New! Horizontal opt-in test 40% boost

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This is one of the reasons that Internet Marketing still gets my juices flowing.  When it comes to online marketing, even the craziest ideas are worth testing because some times those crazy ideas wind up converting.

Here’s one such example…

Some dude out there thought it would be a good idea to use a ‘Mad Libs’ style optin form, and he was really, really right.  The optin form asked the same questions that most optin forms do (name, email, phone, etc), but he switched the format to read like a narrative.  It even operated the same way as a standard optin form. You can click each field and tab through.  It just looked different, and honestly, it’s way more fun to fill out.

I haven’t tested this form style (I plan to), but someone else did. They put the ‘Mad Libs’ form head to head with against a standard opt-in form. Guess who won… Yep, the ‘Mad Libs’ form supposedly increased conversion across the board by 25-40%.

This is living proof of why we should all be split-testing everything we do, because you never know until you put it to test.

So here is my call to action.

Don’t settle for the predictable results you’ve been getting for the last 2 years.  Turn on your idea factory and start split-testing, because chances are you’re not at full potential.

If this doesn’t get you excited, then you might want to split-test some career options

-Ryan

P.S. What have you tested lately? Comment below and tell me about it…

Learn More:

Want an insider’s look at all my extensive split testing? CLICK HERE to access 43 Split Test where I uncover all the test results, revealing the best ways to increase your conversions. NOTE: “43 Split-Tests” is currently off the market in preparation for the release of “43 Split-Tests 2.0″ on May 26, 2010.

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50 Comments

1. 

   Dallas Website Designer Rhonda

   October 13, 2011 at 2:21 am

   I never thought about using a form creatively on the site except for the placement of it. I learned that copy affected your conversion rate. I am wondering with the horizontal opt-in form, does well-written sales copy matter as much.

   Reply
2. 

   Mark

   August 18, 2011 at 8:45 pm

   Do you have a programmer who can program the “horizontal opt-in” form into my blog or can you tell me how to do it?

   Really want to increase my opt-ins,

   Mark Edward Brown

   Reply
3. 

   asaf

   June 15, 2010 at 4:27 am

   i am inspired
   thanks !

   Reply
4. 

   Abdul Adewale Taiwo

   May 30, 2010 at 9:53 am

   keep the good job going i will give you my reports later.

   Reply
5. 

   Daivd Gonzalez

   May 30, 2010 at 8:07 am

   This is a great idea, The curiosity alone will make a bunch of people opt-in. Does anyone know where or how to make the form to use in a aweber? They don’t have any code on the book.

   Reply
6. 

   Brandon

   May 29, 2010 at 8:00 pm

   Man thats a cool idea. Love the look of the blog, and I’m excited about the new 43 split test.

   I have the original and its really helped me with my business.

   THanks

   Brandon

   Reply
7. 

   Thomas

   May 27, 2010 at 8:31 pm

   Who woulda thought? I wonder why.

   Reply
8. 

   Cedric Aubry

   May 27, 2010 at 2:41 pm

   Great One Ryan,

   Will definitely test this one on my new campaign.

   Thanks for sharing.

   Reply
9. 

   Kathi

   May 26, 2010 at 10:00 am

   Ryan thanks little tidbits like that are so valuable!!

   Reply
10. 

    Affiliate Marketing Training

    May 26, 2010 at 7:47 am

    Nice news there Ryan, test test test eh, always moving forward … I Like it. I would be nice to see if aweber pick up on little tricks like this

    Reply
11. 

    Connor

    May 26, 2010 at 6:41 am

    Hey Ryan,

    It certainly makes a lot of sense to test the water with different marketing methods, simply to see what works best. This seems like an innovative new idea, but people should be aware of the fact that it’ll soon become saturated unless you put your own twist on things.

    By the way, your new blog design is absolutely awful.

    Reply
12. 

    Bronson

    May 26, 2010 at 4:38 am

    Wow, this is quite a cool idea and it seems to work like a charm. I think most opt-in form type things are just flat, this method of using a narrative is a LOT more natural for non-technical users.

    Nice idea, I’m definitely going to give this a bash.

    Reply
13. 

    KeithDShrock

    May 26, 2010 at 3:17 am

    Ryan –

    what is a great new idea worth?

    thanks for the inspiration!

    I hope your “43 split test” partner is enjoying retirement–Twitter or not.

    Reply
14. 

    Michael Anderson

    May 26, 2010 at 2:44 am

    Great post Ryan, Just goes to show the power of being a bit different.

    Michael Anderson

    Reply
15. 

    sergi

    May 26, 2010 at 2:16 am

    Thanks for that. It makes a lot of sense. People need to fill in the story…

    Reply
16. 

