What if there was a way to double your conversions without more traffic or spending money on ads? Here's how to make simple changes that have a huge impact.
Launching a new product, shop or business can be a challenging task... and there is a certain amount of risk involved. And as you know, it doesn't matter how much your product or service helps your target audience, if no one knows about it, you will have a hard time reaching your income goals.
So this post will show you how to optimize your content, putting your products, services and ventures to the test before launching. We'll introduce you to A/B split testing, to save time, money and frustration creating content that no one wants.
We will focus on how to split test landing pages and other content to maximize leads and sales.
How to Minimize Risk
Starting a new business will result in some variation of the risk scenarios below... Your product will become:
Sales and marketing success is not as easy as sending out a social media post every now and then, making a cute video or even buying ads, thinking the money will just flow into your bank account. Read on to learn about each scenario.
A Product That's a Huge Success
Imagine waking up in the morning and seeing new sales come in—while you were sleeping.
Your phone lights up with notifications. Orders. New subscribers. Messages from customers thanking you for creating something that solved a real problem for them.
Your product isn’t just “out there”… it’s working for you.
You’re no longer wondering if this business will work—you’re focused on how to grow it.
There’s a sense of calm confidence.
Bills are being paid with income you created.
You have breathing room. Options. Freedom.
You’re not scrambling for ideas anymore—you’re refining, optimizing, and scaling something that’s already proven.
And maybe most importantly…
You feel validated.
That idea you once questioned?
That thing you weren’t sure anyone would buy?
It’s now a real, income-producing asset.
This is what a successful product looks like:
- Consistent sales (even if they start small, they grow steadily)
- Clear messaging that attracts the right people
- Customers who get it and are excited to buy
- A system that works—even when you step away
It’s not luck. It’s alignment between your offer, your audience, and your message.
You've Created Something Mediocre and Results Are Just… “Okay”
Now imagine something different.
You’ve put your product out there. You’ve shared it. Maybe even promoted it consistently.
And… it sells.
But not enough.
A sale here. A sale there. Long gaps in between.
You’re not sure what’s wrong.
Is it the price? The audience? The page? The offer itself?
You feel stuck in this in-between space:
- Not failing… but not succeeding either
- Working hard… but not seeing proportional results
- Hoping each new post or tweak will finally “click”
This is where many entrepreneurs live longer than they should.
It often looks like:
- Inconsistent income that you can’t rely on
- Messaging that feels unclear or too broad
- A product that kind of solves a problem—but not powerfully enough
- A lingering doubt: “Am I doing the right thing?”
It’s frustrating… because you know you’re close.
You just don’t know what needs to change.
When a Product Completely Misses the Mark
And then there’s the hardest scenario.
You launch your product… and nothing happens.
No clicks. No sales. No real engagement.
It feels personal.
Discouraging.
Maybe even embarrassing.
You start questioning everything:
- Was this a bad idea?
- Am I cut out for this?
- Did I waste all that time?
This is what failure can look like:
- Silence after launching
- Little to no traction despite effort
- A mismatch between what you’re offering and what people actually want
- Emotional burnout from trying and not seeing results
But here’s the truth most people don’t talk about…
A failed product is not a failed entrepreneur.
It’s data.
It’s feedback.
It’s clarity you didn’t have before.
The big question is how do you create a plan that reduces or eliminates failure while increasing your chances of reaching your income goals, consistently?
How to Get Back on Track (and Often Come Back Stronger)
The entrepreneurs who succeed aren’t the ones who get it right the first time.
They’re the ones who listen, test, adjust, and refine.
Getting back on track looks like:
- Stepping back and identifying what didn’t connect
- Talking to your audience (or finally defining one clearly)
- Simplifying your offer to solve one specific problem really well
- Testing small changes instead of starting over completely
- Using tools like split testing to uncover what actually works
Instead of guessing, you start learning.
Instead of hoping, you start seeing patterns.
And eventually…
You build something that clicks.
The Big Picture... How to Find Out What Works
Every entrepreneur moves through these stages:
- Uncertainty → “Will this work?”
- Experimentation → “Let me try this…”
- Clarity → “This is what works.”
- Growth → “Let me scale this.”
Your goal isn’t perfection from day one.
Your goal is to move—intentionally—from guessing…
to knowing.
Because once you have a product that truly connects…
It doesn’t just change your business.
It changes your life.
It's Time to Make a Shift
When your products are not hitting the mark, it's important to shift into fact finding and testing mode. Testing can help you identify what's hurting your conversions.
You will also need to learn as much as possible about your ideal customers, and how your products can help them.
