Do you want to know if your content is faring well in terms of conversion? One of the effective ways to do so is by conducting A/B testing.
If you have not tried doing so, you might be losing potential income as we speak. When it comes to these things, you can’t rely on assumptions. Your finances will sleep if you do that. To fully grasp the status of your conversion funnel, you need to source the data from your clients and customers directly.
What is A/B Testing
Have you ever read about articles about clinical trials? Volunteers who passed the study criteria are usually classified into two or three groups. One group is the placebo group, while the other two are given different doses of the drug or different types of medication. Scientists will observe these groups and record their improvements or regressions. Now, why am I telling you this? Because A/B testing works the same way.
A/B testing is experimenting with two alternatives and checking the results of slight variations. Split testing, as it is sometimes called, provides you with a systematic approach that eliminates conjecture and speculation. All results are data-supported.
When doing random testing, visitors are split into two groups. A number of visitors can see the version A of the website, while the other group access the website through version B. Website traffic is divided into two, but both versions should be distributed equally in all aspects.
The Timeline of A/B Testing
A/B testing is not new to the industry. Statistical hypothesis testing has only been around since the beginning of the twentieth century. This type of testing compares a treatment to control.
Google is famous for having used this method to figure out what is an ideal maximum number of search results to be displayed per page. To this day, the result of that A/B testing is still utilized. We still come across 10 results in every search listing.
Amazon strategically moved their credit cards offers originally placed at their homepage to the shopping cart pages after performing an A/B testing. This simple change generated additional millions of sales every year since the early 2000s.
MSN changed their way of redirecting websites from their homepage. Almost a million of users from the UK participated in the testing. People are redirected from one page to another by opening an additional tab. User engagement soared by 8.9% Since then a lot of websites have incorporated the same method.
In 2012, a Bing employee performed a test on two variations of displaying Ad headlines. The chosen option increased revenue by 12%.
Major companies run about 10,000 A/B testing per year to improve their content strategy and revenue. Although the process of getting accurate data is complicated and challenging, the benefits can significantly improve the performance of your website and your entire business.
How Does A/B Testing Work
Consider all the business metrics necessary to make your business successful and the goals you have for your marketing efforts. How you see your business taking off will depend on numerous factors such as the number of sign-ups, sales, and downloads. Set up two versions of your marketing campaign. When changing something in both versions, resist the urge to change more than one factor each time. Otherwise, it will be difficult to figure out which tweak garnered positive results. Put them on trial at the same time and in similar situations. Choose the most effective version in the end.
Identify how much time you will need to conclude the test. It usually depends on the amount of responses that will bring forth dependable results. Base your timeframe on past experiments. Running the test for too long or ending it right away affect the quality of the results.
Advantages and Disadvantages of A/B Testing
A/B Testing has benefits and drawbacks that you should be aware of. A/B finetunes your webpage by choosing which of the two landing pages, A or B, is more compelling. In this section, you will be given a list of pros and cons, and it will be up to you to weigh them.
Advantages of Split Testing
- For small-time websites, your landing page simply does not have enough data to go around. You can’t utilize advanced methods just yet.
- A/B testing allows you to see hard evidence proving which site is more advantageous in pushing through a transaction. The raw data is backed up by your actual users.
- Through split testing, you can test-drive new innovations or try to execute your ideas on a trial run. The results will show you if your experimentation is worth it.
- Patch testing is one of the best advantages of A/B testing. Instead of affecting the whole website, you can try changing one part of the website and work your way through the main pages.
- A/B testing helps you find the right choices among trivial but pertinent details. Conducting it can help you with things like which color is suitable for the “buy now” button or where to properly place it.
Disadvantages of Split Testing
- It takes a lot of time, effort, and finances. A/B testing takes a while to set up. If the task is unbearable, consider seeking assistance from a third-party service provider and industry experts. The bigger the company, the more discussions necessary to identify which variables to use.
- A/B testing has limitations because it only provides an answer to one question – which variation provides optimal results? Other than that, it will be hard to use A/B testing to assist you in your other issues. So, if you have concerns about particular tech advancements, such as whether or not to transform your website into an app, this type of testing will not give you an answer. Instead, you can head to the GoNative website, which will enable you to create an app of your own.
- You are only comparing two variations. Thus, if both do not address certain problems with your website, you will never figure out what you are doing wrong.
- The result of your A/B testing is good for only one use. Whatever you gather will not be much use for anything else. Therefore, you will need to conduct more testing every time you want to level up your website.
Final Thoughts
A/B testing can cultivate your website and help you find the best working design to grow your business. But do not expect split testing to measure usability of your website or pinpoint what your pages are lacking. It is not a one-stop solution and is best utilized among other testing methods.