How to Improve Your Shopify LP with A/B Testing Using Google Optimize

In this article, we'll show you how to create a landing page (LP) on Shopify and run A/B tests with Google Optimize to improve the ROI of your advertising spend.

StoreHero leverages its proprietary growth platform to support businesses with highly detailed operations that manual management cannot achieve, as well as large-scale execution of growth initiatives.
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Why A/B Test Your Landing Page?

A landing page (LP) refers primarily to the page where users arrive after clicking an ad.

The landing page for ad traffic is a critical page that attracts a lot of visitors, but it tends to have a high bounce rate. Therefore, improving your LP is an unavoidable strategy for any store that uses paid advertising to drive traffic.

How to Create a Landing Page on Shopify

Generally, an LP is a single, long-form page that condenses the product's appeal, customer reviews, expert comments, and more.

With Shopify, you can either code the page using HTML or Liquid, or create it without coding by using a page builder app like Shogun or GemPages.

If you want full control over every design detail, coding is the better choice. However, if you want to run A/B tests to find winning patterns, using a page builder app to build pages quickly is probably the better approach.

With tools like Shogun or GemPages, you can build pages without writing a single line of code — much like putting together a PowerPoint presentation.

Recently, it has also become common to use blog articles as landing pages, or to set a homepage or collection page as the ad destination.

Tips for Effective A/B Testing

We recommend starting with the tests most likely to have an impact.

A valid A/B test requires a sufficient sample size. When comparing Pattern A vs. Pattern B, you can't draw a reliable conclusion if the purchase count is just 1 vs. 2.

If you're driving a lot of traffic to your LP (i.e., spending heavily on ads), you can afford to run many tests. Otherwise, you'll need to prioritize and be selective about what you test.

Examples of high-priority tests include:

• Main visual copy
• Offer variations
• Price presentation
• Add-to-cart button (sticky vs. static, etc.)
• Page layout

Form a hypothesis about what most strongly influences purchase decisions, then decide what to test based on that.

How to Use Google Optimize

Once you've decided what to test, try running an A/B test with Google Optimize. Here's how to set up an A/B test in Google Optimize.

Integrate with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager

After logging into Google Optimize, first connect it to Google Analytics. Once linked, you can use Google Analytics conversions as your A/B test goals.

Next, create a tag in Google Tag Manager. On the tag type selection screen, choose Google Optimize.

You can find the Google Optimize container ID in the Google Optimize settings screen. Copy it, paste it in, and link it to Google Analytics.

Then set a trigger to fire on your Shopify store's URL, and the Google Tag Manager setup is complete.

If you're not using Google Tag Manager, place the Google Optimize tag directly inside the Head tag.

In the Shopify theme editor, you'll find the Head tag in theme.liquid — place the Google Optimize tag there.

Create Test Patterns

Create an experience in Google Optimize. Since we want to run an A/B test, select A/B test — but note that multivariate testing and targeted delivery are also available once you get comfortable with the tool.

Let's create a test pattern. After naming your pattern, you'll be taken to the editing screen.

The editing interface is impressively easy to use. Simply select the element you want to change and register your edits.

For text-based tests, setup can be done entirely without code.

After creating your test patterns, set the test goal. You can use a Google Analytics goal, or set an event as your goal — such as "clicking the add-to-cart button" or "watching the brand video."

Once you've set your goal, verify that everything is working correctly. Google Optimize has a built-in feature to check your configuration status.

Once you've confirmed everything is working, click the Start button to begin the test. You can also schedule a start date and time in advance.

After that, just sit back and look forward to the report showing which pattern performed better.

Thorough Growth Execution with StoreHero

StoreHero supports Shopify merchants who are struggling to grow their sales by helping them execute growth strategies thoroughly and consistently.

Leveraging the StoreHero growth platform, we help merchants achieve continuous growth through highly detailed operations — covering advertising, store optimization, CRM, and inventory management — that would be difficult to execute manually, along with large-scale implementation of growth initiatives.

We are currently offering free store diagnostics. If you have challenges with Shopify and growth strategies in general, please feel free to contact us. Learn more about the free store diagnosis here

Summary

In this article, we introduced how to create a landing page on Shopify and use Google Optimize to run A/B tests that improve your advertising ROI.

Google Optimize can be used not just for LPs, but for any page on your Shopify store using the same method. You can also use it to personalize page content and layouts for different audiences.

Using it together with Hotjar, which we've introduced previously, will make your A/B testing even more effective.

We hope this helps you with running your Shopify store.