Content-Testing: Explanation, Benefits & Implementation

If you want to successfully implement content testing, you are in the right place.

So you have understood that testing your content can give you a tremendous advantage in optimizing your target audience. Good content analysis allows you to align your message so that your words remain in the memory of your target audience.

In this article, our guest author Dennis Fäckeler will tell you everything you need to know about content testing. You will also get specific examples and methods of how content tests can help you validate your content, increase reach, and boost engagement rates.

Ultimately, content testing will enable you to achieve conversion uplifts and improve the user experience. Sounds good? Let's get started!

What is content testing?

Content testing is the targeted examination of content and its impact on your target audience. The core goal of a content test is to improve the 'User Experience' and ensure that your content meets the needs and expectations of your target audience.

Content testing involves examining the conversation you want to have with your target audience.

When I talk about content here, I mean far more than just text. With content testing, you can analyze the quality and effectiveness of content such as text, graphics, and videos. A content test can also include analyzing the layout and formatting to ensure that your content is easy to read and navigate.

Here are some questions that content testing can answer:

• Relevance: Is there enough information available to help your target audience?
• Tone: Is the choice of words appropriate?
• Understanding: Does your target audience understand what you want to say to them?
• Comparative text: How do different variants compare?

Before starting a content test, you should ideally check your content for spelling and grammar errors and accuracy, so that you can focus your analysis on other elements such as clarity, tone, and style.

Why is content testing so important for companies?

It's quite simple: Testing content enables you to better understand the conversations you have with your target audience along each customer journey. Based on this, the experience can then be improved or redesigned.

To me, it even seems irrational when companies do not test content or important messages that have been produced at great expense.

Considering how much time and money goes into the development of content and advertising messages, a methodical analysis and optimization should be standard.

You can also answer the question of content length much better with a content test in combination with A/B tests. The following diagram shows a comparison from a redesign of a MOZ landing page.

Example of Content Testing of MOZ's Landing Page

For example, MOZ was able to tell a sales-promoting story for the first time through this redesign, including content adjustments. Result: $1 million more in sales. Blinkist also tapped into the full power of 'Content Testing and as a result was able to attract 12 million new users.'

Testing content is therefore important for companies as it helps ensure that the content you produce is of high quality and meets the needs and expectations of your target audience.

Particularly in the case of carelessly written content, sensitive topics or blunt translations, a content test could have helped many times to ensure better quality of content and thus greater impact.

Here are 3 mini-examples of translation fails and why you should also analyze wording in ads. Just because something worked well in England or Spain doesn't mean it will work well in Idar-Oberstein or Tokyo. Further down you will find some website examples and learn how to even 'boost job ads through content testing.'

1. 'Drive alive' was not the best choice for Mitsubishi in an international comparison. Most of the respondents in the associated studies hoped to survive the ride without danger.
2. 'Nice to sweet you' is probably familiar to you. But did you know that many people can see a positive message in this slogan, but they don't understand it? 'Nice to sweetly see you' is certainly not what Lindt intended.
3. Even the translation of a message into Asian markets should always be analyzed. In Japan, for example, Pampers used a stork as a symbol. The problem: In Japan, the association between storks and babies is not common. The result: Product mistrust.

As you can see, even small messages and content can be completely misconstrued. And what is celebrated in the product or marketing department can completely miss the mark with your target audience.

Poorly written, imprecise, or confusing content can therefore lead to a negative experience for your target audience, negatively affecting your company's reputation and profits.

Content testing is a valuable investment. It helps you quickly and efficiently measure and understand the success of your content.

Content testing can also be used to improve your website's visibility. It helps you identify the most relevant and interesting content for your target audience and incorporate that knowledge into your 'Search Engine Optimization.'

Regardless of your size or industry, content analysis will help you achieve faster success with your content marketing or new content, generate more traffic, and increase sales.

What is the benefit of content testing?

The testing of content has many advantages which should already be clear to you:

• Wording fit & increased efficiency: Early recognition and removal of content hurdles saves valuable time and resources. Instead of tinkering with content and fishing for formulations in the dark, you rely on quick and unambiguous audience analysis.
• Improved usability: By testing the quality and effectiveness of your content, you can ensure that it is easy to read, navigate, and understand, improving the overall user experience.
• Increased accuracy: Mistakes and inaccuracies in your content can be detected and corrected more quickly. This also improves the experience and helps build trust with the audience and improve your company's reputation.
• Improved clarity: Content tests ensure that your message is clear and precise, improving the delivery of your intended message and achieving the desired results.

