With online marketing, no matter what you are selling, whether it’s supplements, software as a service, or basically anything, you need to understand that each traffic source is going to perform and convert at different rates. So it is important that you treat each of those traffic sources as if they are a completely separate entity.
The process is the same but the methods can change dramatically.
Today we are going to shed some light on the importance of separating out your traffic sources and why you need to run separate split tests for each.
Should You Run Different Split Tests For Different Traffic Sources?
The short answer is an absolute YES!
We simply can’t count how many times we have seen it. A company spending $100K+ per month on advertising sending all of the traffic to their home page and are left wondering why they aren’t getting the results they want.
No matter your traffic source whether search, display, native, Facebook or retargeting, and even organic you need to treat them as if they were their own separate entity.
The methods to get a Facebook ad to convert at a profitable rate are going to be different than the methods you use to get Adwords ads to convert profitably.
So why would you even think about sending them to your home page?
The first step of the equation is always traffic but more important is where you send that traffic to get the most results possible.
As we state in our bestselling book, Conversion Fanatic, traffic is generally not the problem. All you have to do is buy it. But what you do with that traffic is where the magic comes in.
“Traffic is the oxygen. Yes, you need it, but traffic (like oxygen) is not exactly a rare commodity.” ~Ken McCarthy
As mentioned you need to treat every traffic source differently and for that, you need to conduct different split tests on each of the pages tied to each of the traffic sources. The headline that works on the landing page for
Facebook traffic isn’t going to perform the same as the same headline used on a Google Adwords landing page.
The visitors will have different browsing habits, they will have different needs at that given time so you must treat them differently.
Split testing allows you to confirm or deny your assumptions on what works and what doesn’t and helps you streamline the message and path to the end goal wanted from each source.
To confirm assumptions based on your test hypotheses apply the same tests to the various traffic source pages and watch the difference in results. Sure you will have some that deliver similar results but most tests will yield different results.
Watch your visitors’ behaviors on-site and through their browsing and click habits on each page separately to see what can make a difference in the testing.
Bottom line is that you need to treat each traffic source differently. Your Facebook pages will look different than your PPC landing pages as the browsing habits and what causes the visitors to click on the ads are different. Therefore you need to run different split tests.
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If you have questions around your landing pages and would like a full critique, be sure to reach out for your no-obligation strategy session.