The Ins and Outs of A/B Testing and Conversion Rate Optimization
Making a decision is difficult when you have nothing to back it up. This can be hard while being a digital marketer because the decisions you make could make or break your companies website or app. Well, you are in luck! There are two key tools that help you use data to back up all your decisions when it comes to website optimization. These tools are A/B testing and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). Let's learn more about these tools that will help any digital marketer make decisions!
A/B Testing
A/B testing is a process of comparing two different versions of a web page or app against each other to establish which one performs better. When performing this experiment you show two or more variants of the web page to users at random, and statistical analysis is used to determine which web page performs better for a given conversion goal. "Running an AB test that directly compares a variation against a current experience lets you ask focused questions about changes to your website or app, and then collect data about the impact of that change." This allows you to collect data about the impact that the change had on the website. Performing an A/B test allows you to stop guessing when doing website optimization and allows you to make data-informed decisions. You can switch from a “we think” mentality to a “we know” making it so you always have positive results when working on website optimization.
How A/B Testing Works
When performing an A/B test you need to modify your web page or app in some way to create a new version. This change does not even have to be a dramatic change it can be something as simple as changing the way the headline looks. It can also be a complete redesign of the webpage. After making these changes half of your website traffic will be shown the original page (the controlled variable) and half is shown the modified web page (the independent variable). As the experiment is taking place each visitor’s experience is measured and collected in an analytics dashboard and analyzed through a statistical engine. Once you finish the experiment you can finally conclude whether changing the web page had a positive, negative, or no effect on the visitor behavior.
- Collect Data
- Identify Goals
- Generate Hypothesis
- Create Variations
- Run Experiment
- Analyze Results
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the systematic process of increasing the conversion rate of website visitors who take the desired action. CRO allows you to understand how users are going through your website, the actions they take, and what's stopping them from completing your website's overall goals. They do this by measuring macro-conversions the primary goal of the website and micro-conversions the smaller conversions that can happen before users complete the macro-conversion. "In order to optimize for conversion rates, you have to know where, what to optimize, and who to optimize for. This information is the cornerstone to successful CRO strategies." There is also SEO which can be used with CRO but its main purpose is to attract more traffic while CRO is used to optimize traffic for existing traffic.
- Improved customer insights
- Better ROI
- Better scalability
- Better user experience
- Enhanced trust
How CRO Works
To perform CRO you first must find the conversion rate of your website. The conversion rate "is the number of times a visitor completes a goal divided by your site traffic." and multiplying that by 100 to get a percentage. For example, if a user converts each visit (such a purchasing an item) you would divide that by the number of sessions (the number of times they visit your website). CRO happens after the customer visits your website.
Who's Doing A/B Testing and CRO Well?
A/B testing and CRO is available for any company to use while researching the performance of their website. Optimizely is a large player when it comes to A/B testing. Some of the well known companies that Optimizely has helped with A/B testing are Discovery, ComScore, and Secret Escapes. Discovery A/B tested the components of their video player to engage with their TV show 'super fan', this resulted in a 6% increase in video engagement. ComScore A/B tested logos and testimonials to increase social proof on a product landing page, this increase in leads generated by 69%. Lastly, Secret Escapes A/B tested variations of their mobile signup pages, this doubled their conversion rates and increased lifetime value. MOZ is a big player when it comes to CRO, they are a company that builds software that helps digital marketers increase traffic, rankings, and visibility in search results.
Conclusion
A/B testing and CRO are both key tools for digital marketers to avoid unnecessary risks. This allows them to make informed decisions that will always have a positive result, which increased overall website optimization.
