Ann Holland’s of WhichTestWon.com presented a webinar today with guest star Trevor Claiborne of Google (!).

During the course of the webinar, Trevor 1) Revealed Case Studies on A/B and multivariate tests that Google’s
run on its own sites. 2) Answered questions about Google Website Optimizer and at the end 3) Evaluated an attendees landing page.

One of the interesting conclusions looking at Google’s Website Optimizer conversion page tests was that bullet form calls to action are very, very strong – stronger than a video demo or tour of the website. The only change that provided stronger conversion rates were icons with calls to action attached to them.  The site may not even have those next time you visit -  they test about once a week and continually change and modify to improve conversions.

Trevor then reviewed a very large multivariate testing campaign for YouTube – about 1,024 variation test actually. Borders, boxes, colours and calls to action were mixed in three different areas designated for users to sign in or open an account. An increase of 17% based on YouTube’s traffic makes this kind of a colossal testing very significant indeed.

Trevor and Anne were then kind enough to review the conversion page for classmates.com, where I was pleased to learn that too many choices for payments and schedules seem to turn users off completing the registration process than a simple flat rate or maybe two choices.

What do I take away from this? KISS and tell – keep it simple, stupid. Test big changes first, and then test again. And test again.. and again. Then do it again. Keep testing and don’t always go with your instinct. The data will clearly provide the answer on what works and what does not.