Finally you need tools that will help you gather data that can be used to make informed decisions. It's important to stay focused, don't give up and actually learn what's working to get you results and what's not working.
A/B split testing can get you the results you need, but it's a process... so be patient.
Determine Your Testing Goals
Its important to think about your goals when setting up a test plan. What does success look like? Will your test focus on an increase in page views, lead generation or revenue as a measure of success?
- Before testing, look for what might be hurting conversions. Identifying friction points can be a starting point. A/B testing works best when you test known problem areas, not random ideas.
- It's important to test one element at a time, so that you know what is making a difference in helping you reach your goals.
- Build a hypothesis. every test should answer a question. For example, "If I make the headline more specific, more people will sign up because they understand the benefit faster."
- Don’t just look at clicks— look at outcomes. Track the right metrics. A version with more clicks isn’t better if it leads to fewer sales.
- Give your test enough time and traffic. Use a tool like our business profit generator to determine the amount of traffic needed to reach your income goals.
Having a tool like Thrive Optimize makes creating and testing product and page variations super easy. Take a look at the elements you can test with this tool for WordPress.
Test Your Business Ideas
Consistently improve your sales and marketing results and connect with an audience of people who want and need your products.
Start by testing the elements that influence decisions the most. These items are the highest priority:
Headline
- Clear vs clever
- Benefit-driven vs generic
Call-to-Action (CTA)
- “Get Started” vs “Start Your First Online Business Today”
- Specific is better
Offer
- Bonus vs no bonus
- Price anchoring
- Free vs paid entry point
Visuals
- Product image vs lifestyle image
- Video vs static
Sales and Marketing Elements You Can Test
There are a number of different types of tests you can run to obtain data you can use to optimize your site for sales and marketing success.
In this section we will discuss the elements to test to ensure that your site is optimized for results.
These tests will give you data you can use to optimize your site for conversions.
We call it having a conversion focused website that generates results like leads and sales, the lifeblood of any online business.
Headlines. Test headlines that grab the attention of your target audience to get more engagement. Even the font combinations, sizes and colors can make a difference.
Page Layout. It's important to use page layouts that properly frame the problems and solutions to grab the attention of your target audience, motivating
them to keep reading. This is where knowing your target audience and what motivates them to buy is important.
Calls to Action. Something as simple as button colors can make a difference. It's important to create calls to action that will motivate your audience to take action.
Optimize Copy. Find the words and phrases that resonates with your audience. What resonates with one audience may not resonate with another. Be sure to learn as much as you can about your audience, niche and industry.
Pricing Displays. Your customers want to know how much of an investment they will need to make to get your product. Display your pricing in a way that is clear and grabs attention. It's important to test different formats that will fit your pricing, making it easy to check out and complete purchases.
Testimonials. Testimonials, case studies and other social proof will help to sell products. Potential customers look for evidence that the product works. Test and compare testimonial placements that build trust
Use a journal or word processing document to write down your plans and ideas.
Here's the Scoop on Running Ads
Sales and marketing success takes a planned, consistent sales approach. Randomly running ads with no data, no understanding of your niche and target audience and no idea what works, is like taking a shot in the dark. You might hit the target once (luck) but most of the time you'll miss.
Additionally relying on ads without understanding how they work can lead to wasting a lot of money.
As a matter of fact, research has shown that up to 60% of marketing budgets are wasted. It's like throwing hard earned money down the drain,
The research above shows that ads are being run on social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram and most of them are not working.
These social media companies are making money from hopeful business owners and in return, the businesses running ads are not reaching their financial goals.
Business owners are running ads without knowing how to use them to their advantage.
Even with a plan, it's hard to know if your ideas will be profitable and worth the time and energy you'll put into them. We'll talk about ways to manage the risk while implementing continuous improvement to reach your personal and financial goals.
While it's risky, starting a business, launching new products and actually making money from any location can be fun, and very rewarding.
I don't know many people who start a business to lose money, but that's the reality for many people who think it's a get rich quick process.
On the flip side of throwing caution to the wind, there are business owners who are paralyzed in fear, who never take action because of the potential for losing time and money on something that never pans out.
How to Make Money Without Losing Your Shirt
When you decide to launch a business, one of your first challenges will be in finding a balance between throwing caution to the wind and taking huge chances, or taking steps to manage potential risks.
Here are several ideas you can use to land somewhere in the middle:
Or you may decide it's not worth it to move ahead. At the same time, if you never launch, you'll never know whether your idea could be the next big thing.