Overall, content testing will help you produce high-quality messages, texts, and messages that meet the needs and expectations of your target audience. They will inevitably improve the user experience and help attract, win, and retain new people.

4 Examples of Website Content Testing

There are a vast array of uses for content testing. Below, I have selected a few examples of content tests on websites that we have conducted ourselves.

1. Improve job ads and attract more applicants

I'll stick my neck out here, but I bet that your HR department has heard little or nothing about content tests or 'UX Analysis and Methods'. Many people receive help with their applications from platforms like Indeed or Stepstone, enabling them to create attractive cover letters. All so that the recruitment department does not have to read 'I hereby apply' 50 times a day.

But what about the job ads themselves?

Why do so many ads seem like a poorly made business card that barely addresses the needs of the target audience (finding loyal people who work productively in the company)?

We have had the case where the number of applications for a medical position dropped to zero due to wrong wording. Do not make the same mistake and examine your content.

HR and the management thought it would be cool to include countless tasks in the profile. The introverted target group was ultimately not very enthusiastic about Sales, which was not a part of the original job. However, after the analysis and optimization more applications started to come in.

In the following example, you can see an excerpt from an optimized job advertisement from Hanseatic Bank. The job advert was filled very quickly, and through content analysis and optimization over 30 new applications were collected.

Optimized job ad after a content analysis of Hanseatic Bank. Source: Userlutions

2. Usability and On-page optimization of interaction elements

Whether onboarding processes (this is particularly valuable for content testing, in my opinion), complex content, buttons, or booking routes – there are virtually no limits to the uses of content testing.

The following illustration shows how fixed points were minimized through content analysis and how content could be grasped or reduced more quickly.

Example of content testing for website buttons and UX Testing

The content test, in collaboration with UX professionals, showed the company that the wording could be simplified considerably. Image: Userlutions

3. Improved wording and presentation for sensitive services and products

In the following you will see an excerpt from an analysis of insurance policy that we carried out. These findings also had a lasting influence on the company's internal understanding of text and branding.

In this content analysis we used the so-called highlighting method. You can read more about this in the section on different Content Testing Methods.

Content testing example using the Highlighting Method. Source: Userlutions

How to interpret the highlighted areas:

• Green: These formulations were received positively, they should be highlighted and given more attention in the target audience's approach.
• Yellow: These areas were identified as either too promotional or unclear and should be improved.
• Red: These areas were evaluated negatively and should definitely be adjusted or removed.

4. Testing beliefs (using blog posts as an example)

In a content test, Blinkist put old beliefs to the test. Blog posts were examined and checked to see

• if content always has to be short,
• what impact banner images have, and
• what role images and videos play.

The result: Banner images were completely overrated.

The effectiveness of banner images was examined over a long period of time. Images were swapped and moved. Through content testing, it was shown that the ideal (beautiful large images) collided with reality (for the target audience, banner images were already a blind spot). Blinkist realized that people did not interact with the content as they thought.

When is content testing useful and what should be tested?

By now, you should have been introduced to enough areas where content testing can be of help. Here's a brief summary, content testing is useful in every phase of the development process.

1. Before creation: During the planning and research phase, testing competitive content can ensure that the content aligns with corporate goals and meets the needs and expectations of your target audience.
2. During creation: Testing your content during creation can help identify and correct errors or problems, saving time and resources later.
3. After creation: This is where the greatest potential lies, as most companies miss out on sensible content optimization in their daily business. But even before publication or distribution, you can use content analysis to ensure success.

What should be tested depends on your goals and needs and the content to be created. Some universally valid elements that can be tested are:

1. Spelling, grammar, correctness: If it hasn't already been checked by proofreading or quality assurance, then apply your content tests to this.
2. Language, level of information and style: With this you can find out whether the chosen words suit the brand or whether, for example, chosen images do not harm and a specific wording & comparison tables would strengthen the content.
3. Clarity: Here you find out whether your target audience easily understands the message.
4. Layout, Formatting & Accessibility: If you have already dealt with reading and text usability, then you know that text should also be visually appealing. Therefore, with the content test you can of course also ensure that your target audience can easily navigate through your content.
5. Content length: many or few words? Long or short landing pages? There is no one-size-fits-all answer. But a content test gives you valuable insight here.

What content testing methods are there?