    Angeline

    May 26, 2010 at 2:07 am

    Sounds interesting. I will try this on the German market. Thanks!

    Reply
17. 

    A,l Ferretti

    May 26, 2010 at 12:40 am

    You hit the ball out of the park again Ryan with providing value. Thank you . Much Appreciation.

    -Al

    Reply
18. 

    Nelson Tan

    May 26, 2010 at 12:16 am

    I’m having the impression that a visitor who bothers to read through the Mad Libs statement is less likely to put in a dummy address and will be a more dedicated subscriber to your website and content. This is great and thanks, Ryan!

    Reply
19. 

    Ronald Redito

    May 25, 2010 at 11:49 pm

    Creativity could lead to more opt-ins! Site users are tired of seeing the same opt-in forms and they know that the main purpose is just to get their email info.

    This technique would yield better results.

    Reply
20. 

    Elisabeth Kuhn

    May 25, 2010 at 10:54 pm

    What a cool idea! How do you make that work with a regular opt-in form though?

    It will probably need some technie intervention…

    As far as my own experiements go…

    I’m comparing really fancy forms and very plain ones, and they both seem to be doing well.

    Haven’t kept close tabs on the actual numbers yet to really do the official comparison, but I’ll start doing that now…

    Reply
21. 

    Hector Cuevas

    May 25, 2010 at 10:41 pm

    Great stuff Ryan..

    Was just planning to do some split-testing myself so this would be a great variable..

    Hector

    Reply
22. 

    Brian Owens

    May 25, 2010 at 10:40 pm

    I recently have been split testing the ultimate footer ad vs aweber light boxes…Light boxes look like they’ll win for sure thus far but will need more time to verify.

    Reply
23. 

    Damian Walker

    May 25, 2010 at 9:23 pm

    Hey Ryan – that is brilliant – is there a way to use this through aWeber?

    Thanks

    Damian

    Reply
24. 

    camp-activities.com

    May 25, 2010 at 9:11 pm

    Very interesting. Can we set up a form like this using Aweber’s form maker?

    Reply
25. 

    walter daniels

    May 25, 2010 at 9:01 pm

    What a remarkable idea. Thinking outside the box, can really pay off.

    Reply
26. 

    Amanda van der Gulik

    May 25, 2010 at 8:59 pm

    WAY COOL RYAN! thanks for sharing that. I’ll be putting that to the test straight away for sure!

    My own split testing has shown me little things like:
    -people seem to like getting ‘software’as an opt-in gift over ‘ebooks’
    -people seem to opt-in better when I use words that sound as if they have already opted in (Frank Kern style)
    -people seem to opt-in more when I have arrows pointing to the opt-in box

    Those are some of my own findings so far, still testing! ;o)

    Cheers…Amanda van der Gulik…Excited Life Enthusiast! ;o)

    Reply
27. 

    walter daniels

    May 25, 2010 at 8:58 pm

    This is truly a remarkable idea. Thinking outside the box can really pay off. I’ll have to try it.

    Reply
28. 

    Tim Atkinson

    May 25, 2010 at 8:05 pm

    Thats bad Ass Ryan! I’m so split testing this.. haha split test your career, your hilarious my friend. Thanks for the tip

    Tim

    Reply
29. 

    Hans Gale

    May 25, 2010 at 8:03 pm

    Great to hear about this! And thanks to others sharing their info too!! To add to the mix, I recently tested having an opt in form that reversed the usual sequence: first I asked for e-mail address THEN I asked for their name. I was astounded that this little switch actually increased sign-ups by 13%. Ryan you are really right that you don’t know until you test!!

    Reply
30. 

    Andrew Baird

    May 25, 2010 at 8:03 pm

    Been testing a new traffic source and so far it’s produced leads and sales and I haven’t even optimised it yet.

    Reply
31. 

    Glen Hopkins

    May 25, 2010 at 8:03 pm

    That’s awesome Ryan. Thanks for sharing this. I’ll set up my own test and let ya know how it goes!

    …one this I can share now is my short form squeeze page get more opt-ins than my long form squeeze HOWEVER my long for squeeze consistently leads to more sales on the thank you page

    Reply
32. 

    Farmville Secrets

    May 25, 2010 at 8:00 pm

    Nice article Ryan…I agree that people are over exposed to traditional marketing methods..

    Reply
33. 

    Alex Makarski

    May 25, 2010 at 7:45 pm

    Awesome post, Ryan.

    Well, answering your questions, here’s what I tested today…

    I tested video optin vs video fakeout for a product launch in the personal development niche. Some traffic came from Internet Marketing lists, most from other personal development lists. On the IM traffic the fakeout won by a landslide. But in the end the gool ol’ video page was able to get ahead.

