical Schedule
The testing and tracking schedule will depend on the launch or the impact you’re trying to create. For example, if you’re doing a 30-day blog campaign to build your list, you’ll set up tracking and testing for each day as well as an overall before and after computation.
4. Test What Matters Most
If you don’t care about a specific number or metric, don’t bother testing for it. You won’t use the information, and you’ll just be wasting your time. Write down the factors that matter most for your business and your situation and track, test, and measure those.
5. Implement Changes
The biggest key to using testing is actually to implement the changes that you discover you should make. If you test a landing page, three different ways, and one way works best, apply all the changes and launch right away based on the information you’ve learned. Don’t wait. What works today may not work tomorrow. That is another reason you must test and track regularly.
6. Repeat
Keep doing it.
A landing page that works today really well based on the testing you did as you created it may start to flatten and stop producing as much. If you’re not paying attention, you may not pick up on it fast enough to avoid losing money. But, if you plan for checking up on your landing page performance regularly, you can catch them the moment they start dropping off, which is an excellent time to start testing some changes that might bring your success rate back up.
Imagine if Dove, the company that creates soap and lotions was still marketing to their audience the same way they did 20 years ago? Would they maintain any type of market share? Probably not.
What works today may not work tomorrow. The only way to know if what you’re doing is working or not is through tracking and testing. The news cycle, politics, and other factors play into the results that you get daily. Only by paying close attention to the numbers, and learning as you go along, can you hope to improve.
