What is A/B Testing?
A/B testing or Split testing is the procedure intended to test the alternate versions of the elements on your web pages.
For example you may be considering to shorten the length of your sign-up form in an attempt to decrease your bounce rate and increase conversions.
When you A/B test visitors will be sent to one of two versions of the page which you are currently testing.
Effectively, A/B testing allows you to compare two versions of your page and record which version works best for your web design.
How is this beneficial?
Regularly performing the A/B test will not only improve the conversions on your website but will also keep your site from becoming stale.
Many minor changes over a long period of time will ensure that your website does not become dull to regular viewers and shows that you are a forward thinking business which is striving to give the best user experience you can.
Ultimately A/B testing is a cost effective way to raise business, you would be amazed how much of a difference something seemingly simple like changing text from bold to italics can make.
Where do I start?
One of the recurring issues amongst businesses which are looking into A/B testing is that one, they are not sure what they should change and two, what change should they make?
After all there are numerous elements to each page. To help narrow it down it’s best to give yourself an achievable aim, such as getting more people to click the link to my landing page.
By giving yourself a clear goal it not only becomes easier to monitor whether the change was a success but it’s also easier to determine what element of your site you’d like to work on.
A few examples to get you in the mood:
- Buttons: colour, fonts, positioning, style
- Images: size, positioning, comparisons
- Forms: necessary questions, formatting, length
- Sidebars?
- Navigation bar: Page titles, page merging, drop down menus
Investigate your findings
Once you’ve found your aim and made the changes it’s time for the waiting game.
Promote your test as much as you can through social media or email campaigns, this will help to get significant results ASAP. A safe bet is to wait at most 30 days before concluding the change really had a small impact, at this point it’s probably best to move on to your next test.
Remember when looking through your results that while you have a specific aim with the change that you’ve made you might have actually impacted your website somewhere else in the marketing process, do a thorough check for all differences your test might have made.
Repeat!
Congratulations, you’ve completed your A/B test.
Unfortunately this is just as much the final step as it is the starting step.
In order to ensure you are engaging with your audience continuous testing is necessary. Don’t fret though, A/B testing is proven to be one of the best decisions you can make towards a massive ROI.
Need more advice on whether A/B testing is for you? Give us a free call on 01273 328877 now.