Myth: just follow proven best practices, skip testing

Myth: just follow proven best practices, skip testing

'Single-column forms convert better, everyone knows it, just do it.' So I did it. Without testing.

Months later, bored, I tested it against our old multi-step form. The MULTI-step won, +12%. Best practice lost on my site.

Best practices are averages from other people's sites with other people's traffic. They're a hypothesis generator, not an answer. The whole reason A/B testing exists is that 'everyone knows' is wrong often enough to cost real money.

Use best practices to pick what to test. Never to skip the test.

Go find one 'best practice' you implemented on faith. Test it against the old version. Report back what wins.