So testing is not about giving up, it's about going back to the drawing board and
implementing improvements. The more confident you are in your venture and your ability to achieve success, the better you will be at convincing others to go along with you. But it's hard to have confidence with the uncertainty that goes along with staring something new.
Not All Ideas Are Worth It
The reality is that some ideas are on target and others, not so much. Successful business owners don't just wake up, select a product and start selling without a few hiccups. It's natural and expected that you will fail before achieving your goals.
There will always be something you can change, and those small changes can make a huge difference in the results you obtain when selling. Just keep in mind that failure is a normal part of the process. That's why entrepreneurs are also known as risk takers.
And this is the thing... the only way to know whether your idea is worth pursuing is to get it out there and let potential customers see what it's about.
Research can help you gather strong assumptions about your ability to sell. However, until you receive feedback from the actual people in your audience, your marketing messages may fall on deaf ears.
And in taking a script from the Disney movies I've been watching lately, you may have to kiss a few frogs before you get to Prince Charming. Don't give up, keep testing, learning and improving.
You'll reach your sales and marketing goals when you get your messages in front of the right people, and you're able to motivate them to take the desired action. You do that by regularly testing, learning, improving and communicating with your audience.
Short, 2 - 3 question surveys can help you get the information needed to make decisions.
Let's say you have a product that seems like a good fit for the people you want to work with. Based on your market research, you think you have something that will really help them.
The big question is... will your audience see it that way? What are the right words, how do you create the right messaging that evokes the emotions that will motivate potential customers to take action? Taking the steps above and building a testing system will give you answers to those questions.
How Setting Up a Testing System Will Help You Reach Your Goals
Is it better to find out your idea doesn't work after you've invested your time, hard earned money and resources? Probably not. Learn your lessons before spending time and energy. Setting up a testing system takes the guesswork out of whether to launch or not.
This is Not a New Concept
Smart companies launch products using data, not hunches, feelings or data that worked for someone else. Testing out ideas before launching is not new. It's a tried and true method used by large and small companies alike. It saves time and money by allowing business owners to show their products to a test market, get feedback and launch using real data from their audience.
While helping you sell more, the data obtained during testing can also help you improve a product or concept to make it better.
And testing is not a one time or one product thing. Testing is a continuous process that gives the gift of unlimited insight and creativity. There are also tools like polls, surveys and quizzes that are regularly used to obtain data.
No one, including major corporations has money to throw away on ideas that don't work.
When you think about major brands, they launch tests in small markets and analyze the data and feedback they receive from potential customers before they roll out their items to major markets. Before spending massive amounts of money and resources on marketing and advertising, these companies are armed with information they can use to make informed decisions.
Market Research Can Only Take You So Far
Market research is an absolute necessity when starting a business. It helps you understand your niche and the challenges they have from a generic perspective.
We know there are people who are looking for products like yours based on research posted in a number of different places. But this data, while insightful can only take us so far.
The reason it's limited is because it's based on the results obtained from a generic sampling of people, from a number of different sources. There's no real time data that tells you what your unique audience will buy.
Your Unique Business... Your Unique Results
Using a generic approach to launching a business can be tricky... For example, what sells to my audience may not sell well when when you place the same products and services in front of your audience.
Testing helps you figure out what products will be the best fit for the people who follow your unique business.
In addition to knowing what products will earn you money, you can also test out different scenarios to see which products, features and options will bring in the most money.
At the same time, testing doesn't mean you won't lose money, it means you won't lose as much money on a product, or service that may or may not work.
Here's Our Solution
If you're on WordPress and you're comfortable setting up sites, there is an affordable testing solution for WordPress (the one we use) that will provide everything you need to set up a testing system designed save you time, money and frustration.
This is What You'll Get:
You'll also learn how to use data to determine whether your idea is (1) something you should more forward with, (2) something that you can tweak to improve, or (3) something that you should scrap and start again.
Knowing what works will get you to the goal of making the kind of money that can make a difference in your life. Knowing doesn't work can help you cross things off your list and lead you to a solution that does work.
If this sounds interesting, just sign up to get immediate access to our testing solutions and see how they work. You can opt out within 30 day if our solutions don't meet your needs.
What Happens When You Have Something to Test?
Once you find one product that's feasible, you'll have everything you need to build out a WordPress shop. You'll of course want to add (and test) more products to your shop.
You can also duplicate what you learned in your initial test to start a new site that brings in another stream of income.
The bottom line is, you'll have a shopping system on the leading platform for blogs and websites (WordPress), that gives you the confidence you can use to roll out consistently successful ventures.
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