Implementation of Passive Aggressive Copywriting Results in +240% Conversion of New Visitors

If you're involved in digital marketing, you know how crucial it is to test various strategies to identify what resonates best with your target audience. 

One of the most popular methods for this is A/B testing. A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a technique used to compare two versions of an element to determine which version performs better in achieving a specific goal.

This testing strategy can be performed using different approaches and mediums. In this blog, we will delve into one of the A/B tests conducted by our team at cmlabs, where we employed the Passive Aggressive Copywriting technique. 

We’ll provide a detailed overview of the A/B testing process, including how we designed the experiment, the specific elements we tested, and the metrics we used to measure success. Discover more in the following!

A/B Testing Strategies from a Copywriting Perspective 

At cmlabs, our internal team has embarked on a comprehensive A/B testing initiative focused on optimizing the copywriting on our tools page to enhance our upselling methods.

We implemented this testing strategy with the goal of increasing traffic to cmlabs' service pages. By introducing new elements on the tools page, we aimed to capture the interest of tool users and encourage them to explore the various services offered by cmlabs further.

As a company operating in the Business-to-Business (B2B) sector, we recognize the challenges associated with upselling. However, we decided to take a unique approach that sets us apart from typical B2B companies.

Our A/B testing at cmlabs leveraged a distinctive style of copywriting known as Passive Aggressive Copywriting. This technique involves using subtly provocative language to engage users, a method that can seem slightly irritating but is intended to capture attention and drive engagement.

What Is Passive Aggressive Copywriting? 

Have you ever heard of Passive Aggressive Copywriting? This style of copywriting uses language or tone that implies criticism, sarcasm, or an indirect aggressive message. 

It's a unique approach where the writer subtly communicates a message, often highlighting the target reader's weaknesses or mistakes in a nuanced way, sometimes incorporating humor with a hint of irony to convey a critical and challenging message.

Passive Aggressive Copywriting can be quite effective in capturing an audience's attention as it directly appeals to their emotions and makes them feel "challenged." This emotional engagement can be a powerful tool in driving conversions, as it prompts the reader to reflect on their behavior and consider the solution or product being offered.

When crafting Passive Aggressive Copywriting, the key is to strike a balance between being critical and being subtle. The message should be clear enough to provoke thought but not so overtly aggressive that it offends the reader. 

Example of Passive Aggressive Copywriting on the cmlabs Tools Page

Below are some examples of Passive Aggressive Copywriting that we have implemented on the cmlabs tools page.

Word Counter: This tool is designed to help users determine the word count and keyword density of their content. Our approach here was to make it clear that while knowing the word count is essential, there are additional strategies that need to be applied beyond just counting words. We emphasized that users should not rely solely on this tool but consider more comprehensive SEO tactics to enhance their content’s performance.

Title & Meta Description Checker: When using this tool, users typically want to check whether their titles and meta descriptions are optimized for SERP. We seized this opportunity to subtly suggest that our team could recommend titles and meta descriptions with much better performance. By highlighting our expertise, we aimed to nudge users towards considering our advanced recommendations rather than just relying on basic checks.

Robots.txt Checker: This tool is commonly used by technical SEO experts. Through our Passive Aggressive Copywriting strategy on this page, we sought to subtly convince users that our SEO team is far more experienced and capable of providing more strategic services. By framing our expertise in a slightly cheeky manner, we aimed to elevate our service appeal and encourage users to seek more comprehensive SEO solutions.

Keyword Permutation Generator: Typically, this tool is used to shorten the time required for keyword research. However, the results can often lack strategic depth, as the tool simply speeds up the keyword generation process without adding much value. To address this, we employed Passive Aggressive Copywriting to “tease” users, suggesting that they need more than just this tool. We implied that a thorough keyword strategy developed by our experts would significantly enhance their SEO efforts beyond what the tool alone could achieve.

How to Conduct A/B Testing on the cmlabs Tools Page

We implemented Passive Aggressive Copywriting as part of our A/B testing efforts on four cmlabs tools pages. Here is how we conduct an A/B testing on our tools page.

1. Setting the Goal for A/B Testing

Before conducting the A/B test, we first established the objective we wanted to achieve. For this test, our goal was to increase visits to the cmlabs Services page originating from the tools pages.

