Category: Conversion

Split-Testing 101: How to Know Which Words Work

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. ~ Mark Twain
That Twain guy was pretty smart. But he had to rely on the intuition that comes from years of writing to choose the right word, and even then it was still a guess. Poor guy.
Nowadays, we’ve got technology that allows us to easily know what the right word, phrase, or headline is, at least when it comes to getting people to take the action you want. But all the tech in the world won’t help you if you don’t know what to test, or test incorrectly.
To make sure that doesn’t happen to you, I invited Joanna Wiebe of Copyhackers to give us free consulting share her wisdom at the intersection of creative copy and no-nonsense testing.
In this 35-minute episode Joanna and I discuss:

Her approach to email opt-in button copy
What every real copywriter should focus on
The starting point for building any “new” audience
Why what you want to write doesn’t matter
The number of conversions you need to make a good call
The type of language you should split-test
How to know what site areas to test in the first place
The recurring theme of conversion testing that works

Click Here to Listen to Rainmaker.FM Episode No. 27
Or, grab it in iTunes.
About the authorBrian ClarkBrian Clark is founder and CEO of Copyblogger, host of Rainmaker.FM, and evangelist for the Rainmaker Platform. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

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Do Lower Prices Lead to More Sales?

Let’s say you’re choosing between three photography courses covering similar topics.
The prices are stacked like this:

$200
$250
$2,000

What’s going through your mind right now?
Curiosity floods your brain. Even if you’re not sure you can afford the $2,000 course, you want to know why it’s so expensive, compared to the other photography courses.
If we were truly happy with lower prices, we would simply snap up the $200 workshop, right? We wouldn’t so much as take a glance at the rest.
But that’s not how we’re built as human beings.
Many years ago, when I consulted with a company that sold beds in a store, we’d take customers around the store. We’d show them beds that cost $1,500, $2,000, and $4,000. And then we’d ask them if they were curious about the bed that cost $4,000.
You bet they were. You would be, and so would I — we’d all be curious about the features and benefits that caused an increase of 100 percent (or more) in the price. 
Price decisions are made in a vacuum or by comparison
Lower prices, alone, don’t produce more sales. We’re clear on that idea, aren’t we?
And that’s because clients make price decisions either in a vacuum or by comparison.
To start, let’s look at making price decisions in a vacuum.
Say you decide to buy a bottle of Ardbeg (yup, it’s a really nice, single-malt whisky). But wait — the price of a single bottle of 2009 Ardbeg Supernova is $550.
You aren’t asking why at this

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