Having a competitive website is vital to your law firm’s growth and reaching your target audience. It is also an essential step if you want to build your legal brand. However, your website is not intended to be a one-and-done, check-it-off-your-list marketing task. It is vital to continue learning about your potential clients and how to engage with them in meaningful ways. Legal marketing is an ongoing journey that includes various tools, including A/B testing, the topic of today’s article.
A/B testing is one of the key marketing tools for discovering what matters most to your target audience so you can be sure you are sending them the right message. Another benefit is that it can help you improve the overall user experience on your website. Done properly, A/B testing is a powerful tool that can help to increase relevant traffic to your law firm’s website, build your reputation as an authoritative source in the industry, and boost your case count.
PMP uses A/B testing to optimize our clients’ websites, help them understand more about their target audience and help take their law firm to the next level.
What Exactly Is A/B Testing?
A/B testing is a bit like a scientific experiment to help you gain insight into your law firm’s online marketing efforts. The first step involves creating two slightly different versions of whatever element it is you want to test. For instance, you could test the specific elements of a web page, such as a contact form, to see which version would be more likely to get a potential client to convert.
After creating your Version A and Version B test variations, it is time to show them to different groups of potential clients.
Where Can A/B Testing Be Used To Benefit Law Firms?
For a personal injury law firm, there are many areas where you could utilize A/B testing, such as:
- Different call-to-action (CTA) phrases
- Contact form designs
- The colors of your website buttons
- Landing page elements, such as headers, headlines, CTAs and more
- Elements and other content below the fold
- Social media posts
- Images
- Layout
Is There a Right or Wrong Way To Do A/B Testing?
There is most definitely a right way to do A/B testing. The first step is to understand the data metrics you should be tracking. If you do not set up your A/B test correctly, the results you get will not be useful and could even cause you to make decisions that could negatively impact your traffic.
Some common errors people make when trying to do their own A/B testing include:
Testing Too Many Elements
If you put too many elements into a single test, you cannot know which element your participants are responding or reacting to. A/B testing should involve setting up variations of one element at a time, such as a headline, the phrasing used in a CTA or the placement of a paid search ad. Changing more than one thing will not provide useful results.
Not Collecting Sufficient Data
If you have too few participants for your test, your data will not be that useful. If you make changes based on a data sampling that is too small, it may have little to no effect. In fact, in some instances, a small data sampling could give you skewed results.
Failing To Test Elements Based on Your Desired Outcomes and KPIs
Testing the phrasing of your contact form is an example of something that could have a direct impact on increasing your conversion rate. However, testing content below the fold may impact the overall user experience but not necessarily your case counts. Testing your site’s footer is another element that is not likely to be relevant to your goals. The key factor here is considering what objective you are trying to obtain and modify/test elements that can impact that outcome.
How Could A/B Testing Help To Increase Your Law Firm’s Case Count?
The purpose of A/B testing is to determine which elements most resonate with your target audience. By optimizing these elements, you can better determine how to improve the overall user experience. And by improving user engagement on your site, you will attract more potential clients and ultimately, boost your law firm’s case count.
After all participants have responded to your A/B test, you will need to analyze the results. Your analysis can help you to determine which version performs better in terms of converting visitors into potential leads. Once you understand your results, you can fine-tune your online marketing strategies.
As you can see, A/B testing can be used pretty much anywhere you want to gather data about how your target audience is responding to your website. Are they quickly leaving your site and going elsewhere? Or, after implementing your changes, are they staying on your site and continuing to browse your content?
The legal industry is different from many other businesses. Visitors checking out your law firm’s website may not need a lawyer now. However, you want to grab their attention so when they do need an attorney, they will think of your firm.
Ready To Start A/B Testing and Boost Your Conversion Rates?
Preparing for A/B testing and analyzing your data can take a lot of time away from the business of your law firm, which is why you may want to consider working with a law firm marketing agency.
At PMP, we have been helping law firms build their brands and increase their conversions for over 15 years. We know the optimal way to set up and conduct A/B testing to gather data that is relevant to your firm’s growth goals and KPIs.
If you are ready to grow your brand and take your law firm to the next level, our law firm marketing team is ready to help.
