The Benefits of A/B Testing

Some marketers joke that A/B testing stands for “always be testing” because they understand the value it can bring to your company. In short, A/B testing is displaying two variations of elements to your audience to see which performs better.

It allows you to figure out the most effective promotional and marketing strategies for your company.

The benefits of A/B testing are plentiful, and we highlight those benefits below.

• Eliminate guesswork - When you A/B test elements on your website or in emails, you have data to back up your decisions. You don’t have to guess if a color change on a button will yield positive results, you can test it and make data-backed decisions.
• Reduce bounce rates - Through testing, you are able to find the right combination of elements that your visitors want. This helps to keep them on your site until they find what they are looking for.
• Increase conversion rates - With A/B tests, you’re able to see when and why visitors are not converting on your pages. By supplying them with the right content and design elements that they are looking for, conversions increase.
• Simple analysis - When comparing two elements, the metrics you are comparing are straightforward (conversions, visits, email opens, time spent on the page, etc). The evidence is based upon real data, so it’s easy to determine the winning elements.
• Test anything - Some of the tests you often hear about are testing button colors, or changing a headline on a landing page. A/B tests are not limited to those, and you are able to test anything on your site. Small tweaks can go a long way, so don’t be afraid to test them.
• New idea testing - If you have a website idea that you think could be beneficial for your company, you can test it before implementing it sitewide. You can also test these new ideas with existing customers or members of your targeted audience.
• Answer design questions - Often times, designers may not know if a call-to-action button should be green or red. Instead of picking one and going with it, they are able to test it and pick a color based upon your audience’s preferences.
• Apply findings elsewhere - As you continue performing A/B tests, you can apply your findings to similar elements. For example, if you send three emails to your audience testing if they click more links in HTML or plain-text emails, results can be applied to future emails. If click-through rates on the plain-text emails are exponentially higher than HTML, future emails that you want clicks out of should be sent in plain-text. That’s taking the data that was supplied to you and applying it to future email sends.
• Easy implementation - Since you’re only testing one element at a time, implementing an A/B test is relatively easy with most content management systems and analytics tools.
• Bottom line improvement - By implementing a marketing strategy with data-backed decisions straight from your audience, you have a strong chance at positively impacting your bottom line.

A/B testing, when executed correctly, is an advanced marketing tactic that can go a long way for your business.

Interested in implementing more advanced tactics in your digital marketing strategy?