2. Identifying Variables to Test

After setting our goal, we identified the variables to be tested. This time, we performed A/B testing on four tools pages: Word Counter, Title & Meta Description Checker, Robots.txt Generator, and Keyword Permutation Generator.

3. Reasons for Selecting the Test Pages

Prior to conducting A/B testing, we carried out a series of checks to identify the pages with the highest number of visitors among all cmlabs tools. These checks revealed that the Word Counter, Title & Meta Description Checker, Robots.txt Checker, and Keyword 

Permutation Generator pages had the highest monthly visitor counts. Additionally, since cmlabs provides content in both English and Indonesian for each page, we tested a total of eight pages.

4. Choosing the Type of Copywriting

We decided to use Passive Aggressive Copywriting to evoke emotions in the users of the cmlabs tools. 

Through this type of copywriting, we aimed to instill a sense of doubt in users, making them feel that merely using the tools was insufficient and that they needed our services to achieve more significant overall results.

When examined further, this type of copywriting is still not widely used. It’s important to note that Passive Aggressive Copywriting should not be used indiscriminately and must consider the value proposition of the aspect being tested.

5. The Copywriting Process

Creating copy with a passive aggressive tone took approximately two weeks. During this process, we paid attention to the following:

• Identifying who the primary users of the tools are.
• Ensuring that the message does not backfire and create a negative impression.
• Knowing what users expect to achieve with each tool.
• Generating phrases and copy that can effectively engage users emotionally.

6. Data Collection

You need to set a fixed period to gather sufficient data and to ensure that the analysis results are significant. The duration of this period depends on having a sufficiently large potential sample size to observe significant differences between groups. 

At cmlabs, we conducted this A/B testing for approximately 30 days. We tracked the process using cmlabs' internal data looker and involved several expert teams, such as the Data Specialist team, the Visual team, and the Marketing team.

7. Analyzing the Results

After the testing period ended, we reviewed the data by comparing the results from each test group. 

The process of calculating A/B testing results involves examining the metrics used during the testing process. 

Additionally, it's essential to ensure that the initial goals of the A/B testing were fully achieved. These goals may include conversion rates, clicks, retention rates, and more.

In this A/B testing effort, cmlabs aimed to maximize visits and redirections from the tools pages to our services page. Broadly, this was part of our upselling strategy. 

We measured the success of this A/B testing by comparing the number of clicks on:

• Component A: A button located at the bottom of the tools page.
• Component B: A floating button with much more engaging copywriting.

A/B Testing Results with Passive Aggressive Copywriting

Here are the positive results we obtained during the A/B testing process using Passive Aggressive Copywriting.

1. Increase in Clicks

During the 30-day A/B testing period, from June 2 to July 1, 2024, we gathered several important findings, including:

1. Daily trends showed significant fluctuations in the performance of component A and component B.
2. Despite the fluctuations, the highest click activity was recorded for component B.
3. Component A only showed click activity on 7 specific days during this testing period.

Of the four tools we tested, users were most active in clicking the floating component B on the Title & Meta Description Tool page, with a percentage reaching 50.9%, equivalent to 58 clicks. Additionally, the next highest click frequency occurred on the floating component B on the Word Counter page, with a total of 37 clicks.

Based on the pivot table above, the average percentage of users who clicked on the floating component B was 5.25%, while the average for component A was only 0.8%.

2. Increase in Page Redirection Visits

Hadirnya komponen B yang ditampilkan secara strategis di halaman tools cmlabs telah The strategically placed component B on the cmlabs tools pages had a significant positive impact.

This component not only increased engaging interactions on the tools pages but also boosted the number of visits to our services pages.

From the table above, we can see the following increases:

1. A total increase of 221.4% in users (from the tools pages) visiting our SEO Services page.
2. A total increase of 335% in users (from the tools pages) visiting our SEO Writing Services page.

*The percentages above are the cumulative results from users on both English and Indonesian language pages.

Conclusion

This discussion outlines the strategies and examples of A/B testing conducted by cmlabs to maximize other potential improvements in conversion rates.

In short, you can also apply A/B testing strategies in various forms to maximize awareness, conversion, and even sales. However, thorough planning and a deep understanding of your audience and goals are essential.

By conducting structured and measurable A/B testing, as we have done at cmlabs, you can identify the most effective elements in capturing user attention, helping you make data-driven decisions rather than relying solely on intuition.