Sell Smarter: Why Testing Beats Guessing – Optimize your Afternic Strategy

“How do I sell more names?” When working with a new seller, that’s typically the first question I get as an Account Manager on Afternic’s Partner Seller Team. While there are best practices, optimizing a portfolio is never one-size-fits-all.  

The real progress comes when sellers take a proactive, experimental approach. Domain investing is full of variables, and no strategy works universally. The sellers who consistently improve aren’t guessing; they’re testing. 

The Power of Testing 

Sales advice is everywhere, and often contradictory. That’s because each investor’s perspective is shaped by personal experience. With every portfolio being unique, testing becomes essential. Top sellers use data to test, evaluate, and adjust their strategy. 

But testing doesn’t mean making random changes and hoping for the best. It means running structured experiments that generate actionable insights. 

How to Run a Good Test 

A proactive approach leverages the resources available on a platform to identify what works. Testing takes time, but it’s time well spent. In a market where holding costs can eat into returns, well-structured tests help you make faster, data-driven decisions. 

1. Establish a Baseline: Pull historical metrics like sales velocity, average sales price (ASP), or revenue per domain before starting the test. These historical metrics depend on the goal of your test. If you are discounting pricing to improve your sales velocity, you will want pull your historical sales unit data, for example.
2. Create Balanced Test Groups: Use random, equal groupings to best isolate the variable being tested. 
3. Define Success/Failure: Set a clear goal and margin of error around your metrics. 
4. Set a Timeline: Aim for at least a 3-month run. Sales performance is naturally inconsistent. Longer tests will reduce the impact of outside factors, leading to more reliable results.
5. Limit Other Variables: Keep everything else consistent to avoid influence from outside factors. 
6. Track Progress: Ensure proper reporting is in place to monitor changes. Need assistance with reporting? Reach out to the Afternic Partner Seller Team.
7. Have a Bailout Plan: If you see a sharp drop in performance, have a plan to revert your changes.
     

A structured approach not only improves your results but also gives you confidence in your strategy. The Afternic Partner Seller Team can review your portfolio and provide data-driven, proven testing strategies tailored to your goals.
 

What Can You Test? 

• Landing Pages & Features: Compare performance between different Afternic landers and lander features such as displaying Buy it Now, Lease to Own, and/or Make Offer options on our Custom Lander.
• Pricing Strategies: Test BIN vs. Make Offer, round numbers vs charm pricing, or tiered pricing. 
• Lease to Own (LTO) & Max Term Length: Experiment with different term lengths or activating LTO to broaden buyer options. 

 We have helped many sellers successfully test various sales strategies. While not every test increases sales, any actionable insight is a step toward future success. 

Ready to Experiment? 

In an industry full of opinions, your data is the best expert. Test, learn, and build a strategy that works for your portfolio. 

Not sure where to start? Reach out to the Partner Seller Team at PartnerSeller@Afternic.com. We’re here to help you structure a test tailored to your portfolio.