What is multivariate testing?

Anyone who has ever managed an ecommerce website knows that making a seemingly insignificant change to a website can make a major difference.

Something as simple as changing the font style or the location of a call-to-action button on a website can end up being the deciding factor between whether a website visitor will continue to browse a website or leave the site altogether.

Keeping this in mind, it is integral that people make data-driven decisions regarding the changes they make to their websites so that they can maximize their conversions and receive desirable results.

One of the best tools that people can use in order to see which aspects of their website provide optimum results is multivariate testing. Using this tool, business owners can see exactly which elements of their websites are working well with their target audience and which ones need to be adjusted.

If you want to make sure that you are offering the best possible user experience for your website visitors, you should consider using multivariate testing software to test your site.

Multivariate testing explained

Multivariate testing is a tool that businesses can use to test multiple features of their websites in order to see which features are most effective and how these features work with and relate with one another.

For instance, you could use multivariate testing to test different versions of your welcome video, call-to-action location, and headline copy at the same time, allowing you to see which combination of these features will be the most advantageous for your business.

Unlike A/B testing and other testing methods that only allow you to juxtapose results gathered after testing two versions of a website, multivariate testing allows you to test multiple different website elements at a time on a large volume of live traffic, painting a more accurate picture as to which features are beneficial and which ones need to be changed.

The benefits of multivariate testing

Multivariate testing will help you pinpoint and improve elements of your websites that are negatively affecting your conversion rate, and it is one of the best methods for optimizing your website for conversions. 

In addition to showing areas for improvement, multivariate testing will also show you how your conversion rates will change if you use specific website elements in conjunction with others.

Because of these features, multivariate testing offers a host of benefits to business owners:

Increased conversion rates

Using the data from multivariate tests, ecommerce business owners can make decisions that they can guarantee will boost their conversion rates. According to research conducted by Neil Patel, multivariate testing increases conversion rates approximately 27% of the time. 

When you are able to test multiple variants of your website, you will be able to see exactly what elements you need to combine from each variant in order to maximize conversions.

Efficiency

All too often businesses spend a lot of time and money trying to determine how to improve their ecommerce site and improve key metrics without having the data to help inform these decisions.

Multivariate testing provides specific data and analytics business owners can use to adjust their ecommerce sites, allowing them to save money, energy, and resources over time. Because these tests are conducted using live traffic, they are able to produce accurate results that will make a real difference for your business.

While multivariate tests tend to take more time than A/B tests, these tests use segmentation, which provides data that is more specific and more accurate.

Scalability

Multivariate testing works well because it tests variants of a website against a large number of website visitors. This makes it a great tool for businesses that are growing rapidly. You can also run multivariate tests on a regular basis so that you can make sure that the data from these tests accurately represents your growing audience.

Using multivariate testing, you can make sure that as your business continues to expand, you are continuing to provide a good ecommerce experience for your customers.

Growth

Even if your business does not have any metrics that are less than desirable, your ecommerce site always has room for improvement.

In addition to helping you correct aspects of your website that are contributing to poor metrics,  multivariate testing also shows you the best possible way to improve your website so that you can have conversion rates that are even higher than before.

Performing a multivariate test

Performing a multivariate test might seem complex, but it only requires a few simple steps. These tests are a bit more complicated than just simply creating myriad variants of your ecommerce website, but with seven short steps, you can see incredible results.

In order to make the most of your multivariate testing, there are a few steps that you will need to follow:

1. Look at your metrics

Before you start creating variants of your website, you need to analyze your key metrics and determine which ones you would like to improve.

For instance, if you notice that your ecommerce site’s landing page has a low number of conversions, then you will know that you should target this metric as you set up your multivariate test.

The best way to make sure that your multivariate test is actually testing the elements that it needs to is to create a goal based on your analytics and key metrics.

2. Create a hypothesis

Once you have determined the key metric that you would like to improve, you need to create a hypothesis to test.

The best way to do this is to actually look at your ecommerce site and analyze it as if you were a new visitor. Browsing your website through the lens of a visitor will help you notice website features and elements that might need to be adjusted. 

For instance, you might notice that the copy on your call-to-action button is too wordy or your font colors make it hard to read the text on your site.

