A/B testing is the process of testing variations of web pages, which are shown at random to a group of users, and using statistical analysis to determine which variation performed best.
Difference Between A/B Testing and Split Testing
Many marketers make the mistake of believing that the two terms are the same.
But here's the truth:
In A/B testing, you'll only be making minor changes to your original version. For example, you can change the hierarchy of your elements, highlight a few words, or change the colour of a button.
In split testing, however, you run a test on two completely different versions of your web pages or website. This method isn't to determine whether you should keep or change a single element. It's more useful in making more important decisions such as which design to use on your website.
Why Is A/B Testing Important?
There isn’t a single company on earth today that’s completely satisfied with its conversion rates.
There’s always something to improve to grow the business and make more profits.
A/B testing allows any company to achieve that.
Creating a website is only the beginning of your marketing journey. Your web pages need to be continuously improved to allow you to reach your business goals.
Yet, making random changes won’t get you anywhere.
A/B testing is all about taking small calculated risks that have a high chance of success. Those minor changes will help you reduce bounce rates, improve dwell time, and increase conversions.
How to Run an A/B Test?
Step 1: Identify a Problem
The first step to running an A/B test is identifying the problem and hypothesising on how you can solve it.
You may find that some of your most popular pages have a high bounce rate. And that will get you thinking about identifying the reason so you can find a solution.
Step 2: Set a Goal
After identifying the problem, you need to set a goal for optimising your web page, and it often has to align with the problem.
For example, you can try to decrease bounce rate by showing less irrelevant information.
Step 3: Create Variations
After that, you'll start creating variations and making small changes. Some elements that you can change in your web pages include:
There is no universal duration for how long you should run your tests, it will be dependent on your needs.
Bear in mind though, that you’ll have to drive enough traffic to your testing pages, at different times of the day, to make sure you're running an objective experiment.
Step 4: Analyze Results
You can analyze your results once the test is finished. And according to your initial aims, you'll know which page performed better and go with it.
Tools with A/B Testing Features
Here are some A/B testing tools to help you optimise your web pages:
GetResponse is a marketing software that offers inbound marketing solutions. It has a great A/B testing feature that offers 10 design variants for landing pages with scheduling features for the tests.
There are three different types of A/B tests you can choose from;
Contentin which you can test various versions of the text.
Subject line in which you can test five different subject lines for a single message.
From field which lets you use five of your existing from-email-addresses in the from field.
Freshworks is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution that offers sales and marketing features to its clients. It features a great A/B testing tool that helps you create an impactful website for your business. You can easily create various versions of landing pages.
It offers an audience segmentation option that gives insights into each segment, like direct visitors, social traffic, etc. With data about your visitor’s behavior, you can assess how well your A/B tests are performing.
It also makes it easy to validate your website for its content, design, and ideas, and boost your conversions.
Nelio is a go-to place to manage all your posts and social promotions. Other than its excellent, drag-and-drop editorial calendar, it offers a nice plugin for your WordPress site so that you can add split tests and see which version of the website performs better.
A/B tests are available for almost all elements on the page including images, buttons, forms, headlines, main test, colors, and more.
It is quick in creating new variations of your website pages and then offers insights into visitors' behavior with each variation.
Unbounce offers an A/B testing feature that lets you explore different landing pages and the insights from those pages. It helps you direct your traffic (50/50) to two different variations of the same landing page, and find out which one performs better. The platform works well for SaaS companies, eCommerce, and agencies.
It is also a landing page platform that helps you design amazing landing pages to convert more of your visitors. It offers 100+ customizable landing page templates that you can easily bring to life in an instant.
How Can We Help?
Want a helping hand with making the right tweaks to your site? Get in touch and we can set you up with a team that can walk you through the process of A/B testing.
