A/B Testing has been growing in popularity, and for good reason. A/B Tests have been able to help businesses:
- Increase their conversion rates
- Increase their email open rates
- Increase website traffic
- Decrease bounce rates
And many more!
A/B Testing, also known as split testing, is the process of altering one element of your marketing material—be it a button on your website or the subject line of our email—to see how well these changes contribute towards your goals in a controlled environment. A controlled environment here means an environment where traffic is split evenly between your two or more tests.
In short, A/B Testing discovers how changes in one element affects your defined meaning of success.
But should your business invest in A/B Testing? What does your business stand to gain from carrying out A/B Tests?
3 Reasons to A/B Test
1. Maximise rewards, minimise risks
A/B Testing involves minimal or incremental changes to your marketing material, where only 1 variable is changed at every step of the testing process. As such, you’re unlikely to see drastic drops in metrics such as conversion rate just from A/B Testing. On the contrary, you should look forward to seeing your conversion rates increase with A/B Testing!
For example, you may be rolling out a new feature on your website, but you’re unsure if this feature would be utilised by your visitors. You might also be wondering about the placement of the icon that brings visitors to this feature, or what icon to even use.
Did you know?
Did you know that in companies such as Google and Bing, up to 20% of experiments from A/B Testing have generated positive results, mostly in favour of the new idea being tested.
Without A/B Testing, there would be many uncertainties surrounding your feature, more importantly if implementing it will or will not pay off on a short-term or long-term basis. By leveraging on A/B Testing and testing out different placements of icons, different icon colours and designs, you’ll be able to make your outcomes more certain and know for sure if the changes have made a positive or negative impact on your website.
2. Enhance User Experience (UX)
Have you ever visited a website and wondered to yourself ‘I wish they had placed the headline on the left instead of the right?’. This may be because most of us read from left to right, which makes it easier for us to digest incoming information when read in that way.
UX is about making sure that when people come into your website, they have the best experience possible and that you are able to leave them with a lasting impression. A longer lasting impression means increasing the likelihood of visitors remembering your brand. As such, A/B Testing comes especially handy in this aspect by giving you an opportunity to be better remembered by your visitors via testing of elements or marketing variables in a controlled environment.
3. Real results from real data
Data is the single most important asset to any business. With proper and concrete data, businesses can make informed decisions about their next steps towards growth, whether it’s a marketing campaign, forecasting etc.
A/B Testing can help you solidify your hypotheses with real-life data. For example, say you have a lead generation campaign up ahead and you want to get to know your audience a little better, more particularly the kind of lead magnet or offer that they would be interested in. In 1 landing page, you can display a price-point offer (20% off your first order!), whilst in another landing page, you can display a free-delivery for your first order.
Building upon the ‘low risk, high reward’ point raised earlier, you are likely to get a lead either way but A/B Testing your landing pages gives you an additional edge: Understanding what motivates your prospects and leads to click that ‘Purchase’ button!
This data can be especially useful for future planning, where you would not have to second-guess yourself nor follow your gut. Instead, real results from real data gained from real leads will allow you to plan your campaigns more effectively.
What's next for you?
A/B Testing can be a little technical in the beginning. However, the pros clearly outweigh the cons. That’s why many businesses, big or small, have decided to adopt A/B Testing into their everyday practice!