Once you have scoured your site, you will have a better starting place for forming a hypothesis that addresses your goal.

So if your goal is to increase the conversion rate on your landing page by a specific percentage, your hypothesis will provide potential solutions that will help you achieve your goal. 

For example, your hypothesis could be like the following:

• Starting the call-to-action copy with an action word will increase the conversion rate on the landing page.

• Placing the welcome video above the fold will increase the conversion rate on the landing page.

• Using a larger font size for my headlines will increase the conversion rate on the landing page.

• Providing trusted reviews before my call-to-action will increase the conversion rate on the landing page.

• Including video content will increase the conversion rate on the landing page.

• Using shorter headlines will increase the conversion rate on the landing page.

Once you have a hypothesis or, preferably, a  list of hypotheses, you will be ready for the next step in this process.

3. Create your variants

Now that you have an idea of specific features and elements that you can test on your ecommerce website, you are ready to create different variants for your multivariate test.

Using multivariate testing software, like the tools available at ConvertCart, you can create different variants of your website that incorporate every element and change that you came up with for your hypotheses. You will be able to set a specific testing window for your test to run and determine your sample size and how you would like to segment your website visitors.

During your testing window, your website visitors will see different variants, and you will be able to gather data about whether or not your hypotheses were correct.

4. Run your multivariate test

Once your variations are created and you have decided the appropriate window and sample size for your test, you can actually begin the multivariate testing process.

Keep in mind that in order to provide the most accurate results, you will need to have as much data as possible. During your testing window, it is a good time to use advertisements and other tools to try and increase your website traffic.

5. Look at your data

Once your multivariate test has concluded, it is time for the most important step in this process: analyzing your test data. There is no point in running a multivariate test at all if you are not going to use the data to improve your website.

One of the benefits of multivariate testing is that these tests will not only show you whether or not your hypotheses were correct, but they will also show you the best combination of website elements and features to use in order to optimize your conversions. This will allow you to make the most beneficial and influential changes to your ecommerce site.

It is important to conduct multivariate tests as regularly as possible so that you can make sure you are working with data that best represents the decisions of your current audience.

Using multivariate testing

There are countless elements and website features that you are able to test using multivariate testing tools. The benefit of using multivariate testing is that unlike only testing two versions of your website, you can test multiple variants (and thus multiple website elements) at once.

Here are a few of the most important website features that you should consider when conducting a multivariate test:

Content

When consumers visit your ecommerce site, they want to see high-quality, engaging content that adds value. 

Multivariate testing can help you determine whether you need more or less content, whether you should include different forms of content like videos, and whether or not your content is actually engaging.

Using the results from your multivariate test, you will know what kind of content resonates with your target audience so that you or a content writing service can create this content and include it on your website.

Calls-to-action

The calls-to-action on your website are vital because they let your website visitors know exactly what actions you would like them to take. Without calls-to-action, your website visitors would not be able to convert, and you would not see people subscribing to your email list, downloading your e-book, adding products to their online shopping cart, or other important actions.

Creating effective calls-to-action is an important skill that takes time and data to perfect. Multivariate testing is a great way to help you figure out exactly how to change your calls-to-action so that you can boost your conversion rates and get the best possible results.

Website layout

It does not matter if you have engaging content on your website if your website visitors can not find it. Multivariate testing will help you determine the best layout for your website so that each element is positioned in the optimal spot for your audience. 

Simple features such as the colors you use for your landing page or the location of your video content can make a big difference when it comes to your conversion rate. Use multivariate testing to make sure that your website layout is as effective as possible.

Copy

From your headlines to your calls-to-action, there are several places on your website that rely on strong copy in order to grab your audience’s attention and keep them from leaving your website.

Multivariate testing can help you determine whether you need to make changes to your copy like using shorter phrases or using more action words. It’s always a good idea to test your copy regularly. 

Using ConvertCart for multivariate testing

ConvertCart can help you get started with multivariate testing so that you can help take your ecommerce site, and your conversion rate, to the next level.

With ConvertCart, you can use multivariate testing as well as other tools to optimize your website for conversions and provide a better ecommerce shopping experience for your customers.

Learn more about ConvertCart and how we can help your business when you visit our website.