    Alex

    Reply
34. 

    Scott Murdaugh

    May 25, 2010 at 7:21 pm

    Nice. I’m testing and tweaking all the time…

    This begs the question, where can we get an easy way to build that kind of form?

    Reply
35. 

    brian fanale

    May 25, 2010 at 7:17 pm

    this is awesome!

    haha, love it… will be split testing this for sure,
    and then will be helping thousands of networkers
    out if this pulls 40%+ better!

    great Ryan, keep bringing the pain bro!

    Brian Fanale
    http://BrianFanale.com

    Reply
36. 

    Brian T. Edmondson

    May 25, 2010 at 7:11 pm

    Ryan,

    Really interesting post.

    I could see that increasing conversion in the usual suspects markets (like IM / biz opp) where the typical forms are so common.

    At first glance, I’d think that something not as straight forward would decrease response, even though the narrative style is cool, but that’s why everything is worth a test!

    Brian

    Reply
37. 

    Mike Worrell

    May 25, 2010 at 7:08 pm

    Here you go, teaching an old dog new tricks! Good job Ryan!

    Reply
38. 

    Wayne Sharer

    May 25, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    That’s just the kinda thing you think, “hmmm… why didn’t I try that. Making a simple change like that is something most overlook because they are looking for something more complicated.
    Once again, the answer was found in the basics.

    Thanks for the great post Ryan.

    Reply
39. 

    Graeme

    May 25, 2010 at 7:03 pm

    Hi Ryan

    I am mid changing my BetterLeadsMoreSales.com optin page (need to move optin box to the right side, above the fold etc) when your email arrived in my inbox.

    Talk about great timing – not to mention a fascinating post. I’m with you on split testing. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

    I’m off to play around with the page to see if I can add this idea in as well!

    Thanks again
    Graeme

    Reply
40. 

    jared

    May 25, 2010 at 7:01 pm

    This is really cool.

    Its this creativity that excites me. Great innovation.

    Thanks for sharing Ryan
    PEACE

    Jared

    Reply
41. 

    jim yaghi

    May 25, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    madlibs are cool and unique…been using them for years to make it easier for people to fill out long forms and surveys.

    i didnt test them on straight 1 or 2 field optin because i know the type of traffic affects that more than anything. wonder if anyone notices a significant increase with it

    hey, i didn’t know they were called madlibs tho. interesting to learn!

    Reply
42. 

    Jonathan Boettcher

    May 25, 2010 at 6:58 pm

    I recently tested having an opt in form BELOW the text on the LP, as well as to the side of it… saw a nice little gain from doing that.

    Reply
43. 

    Brian Horn

    May 25, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    Tested using a rap on an optin page. Got near 60% optin rate for it.

    Reply
44. 

    Christian Fioravanti

    May 25, 2010 at 6:52 pm

    Hey great share Ryan! Love it!

    I’ll have to give it a go here soon and try it out for myself.

    All the Best,
    Christian

    Reply
45. 

    Rick

    May 25, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    Proof once again that testing makes the world a better place. And much less boring!

    Thanks for reporting on this one.

    Rick

    Reply
46. 

    Paul Klein

    May 25, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    Very interesting test, especially in that something that actually takes a wee bit longer to work through to opt in, will engage many subscribers due to the novelty. (Until the next new test comes out…)

    I’ll have to try it out. I mention that it is interesting in that many people surfing through are typically wanting lightning fast results, so to slow them down enough to read through a different opt in format may end up engaging them better.

    Time will tell.

    Paul Klein

    Reply
47. 

    Cullen Powell

    May 25, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    This is pretty cool in-line opt-ins are one of the best ways to build a list with a blog.

    It’s best to put them in an iframe so visitors aren’t distracted / taken away from the page after they submit the form.

    That way, only the small section of page containing the form will change after they click submit, thanking them for registering and letting them know they’ll receive an email “in the next 12 hours” or something so they continue reading & don’t go checking their email right away.

    Another thing that’s working really well for me is a call to action in the upper right (I put mine near the top of the right-hand sidebar) and that out-performs my call to action below each blog post something like 2 to 1.

    Reply
48. 

    Marshall Wayne

    May 25, 2010 at 6:42 pm

    I’m definitely going to be putting this to a test. Thanks Ryan!

    Reply
49. 

    Darren Crawford

    May 25, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    This is brilliant! I am going to test that on my new campaign that I am launching.

    Thanks for the idea.

    Reply
50. 

    Stephen Dean

    May 25, 2010 at 4:11 pm

    That is awesome, and very worthy of a test. I’ll report my results here later, thanks for sharing.

    Reply