Sometimes, the smallest details make the biggest difference. You might not need to overhaul an entire webpage to get better results. The simple tweak of a headline or button may do. A/B testing is how you get to the heart of what is (and isn’t) driving your audience to take action.
Commonly used in marketing, web development and user experience (UX) design, A/B testing is all about making data-driven decisions that optimise your webpage, app or ad campaign. Why is A/B testing important? It takes the guesswork out of choosing the format, the look and the features of your digital marketing materials.
So what is A/B testing, exactly, and where does it fit in with your marketing strategy? As a Brisbane-based digital and creative marketing agency, Anchor knows how to A/B test a website and what it takes to get the best possible results. This is our guide to what A/B testing is, why it works, and how you can use it to your advantage.
What Is A/B Testing?
Also called split testing, A/B testing is an experiment in which you show two different variations of a campaign to two separate audiences to see which one performs better. One audience gets version A of your website, app, design, subject line, etc., while the other audience gets version B.
To run an A/B test, you create a second and slightly modified version of an existing webpage and make a change, large or small, from the tweak of a single feature to a full-scale redesign.
You’ll need an A/B testing tool, and fortunately, there are plenty of them available. From Google Optimize to Crazy Egg, AB Tasty to Adobe Target, the choice is yours when you’re ready to start testing.
Why is A/B Testing Important?
A/B testing is popular. 71% of organisations use A/B testing to optimise their corporate websites, and many conduct 2-3 tests a month. A/B testing isn’t just being picky. There are several reasons why A/B testing is important:
Make careful, data-driven decisions
A/B testing allows you to tweak your user experience while collecting information on the impact it makes. Through A/B testing, you can collect useful factual data on what works and let go of any unfounded assumptions. You then have the information you need to plan and manage your campaigns based on facts.
Get results
Some of the biggest advantages of A/B testing include increased conversions, lower bounce rates, better user experiences, fewer cart abandonments, and more efficient use of time and budget.
It makes for better content
A/B testing recognises that sometimes, the most seemingly subtle changes can make the biggest differences. This is especially relevant for a medium like online advertising, which only gives you a limited amount of text to work with. A/B testing helps you refine the copywriting process and weed out needless and ineffective words, making the final version better for web users.
It’s easy to analyse
An A/B test is quite literally a simple choice between option A and option B, which makes it easy to determine which approach wins. However, determining which metrics are effective and which metrics aren’t is rarely so straightforward.
When to Do A/B Testing?
A/B testing isn’t something that’s just for special occasions. It wouldn’t hurt most brands and businesses to run a few more A/B tests, and there are some situations when it’s highly recommended. Run an A/B test whenever you do any of the following:
Redesign your website
Redesigning your website is sometimes essential, but if it’s not properly planned out, it can cost you organic traffic rankings and revenue. A/B and useability testing will give you the data you need for a website redesign that brings you higher traffic and conversions.
Change a feature on your website
When you need to change something on your site that affects the functionality, how you store customer data or how customers make purchases, it’s time to run an A/B test.
Change prices
Dropping your price can motivate more people to buy from you, but it can also turn off a particular kind of clientele if your brand identity is based on being a more premium or elite choice. A/B testing for price points lets you gauge how you can increase your revenue while attracting your target demographic.
Increase your conversion rates
A/B testing is used to test variations of functions like your call-to-action (CTA), sign-up forms and checkout processes to see which ones convert most effectively.
How to A/B Test
What is A/B testing like in practice? Here is a simplified version of the steps you need to take to carry out an effective A/B test:
Look for areas of improvement
Using tools like Google Analytics, examine the data you collect from your website, app, ad campaign, etc., and identify areas that need work. Pay special attention to pages with high bounce and drop-off rates. You can also gather data using other tools like heatmaps and social media surveys.
Identify variables to test
When you know what you need to improve, start choosing variables to test, e.g., headlines, banners, background images, and CTA. Heatmap software can help you determine which areas of the page require particular attention.
Define your goals
For the purpose of A/B testing, your goals are the measurements you’ll be using to determine whether the new version of your site is more successful than the original. While your main goal is usually more conversions, your goal may also be as simple as enticing more people to click a button.
Choose a test hypothesis
Create a hypothesis outlining why you think the new test version of your site will be more effective than the current version. You can even put together a list of hypotheses based on how effective you suspect they will be and how easy it will be to implement them.
Create variations
Using A/B testing software, make the desired changes to your site. Set up your “control” (your unaltered version) and your “challenger” (its new competition).
Test
Run a 302 redirect to your “challenger” page. This will redirect traffic to your new page while maintaining the keyword rankings and link value of your current one. Putting this in place will allow you to see how your experiment affects your SEO performance.
Analyse
After a month (or whenever your designated time period is finished), analyse the results of both the control and the challenger so you can see which one performed best. A/B testing tools can show you the exact changes that created the difference in your results so that you’re armed with further knowledge going forward. If you’re running both versions of the page at the same time during the test, use rel= “canonical” links to point search engines to the original and avoid getting penalised for duplicate content.
Tested and Tried Marketing Strategies with Anchor Digital
For an approach to A/B testing that covers all your bases and wins you results you’ll be happy with, contact the Anchor Digital team.
As a full-service creative marketing agency based in Brisbane, we take a consistent and collaborative approach that ensures we approach your campaign in the way that suits you best. This includes consistent A/B testing, among our other performance services.
Our marketing strategy services help you identify your unique selling proposition (USP) and how best to present it to the world. Our team's different skill sets allow us to nurture your project from start to finish, and our spectrum of specialties includes search engine optimisation (SEO), pay-per-click advertising (PPC), user experience design, social media, brand strategy, and more.
To find out more about why A/B testing is so important and to become even greater at what you do, drop us a line.
