The only way to truly tell if one strategy works better than another is to test and compare data. We recently asked select website owners if they would be willing to allow us to run some A/B tests on their sites. Specifically – we wanted to see how some of our AmaLinks Pro® elements performed versus plain text and image links. You see – we are aware that there is a belief in some affiliate marketing circles that just plain old text links work the best to get users to click over to Amazon. We wanted to see for ourselves.
There are many variables that could affect click-through-rates. So, we ran similar tests on several different websites. The first two tests that we reported on resulted in 256% and 386% increases in CTR to Amazon, respectively. Here is a link to view all of our case study test results posts. We understand that different niches and different types of posts might have very different results.
Today, we’re reporting on results from a website in the health and fitness niche. The product being promoted on the page we tested is a very specific product designed for a specific activity. The price for the product being promoted is not considered ‘cheap’ – but at the same time, is not outrageously expensive. We will not be revealing the exact site or who the owner is. But, we’re going to show you the exact results and do our best to explain the before-and-after scenarios.
Thoughts from the Actual Website Owner!
Before we show you the results – we thought we’d share with you some thoughts from the actual owner of this website. Here they are (in his own words)…
One of my favorite things about AmaLinks Pro® is that it’s one of those “small hinges that open big doors.” It’s really quick and easy to add beautiful images to the website which I think actually increases the user experience on the site while simultaneously increasing CTR and earnings.
I’m looking forward to going beyond the pages that we tested and rolling out Amalinks Pro across the entire site.
263.3% Increase in Clicks to Amazon!
This test ran for 2 months and 4 days and the post had 4,898 total page views. Here is the breakdown for how it performed…
- Control Version (the original, unedited) – 2,414 page views with 42 clicks to Amazon – 1.74% CTR
- Variant Version (AmaLinks Pro®, edited) – 2,484 page views with 157 clicks to Amazon – 6.32% CTR
Here is a screenshot from the dashboard of the A/B testing plugin that we are using (with the website screenshots blurred for confidentiality)…
As you can see – we were able to achieve an amazing 263.3% increase in clicks to Amazon on this one page.
What are we testing, exactly?
It’s simple, really. We set up this test to count the number of times a user (reader) clicks on an external link that contains ‘amazon’ in the URL. We verified that all links to Amazon in the original post were using the full Amazon URL and contained the word ‘amazon’ – and we know that all links created by AmaLinks Pro® use the full API-driven URL which contains ‘amazon’ in the URL.
How are we setting up our A/B tests?
Note: This post does contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service after clicking one of our links, we earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
We’re using Nelio A/B Testing – a WordPress plugin for easily setting up and monitoring A/B tests from within your WordPress dashboard. We researched and tested a few different A/B testing tools and found that Nelio A/B Testing would be the easiest for us to use on multiple WordPress sites.
The Nelio A/B Testing plugin allows us to create as many variants as we want, per post (or page). For the tests that we are running, we are setting up just one variant. To make changes to the variant, the plugin opens up a post (or page) editor with the exact original version and we simply make all the changes that we want and then save it.
The plugin then automatically directs about 50% of traffic to the original post (the control version) and the other 50% of traffic to our edited post (the variant version). Readers of the website have no idea that there are 2 different versions of the post!
The coolest thing about the Nelio A/B Testing plugin?!? After you find which version of your post performs the best – you can set that version to be the new live version on your site with just a click!
How was the original post (control version) set up?
The post that we ran this test on is a specific product review post for a specific brand. The post is about one product only. One exact prod
Is [specific product name] Any Good?
An example for the title would look something like this (this is NOT the title of the post or even the same niche!)…
Is RENPHO Body Fat Scale Any Good?
After the title, there was a large image of the product (not linked to Amazon) then a few introductory paragraphs. After that came several subsections of informational content with keyword-focused subheadings. Most subsections had accompanying images (with none of them linking to Amazon). I will also note that this particular site (and page) has obnoxious display ads all over the place!
The first affiliate links to Amazon appeared in the 6th subsection, which talked about the price for the product. There were two plain text links in that section – linking to the 2 versions of this product for sale on Amazon.
Next, there were several more informational subsections. Then, there were two more text links (affiliate) leading to the product listing pages on Amazon in the very last paragraph.
Here is an example of what the pricing subsection looked like, that contained the first two affiliate links…
Again, this is just an example. The actual site did not promote this specific product.
How Much Is a RENPHO Body Fat Scale?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip RENPHO Body Fat Scale consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur…
So, that was it. The original version of this post seemed to be set up more as an informational post targeting keywords specific to the product. Many of the subsections were exact questions that people might ask about the specific product. The affiliate text links leading to Amazon almost seemed like an afterthought. This would explain the abysmal click-through-rates to Amazon (1.74%) in the original version of this post.
What changes did we make for the variant post?
We made a couple of big changes to the variant version of the post, using AmaLinks Pro®. First – we added a mobile responsive comparison table, with AmaLinks Pro®, towards the top of the post. We added it just after the intro paragraphs and before much of the rest of the informational content. We have found that it is VERY beneficial to place affiliate links near the top of a post – as a high percentage of readers typically don’t scroll all the way down and even see all of your content.
The table contained just the two versions of the specific product. We also added a new subheading and one line of text just above the comparison table – as you’ll see in our example below.
Next, we added affiliate links to any of the images on the page that displayed the product and we added a CTA button (with hover effects) just below any image with text that read, See Ratings and Reviews on Amazon.
We added two Showcase Boxes between subsections – one for each version of this particular product as listed on Amazon. Then, we inserted another comparison table at the end of the post – the same one we used at the top of the post.
Here is an example of how our variant post is setup (again, this is just an example – the actual site and product have nothing to do with body fat scales)…
Title of The Post Here
Intro paragraphs – Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur…
In a hurry? Compare the [product names]
CLICK on any image below to see Ratings and Reviews on Amazon
Subsection of Informational Content
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur…
More Subsections of Informational Content
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur…
More Subsections of Informational Content
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur…
There you have it! We added a comparison table to the top and bottom of the post and added CTA buttons and AmaLinks Pro® Showcase Boxes. These changes alone resulted in a 263.3% increase in clicks to Amazon on this particular page!
Run Your Own A/B Tests!
Would you like to try setting up a similar A/B test on your own website or blog, to see if you can increase your clicks to Amazon? You only need a few things to get started.
- A post or page that gets decent traffic (at least a few hundred visitors per month)
- An A/B testing tool or plugin (like Nelio A/B Testing)
- Your own copy of AmaLinks Pro®
Check your analytics to find a post that gets decent traffic. If you’re not already promoting Amazon products on your high-traffic posts – take a look at our detailed guide to see exactly HOW you can be monetizing ANY post on your blog with Amazon.
Find a good A/B testing solution that will work well for you. The Nelio A/B Testing plugin that we use does have a VERY limited free version in the WordPress repository. If you choose to use Nelio A/B Testing – you will likely need to choose one of their Pro (paid) plans.
If you don’t already have your own copy of AmaLinks Pro® – I would suggest starting out with our Blogger plan. The Blogger plan gives you a license that you can use on only one site. If you have more than one website that you would like to use AmaLinks Pro® on – you can always upgrade your license later by simply paying the difference.
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