What is A/B Testing?
Before I begin, I just want to share an accomplishment related to my last blog about Google Analytics. I am officially Google Analytics certified!
What is A/B Testing?
A/B testing is a way to allow companies with online websites to compare two versions of a webpage to determine which one the consumer likes more. The test shows users different versions of the webpage to see which one the consumers liked more. The variations might be very simple like changing the text color and size or changing the location of a certain button. Half of the websites traffic is shown one variation of the page and the other half is shown a different variation. A statistical engine, like Google Analytics, collects the data of how the consumers interacted with the page. Things like how many times they clicked somewhere or where they clicked first are all data points that are collected and analyzed. From all the data that is collected they can analyze and determine which page did better. You are able to use A/B testing with email promotions and apps too, not just websites!
To effectively use A/B testing you first need to decide which variable on your website to test. Even if there are many things you want to change, you will want to do one at a time to make it more effective. You then want to decide what the goal of this test is. Are you looking to gain more traffic to your website? Or maybe you want to decrease the bounce rate. Both of these are good goals and your next step is to divide your sample into equal random groups. You want to leave the test long enough to gather enough results so you can analyze the data. When the test is finished its time to analyze the data to see which of the two pages did better. A/B testing just takes some practice and before you know it you’ll be performing tests all the time!
The Benefits of A/B Testing
A/B testing has many different features that benefit businesses greatly. One of the biggest features is how cost effective it is. These A/B tests are very low in cost but the outcome has a great reward. For example, if you are Buzzfeed publishing many different articles or quizzes a day you can do A/B testing to see what variation of the article or quiz the consumers enjoy more, so you can guarantee traffic. This testing will help you save money by not wasting time creating an article that won’t get you any traffic. Most of the common goals with A/B testing are: increased website traffic, higher conversion rates, lower bounce rates, and lower cart abandonment. Let’s talk a little more about using this for lower cart abandonment. Most e-commerce businesses see about 40-75% of their customers leaving their website with items in the shopping cart. Testing very slight variations of the page might not seem like a lot but sometimes the slightest thing can make a big difference.
All of these features are amazing and can help save a business money. Businesses really need to know how to use A/B testing in today’s digital world to most efficiently run their website.
What Companies Use A/B Testing?
Many different companies are using A/B testing right now since it is so easy and makes a bif difference. The company AirBNB is a platform where people, called hosts, can rent out their homes or rooms to others to let them stay there like a hotel. A/B testing allows the hosts to try different variations of their pages to see which one gets more traffic resulting in more guests renting their spaces. The featured photos are the first and most important things the guest sees, so trying different photos for different consumers can help you decide which photos do better. Another example is changing your summary about the home or even the summary about yourself, the host, to see if that changes anything. The great thing about A/B testing is you can keep trying different variables to see which has the most effect. The Barack Obama campaign used A/B testing in their 2008 presidential run to test their homepage. They found out that changing the picture and the button from “Sign Up” to “Learn More” increased their sign-up rates by 40%. Finally, comScore is a market research company that used A/B testing to test three different variations of client testimonies. They wanted to see if this would increase the number of leads generated from comScore’s product pages and through A/B testing they were able to figure out which variation made the biggest impact.
A/B testing is an amazing feature in the digital marketing world that most companies should be using, if they aren’t already. The concept may seem pretty simple, but it can make a huge difference in the customers experience!