Test Results: Adsense on Salesletter and Squeeze Pages

[Marty Foley]

You may be as surprised as I was to learn the results of a multivariate test I ran three different times, on sales letters and on opt-in (also known as "NameSqueeze") pages.

For those who don't already know, Google's Adsense program allows website owners to monetize their traffic when visitors click on targeted ads displayed on their sites.

I tested with and without a row of Google Adsense ads displayed at the bottom of the pages, where they'd be seen only after the visitors had a chance to read the main content.

In two out of three tests, I had better conversion rates (as in sales conversion and opt-in conversion rates), with Adsense on the page, versus without Adsense. In the test where Adsense ads had a negative impact on the response, it was very minimal.

These counter-intuitive test results go against a common "rule" of web site conversion, which says to focus on one (or just a few) main actions you want visitors to take on each web page, and avoid anything else that can detract from taking such actions.

While I generally agree with that rule, this shows there can be exceptions. One possible reason was that AdSense ads helped lend a bit of Google's credibility to the site.

That's just one of many reasons it is smart to test. A key moral of the story is, "Don't knock it until you test it."

Marty Foley