A content test can include different types of tests to assess the effectiveness of your content. You can conduct A/B tests, for example, to see which content works better. However, the A/B test would only answer the what (What works better?), not the why (Why does this work better? How should we write?).

It is much better, therefore, to first (qualitatively) examine your content with your target group. Through interviews, you can easily get to the qualitative why. Even easier are unmoderated or moderated remote UX tests, which involve going through the content with your target audience.

Therefore, there are various methods that can be used for content testing, including manual and automated approaches. Common methods for testing content include:

• UX Tests can be used in content testing, where a group of people are asked to check the content and give feedback. UX tests are a useful method to find out how content is perceived by the target group and to identify problems that affect the user experience.
• Peer Review involves people reviewing the content for mistakes, accuracy, clarity and overall effectiveness. Peer reviews can be a useful method to get new perspectives on the content and identify problems that might have been overlooked.
• Automated Tools: If it's a matter of simple spelling and grammar checks, or style and plagiarism checks, automated tools can also be helpful.
• Highlighting Method: Modelled after a UX test, the highlighting method allows you to have good and bad messages marked directly by your target audience. With the highlighting method, text dimensions are analyzed that can be supported by exploratory approaches. Different dimensions such as 'positive' and 'negative' can also be interwoven. This method is particularly strong, as you learn a lot about your target audience.

The best methods for testing your content depend on your specific goals and needs and the type of content to be created. It can be useful to combine different methods to get a comprehensive view of the quality and effectiveness of the content. If I had to decide, I would always try to combine a UX test with the highlighting method.

4 Simple Steps to Successfully Implement Content Testing

Content Testing is not rocket science and can be implemented relatively quickly and easily.

1. Define problems, goals and priorities 

Certainly, you have already created great amounts of content. Therefore, decide what you want to examine and why. For example, low conversions or high support requests can be an indicator of poor content. So, in a first analysis, look for possible show stoppers and discuss internally the prioritization of the content to be examined.

2. Choosing the test method 

Since you've already learned about some methods, choose a suitable test method. We often use the highlighting method to understand the why in detail and derive corresponding optimizations. Make sure that you don't just interview any random group of people, but define your target group. If, for example, you offer content on the topic of construction and house, it is wise to speak with people who are currently in this situation, to receive the most realistic assessments. A regional context or affinity to certain areas can also be a selection criterion. At Rapidusertests you can use a large 'panel of over 50,000 people.'3.

3. Formulation of Hypotheses 

When formulating hypotheses, it is important to decipher relevant changes or adjustments that will positively influence your desired metrics. A formula for accurate hypotheses consists of three building blocks:

Observation + KPI/Metric + desired change

The example formula is, therefore: if …, then …, because …

If we address and alleviate concerns of our target group in a specific area on car insurance product detail page, then we can increase potential completion rates because people build up more security and clearer understanding of the product.

4. Execution of tests and validation 

Here it can be useful, as mentioned, to examine different concepts against each other in order to better estimate the actual value of your changes or updates. After the analysis, you should of course adapt your content and then examine it again.

If you follow these steps, you can effectively test your content and improve the quality and effectiveness of your content.

What kind of content testing tools are particularly good?

By now there are various tools you can use for a content test.

Spelling, style and grammar programs: I personally really like using '

• . For rewriting, you can use the Hemingway App or Rewrite Guru.LanguageToolPlagiarism check: Tools like Plagiarism Checker or Rewrite Guru can help here.
• Quantitative analyses: Here you can rely on '
• the best A/B-Testing tools, like 'UX Testing and qualitative analysis such as the Highlighting Method: Here remote tools and platforms like 'ABlyft or UX agencies like '
• Userlutions Rapidusertests' can help you.

Conclusion: Bye bye poor content performance

If you are interested in improving your content together with your target audience and ensuring a better content performance, you can't avoid content testing. Testing content is an important process to ensure that the content you produce is of high quality and meets the needs and expectations of your audience. Just one content test at the right touchpoint and the subsequent optimizations can pay for themselves. Overall, you increase many metrics and ultimately contribute to your company's success.

The most important benefits of content testing include:

Improved User Experience

Deeper Understanding of Your Target Audience

• Increased Accuracy and Clarity of Your Content
• Increased Efficiency (Better Conversion Rates)
• Positive Effects on Brand Perception and Branding
• Increased Content ROI

Overall, content testing is a valuable tool for anyone who wants to produce high-quality content that meets the needs and expectations of their own target audience.