Do questions convert better? ???♀?

Have you ever considered how your landing page headline might influence your audience to take action?

It’s easy to assume that starting with a bold, declarative statement is always the way to go, but what if asking a question right off the bat is actually more effective?

Today’s experiment dives into that exact question.

Hypothesis

Starting a landing page for an acquisition offer off with a question will achieve a higher conversion rate.

Why might this work?

Questions are naturally engaging. They encourage visitors to pause and think. By prompting them with a question, you’re inviting them into a conversation instead of making an assumption. This could make the landing page feel more personal and interactive, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

Control

Treatment

Results

Including a question in the header led to a 42.1% decrease in conversions compared to a more traditional, declarative statement.

The results reached an 87.5% level of confidence (we aim for 95% to be conclusive). With such a drop in conversion, we opted to stick with the control.

What can we learn from a losing treatment?

While many experiments show that a more personal and conversational approach creates more engagement, most people arrive on a landing page having already engaged with an ad or an email promoting the offer.

A primary goal of the headline on the page is to affirm they’re in the right place to get the offer they just clicked through to learn more about.

The treatment in this experiment—although it asks an engaging question—does not immediately help the reader to know they’re in the right place to take the next step.

In a sense, the question starts the conversation over from the beginning instead of building on the call-to-action that drove the reader here.

Some tips for testing this (and other) ideas

1. Test where you ask questions in the conversion funnel. They can often be effective for grabbing someone’s attention in an ad.
2. If testing a question, do you know enough about the audience on your page or seeing your ad to ask a specific question that they will relate to??
3. Test the placement of the questions on the page. If ineffective as a headline, are there meaningful questions to ask within the value proposition copy on the page?

A/B testing is the primary way to cut through subjectivity and let your donors tell you exactly what works to improve results. Discover the power of a/b testing and start building your own testing program through this data-driven training course. Click to learn more!