• Marketing Pilgrim , Tuesday, September 9, 2008 2:01 PM

Andy Beal shoots the breeze with Bryan Eisenberg, multivariate testing expert and author of "Always Be Testing." Eisenberg offers examples of when multivariate testing might be a better choice than A/B testing, as well as the variables that a marketer might want to include in their test.

"A/B testing techniques can work great when you are comparing the results of one page versus the results of a second page," Eisenberg says. "For example, which landing page from your radio commercial converts more customers, the one with the great copy and no pictures or the one with ok copy but a picture of a pretty lady?"

In contrast, multivariate tests deal with multiple variables at the same time (i.e. testing the copy, the call to action, a choice of pictures and the 'buy now' button at the same time). "Multivariate tests are best when you want to test isolated variables on a page," Eisenberg says. "For example, you may want to test 3 versions of your headline, 4 versions of your main image and 6 versions of your call to action to find the best combination for that particular page."

While Eisenberg covers more than 30 testable conversion factors in the book, he suggests that marketers new to testing at least get on board with evaluating headlines, calls to action and trust-building elements.

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