Monetizing Google Website Optimizer Test Results: One A/B Test Yields $3,600,000 Revenue Boost?

Monetizing your test results can be a truly eye-opening experience.

We recently completed an A/B test for a lead-generation website. When the dust had settled, GWO reported that our revised page outperformed the original by 122%. Clearly, a great result. But when we computed what that lift actually meant in dollar terms, we were simply astonished.

The client reported that historically, approximately 10% of his leads turn into sales. And each sale brings in approximately $18,500 in revenue. So it’s easy enough to see that, again historically, each lead has been worth about $1,850.

As it turns out, that 122% increase in form submissions means our client should get about 1,950 more submissions per year. If the lead-to-sale rate remains 10%, they should enjoy about 195 additional sales. That’s over $3,600,000 in additional revenue… from one A/B test!

Obviously, there are some unknowns and this $3,600,000 figure isn’t guaranteed accurate. Most importantly, we don’t yet know whether our revised page may have increased form submissions at the cost of reducing lead quality and value. But even if our estimate is off by a factor of ten, that’s still a $360,000 annualized boost in revenue.

This was the case I had in mind when I wrote last week’s post on when it’s best to end a test early. For every week we kept this test running, our client may have been giving up $69,000 in potential revenue. That’s certainly a good argument for implementing the new page and moving on to the next test.