The Game Episode 2: Double conversions with Sitecore split testing

How long is the ideal piece of content? According to Buffer Social, content that takes around 7 minutes to read captures the most attention. For context, 7 minutes equates to around 1600 words. Of course, each site and audience is different. The only way to find out what length of content your audience responds to best, whether it’s text or video, is to split test it.

Split testing
In the latest episode of our web series The Game, we're looking closer at split testing.

As part of our Self-awareness is a Superpower campaign we tested two versions of the same text against each other to find out which one generated the largest amount of conversions. The first version of the text was more detailed, with a total of 711 words, whilst the other version briefly explained the subject in around a third of that amount - just 250 words.

By running a basic content test in Sitecore, we were able to test the two versions against each other.

The results
Our split test showed that the short version generated twice as many conversions compared to the long version. Visitors also spent twice as long on the short version of the page. That lead us to believe that, at least in the case of engaging with this campaign, people’s time is precious and their attention spans are short. The sooner we could explain the message of the whitepaper, the greater the chance we had of somebody downloading it.

To gain a truly accurate result, you’ll want to repeat the test with multiple pieces of content. By playing around with different content lengths you will eventually find that “sweet spot” - the ideal length for you and your audience.

Interested in split testing your content?
Interested in discovering what content generates most conversions? Our step-by-step guide will teach you how to run a split test in Sitecore.