The What, Why & How of A/B Testing in the Digital World

A/B Testing: A Brief Introduction

In today’s world, data is king. Data is treasure. Business leaders are hesitant to make any decisions without evidence. To evaluate their conversion funnel and marketing campaign results, leaders rely on data from customers. One of the best ways to collect data is through A/B testing.

The term “A/B testing” may sound like a complicated process for the uninitiated. But it’s not. Simply put, A/B testing compares two versions to evaluate which performs better and drives business metrics.

Experts say that A/B testing has been in existence for years. We just didn’t have a term to identify it. Today, the core concept of A/B testing remains the same. The difference is we are doing it online in a real-time experiment on a different scale.

Well, then, what’s the purpose of A/B testing? When a web design company creates a website or launches an online marketing campaign, they need to evaluate what helps or hinders sales. Here’s where A/B testing comes into the picture. In the process, two variables- A and B of a webpage, images, or videos are shown to two separate audiences. The collected data reveals the words, phrases, images, videos, and testimonials that work best for the website or online marketing campaign.

In a nutshell, A/B testing is done to:

• Provide solutions for site visitor complaints
• Generate better ROI from organic traffic
• Bring down the bounce rates
• Implement low-risk changes
• Achieve statistically significant results
• Optimise future gains by redesigning the website

So, how is this all-important A/B testing done? The first step is to decide what you want to test. However, beyond that, everything requires a proper, well-structured strategy. Let’s get into the details.

7 Strategies to Run a Successful A/B Test

1. Decide what to test

Even if you have multiple elements to the A/B test, it’s best to start with one element on the list. However, the chosen element should be relevant to your A/B testing objectives. Let’s say, for example, your objective is to boost organic traffic to your website. In that case, it’s better to choose an element like:

• Keyword usage
• Blog length
• Link building

If you aim for conversion rate optimisation, you may choose:

• Htags
• Videos
• CTA buttons

Tip: Don’t be all over the place. Instead, focus on the elements you think will most impact the target metric.

2. Create a hypothesis

You’ll have to create two hypotheses for your A/B testing:

• Null hypothesis (There is no difference between the control and variant group.)
• Alternative hypothesis (There is a difference between control and variant group.)

Tip: In performing an A/B test, it is essential to keep all other variables constant.

3. Create hypothesis-based variants

The next step is to create a hypothesis-based variation, which is basically another version of the already existing version. No hard and fast rule says you have to stop with only one variation. Create as many as you want and test them against the existing version to see what works best.

Tip: Consider what might work from a User Experience perspective and create a variation.

4. Consider splitting the visitors

When splitting your site visitors, you must consider two aspects:

When and where to split them when they enter the website
What metrics to use to track the experiment’s success and failure

Point to note: What metrics we use for evaluation depends on when observations are divided into groups.

5. Use data to design your test

It’s time to put the existing data under the microscope to evaluate your current state based on the metrics you aim to optimise. Look for something significant, even if it moves the needle only by a small margin. At this stage, using a tool like Google Analytics will come in handy to design your test. You may also want to add details like test duration and devices used to collect data.

Tip: The tool you’re using might give you a lot or very little control over test design. So, choose well.

6. Run the test

Before running a test, you must be absolutely sure about your testing methods and approaches based on your website requirements and business objectives. Once you’ve decided on that, you can run the test and wait until you achieve statistically significant goals.

Tip: Your testing methods and statistical accuracy will determine the results. So, here again, choose well.

7. Implement changes

To deploy the changes, you have to analyse your results. Therefore, once the test concludes, analyse your results and look for:

• Confidence level
• Percentage increase
• Direct and indirect impact on other metrics

These criteria will tell you if the test is a success or not. You can then deploy the winning variation based on the result.

Tip: Observe the test results, and use these insights in your subsequent tests if they remain inconclusive.

A good landing page is a key to converting your web traffic into qualified leads. Running A/B tests on your landing page is essential if you want the conversion rate to increase. But what will you test and how? Read on!

5 Landing Page Elements to Consider for A/B Testing

1. The Headline

The headline is your landing page’s identity. Therefore, it would be the best choice for testing different variations to see what works best. Test your headline for:

• Clarity (How well can your visitors understand your page?)
• Consistency (Do your ads and landing page convey the same meaning? If not, it could cause confusion and chaos.)

2. The CTA

There is a reason the CTA is so aptly named. It literally urges action. Regardless of the headline, font, and images on the landing page, you need a compelling CTA to generate conversions. Attention-grabbing CTA ought to tick the following criteria:

• Size
• Colour
• Text
• Position of the CTA button

3. The Layout

Visitors will never return to a landing page that is confusing and chaotic. To pick an intuitive layout, you must test as many as possible. Check if all the crucial information is in the foreground where visitors can easily spot it.

4. The Images & Videos

Your visitors respond emotionally to both images and videos. Therefore, your choice of both can significantly impact your conversion rate. Visitors are more attracted to videos than images. Offering a video on your website is a great way to explain your products and services in more detail and to engage website visitors for a longer duration. However, it is important to consider your audience before deciding whether to test an image versus a video.

5. The Form Fields

Deciding how many form fields to include on your landing page is the tricky part. Naturally, people are wary when it comes to divulging personal information. So, having too many form fields can be daunting. However, you should not forget that an interested audience will be eager to share their information. Therefore, you should be wise in choosing the number of form fields and what kind of information you are gathering.

A good landing page is like a well-oiled machine. The ” fix it and forget it” approach does not work here. Consistent A/B testing is crucial for even the tiniest detail.

These five elements are not the end of the list. You may add more to refine your A/B testing strategies to boost your organic traffic.

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