What is A/B Testing?
A/B testing is an online marketing method where two different webpage or application is tested by making its modified version. After making the modified version, it is exposed to the customers. 50% traffic is shown the original page and other 50% traffic is showed the modified page. Then the response is measured in analytics dashboard, and analyzed through statistical engine. Then looking at the analytics you can analyze the outcome is positive or negative.
A/B testing can be done very easily with quick results because of its instant and detailed analytics that testers get.
A/B testing is also called as split testing or bucket testing.
How does A/B testing work?
A/B test is a way for companies to how the variables affects the audience. Therefore, they can take further enhancement steps to take the webpage or application to another level.
In A/B testing you can take an app screen or webpage, make a duplicate copy of it, and then modify the second copy. Then show the original copy to half percent of the traffic and modified copy to the remaining traffic.
The image given below shows the difference of click rates of modified page and original page.
For instance, an organization may find accidently changing the color of the layout or a button in an email, which increased click rates significantly. The organization can execute a series of A/B test using variant colors by sending original webpage or application screen to 50% traffic and modified webpage or application screen to another 50% traffic. After each test, the organization will go with the color, which has performed well in the test.
Preferences change overtime as satisfaction sets in, so our hypothetical organization may repeat this test on a yearly basis to make sure it is sending out the most effective newsletter it can.
Image given below relates to the example given above.
Why you Should A/B test
A/B testing allows individual, groups and organizations to modify the interface for the user experience while collecting data on the result. This permits them to build hypotheses, and they can learn better things, why certain things affect user behavior. In other way, they can be proved wrong—their opinion about the experience for a given goal can be proven wrong though an A/B test.
A/B testing can be used compatibly to uninterrupted to give an improvement in experience.
The image given below show the difference of click rate with and without A/B testing.
For example, an E-commerce company may want to improve their sales lead quality and volume from campaign landing pages. In order to achieve that goal, the team would try A/B testing changes to the headline, visual imagery, form fields, call to action, and overall layout of the page.
Testing once modified set at a time allows them to identify what changes made the click rates increase. Then the tester can combine the multiple changes to compare with the old version and analyze the growth or public behavior on the modified webpage or application.
The motive of this method is to introduce modification to the user experience and allow the experience to optimize to get desired results, and can take vital steps in marketing campaign to make it more effective.
Using ad copy for testing, marketers can analyze which version did the user liked the most. They can also test specific home page or landing page to find out which layout people liked the most. Accordingly, the tester can use the layout with high click rates. This will help the business to convert visitors to potential customers.
A/B testing can beneficial for the product developer’s and designers to show the upgradation in the products.
A/B Testing Process
The following process given below is the A/B test framework, you can also use to execute test:
Collect Data: Analytics will often give your insight to you, where you can start with optimization. It is very beneficial to begin with high traffic areas on your website or application, as it will allow you to collect data faster. You have to search and work more on pages with low conversion rates for improvement.
Be Clear with Your Goal: Your converting goals are the standard of measurement that you will use to identify whether the modified version is working successfully or the original version was better. Goal depend on you; it could be modified buttons or modified layouts.
Develop Hypothesis: Once you are clear with your goal, you can start developing A/B testing ideas and hypotheses for why you think that it will be better than the original version. Once you are done with your ideas, make a list and prioritize them in terms of desired effect and implementation difficulties.
Make Modifications: Now use A/B test tool, to make modification to an element of your desired website of application. This could be anything like; changing button color, relocating the buttons or icons, changing layouts or making fully customize. There are many A/b testing software’s, which has visual editor that will help you to do easy and fast changes.
Compile Experiment: Compile your experiment and relax until your visitors participate. At this time, the people who visit your site will randomly exposed to either original or modified page. The interaction is measured, counted and compared on analytics dashboard to determine how they performed.
Analyze Results: Once you are done with your experiment, its time to analyze the outcomes. The A/B testing software will deliver you the report of the experiment and will show the difference between the two versions, and how they performed and whether, there is any significant static difference.
If your modification experiment is successful, Congratulations! Look if you can implement what you learned from the experiment on other pages of your website to produce better results.
By displaying two variations of your campaign, you can see which one attracts more interaction and conversions from your customers.
Benefits of A/B Testing:
- Higher Values for your products or services
- Improved Content Engagement
- Multi-functional
- Useful in Low Data Rate Testing
- Increased Sales
- Reduced Bounce Rates
- Ease of Analysis
- Reduced Cart Abandonment for e-commerce companies
- Reduced Risks and help you increase your chances of success
- Increased Conversion Rates
Your business is unique and has special characteristics that make it irresistible to your target audience. Using A/B testing to experiment with marketing those characteristics to find the ideal combination for your customers not only provides them with better experiences, but it also breeds trust and confidence in your brand and company. When visitors begin to trust your company because of the value you provide, increased sales and loyal customers are a natural result.
