A/B testing was initiated with the idea to produce different content for different user groups, collect their feedback, behavior, and activities, and utilize the results to create product or marketing policies in the future.
If you conduct an A/B test it will immediately evaluate a version of a variable against an existing experience. It will help you to raise questions about the effect of that alteration. Testing involves all the assumptions related to the optimization process of the website and allows data-informed conclusions that swing the conversation metric of the business from “we think” to “we know.” By calculating the effective rate of the alterations that have been made, you can guarantee that every alteration leads to positive results.
In a data-driven world, it has turned out to be extremely important to run an A/B test, especially where decision-making needs to be supported by both information and numbers.
In this article, we’ll present a quick description of A/B testing, how it works, why it is needed, and most importantly how and for how long you should run it.
How To Conduct An A/B Test?
What is A/B testing?
Also known as Split testing or Bucket testing, A/B testing is an arbitrary trailing in which multiple versions of the same variable (such as a feature, button, application, web page, headline, page element, navigation, etc.) are displayed to different sections of the website visitors simultaneously to verify which version seizes the highest impact and impels business metrics (like Click-through rate, purchase, call-to-action, etc.) to test the quality of the impact.
A/B testing, basically, removes all the assumptions outside website optimization and allows expert optimizers to reach data-backed conclusions. In A/B testing, A implies ‘control’ or the original testing variable while B implies ‘variation’ or the latest version of the original testing variable. The variation of the variable that helps you to uprise your business metric(s) in a productive way is termed the ‘winner.’ If you apply any changes to this winning variable on your trailed web page(s) / page element(s) can help you to optimize your website and enhance business Return on Investment (ROI).
Each website has distinctive metrics to generate conversion. For instance, in the case of B2B, it might be the production of qualified leads. Whereas for eCommerce, it might be the trade of the products.
A/B testing is one of the key elements of the comprehensive procedure of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), with the help of which you can obtain qualitative as well as quantitative insights of the user. The obtained data can be further used to comprehend user behavior, rate of engagement, obstacles, and even contentment with website characteristics like added features, overhauled page sections, etc. If you don’t conduct A/B on your website, you’ll surely lose out on an opportunity to generate a lot of business revenue.
How Does A/B testing work?
To run an A/B test, you need to generate multiple versions of marketing content, with alterations being made only to a single version. Then, you’d need to display those versions to two equally sized audiences and evaluate which one executes better over a definite period of time.
As mentioned in the earlier section, half of the visitors get to see the original version of the content which is known as the “control” and the other half get to see the tailored version of the content, known as the “variation”. Since visitors are present either with control or variation, their obligation with each experience is calculated and gathered in a dashboard and examined using a statistical engine. Finally, now you can come to a conclusion to settle on whether altering the experience had an optimistic, pessimistic or neutral outcome on the behavior of the visitor.
The testing time should be long enough to reach precise conclusions regarding your results. It allows marketers to monitor how one version of a part of marketing content executes along with another. The User Experience (UX) test and Design test are two of the most common types of A/B tests that are practiced to enhance the conversion rate of a website.
Why should you consider performing an A/B test?
Performing A/B enables individuals, groups, organizations, and companies to compute cautious alterations to user experiences by gathering data on the outcomes. This helps them to build propositions and know some specific elements of their experiences that affect the behavior of the user.
Not just answering an unprecedented question or resolving a discrepancy, A/B testing also helps you to constantly develop a specified experience or to develop a distinct objective like conversion rate.
A B2B company can execute an A/B test to enhance its sales, lead quality, and volume by making modifications to the headlines, form fields, CTAs, page layouts, and visual images.
If you examine your alterations individually then it will help you identify which alteration had a better outcome on the behavior of the visitor, and which ones did not. Gradually, they can mix the effect of multiple winning alterations from trials to illustrate the computable development of a new experience over the previous one. Those changes allow the user experience to be more optimized and can make the marketing campaign more effective.
Both developers and designers can conduct A/B testing to demonstrate the effect of the latest features or alterations on the user experience. A/B testing can also be used to optimize product enrollment, user participation, and in-product experiences until objectives are visibly declared and you contain a clear proposition.
How to do A/B testing?
The execution of an A/B test is not as difficult as it seems, but surely you need to have a solid strategy, to begin with. Start with a proposition. For instance, assume which exact version of the web page or other marketing resources you think will work in a better way. And why?
For instance, you might begin with a query, like, “Why isn’t your site generating enough sales?” You could have a significant traffic ratio, but thumbs down when it comes to click-through rates on the Call-to-Action (CTA). In that situation, making alterations can only help you to gather data about the user experience of the visitor on the page.
Before conducting A/B tests try to understand the performance of your page. Employ analytics tools like Google Analytics to follow the growth of the traffic, referral sources, and other important information, then execute heat maps, scroll maps, and other trials to observe the interaction of the visitors with your page.
Follow the below 10-step procedure very minutely to conduct the A/B test. If you follow it correctly then it will surely help you to improve the conversion rates of your site and will generate more revenues.
1. Select the element you want to test
It is better to start the test with a single element. Be sure about the relevance of the selected element and whatsoever metric you want to develop up to.
For example, if you’re willing to engage more organic traffic to your website, then you should completely focus on an element that affects SEO, like the length of the post. And if you want to optimize the conversion rate, then you might change the headline of the page, insert a video, or a CTA.
2. Set your Objectives
You need to find the exact reason for which you want to do an A/B test. Are you willing to improve sales? Or time-on-page? Or the conversion rates?
To begin with, concentrate on a single metric. Remember you can always conduct supplementary A/B tests on other metrics. If you focus on one metric in one go, you’ll obtain better results.
3. Evaluate data
Use some data analytics tools like Google Analytics to assess the performance of your existing data. See what does it inform you about your current status based on the metric you desire to develop?
This can be contemplated as the opening move of the test or the baseline. You’re looking for an alteration to the present version that will move the pointer, even if only by a little margin.
4. Choose the page that you want to test
It is always recommended to begin with the most vital page. That could be your homepage or a landing page with huge traffic. Whatever may be the instance, it should mark a significant effect on the bottom line of your business.
5. Place the elements for testing
Keep in mind that you’re conducting the test on existing content. Choose the elements wisely such that a slight alteration can lead the content to become a champion. First, place the elements that you have the maximum chance to impact the target metric.
6. Create a variation
Next, you need to create a variation of the champion. Only alter that specific element that you decided on in the preceding step and make only one alteration to it.
If you’re assessing the CTA, change the background color of the page, change the font color, or adjust the button size. Don’t make any other changes; let other elements be similar to the champion.
7. Opt for the best A/B testing tools
The selection of the testing tool depends on what aspects you’re performing the test on. If you’re performing A/B tests on emails, these days, the majority of email service suppliers come with in-built testing tools.
8. Design your test
Now, depending on the testing tool that you’re employing you may have several or very little impact on the design. For example, you might have to cite how long you want to run your test, from which devices you want to gather the data, and several other pieces of information.
9. Collect data
This is the stage where you have to wait and observe. There is numerous A/B testing software that collects data within seconds. You can follow the development of your test at any moment and observe when the test will finish. Once the test gets finished you’ll start receiving data about how many visitors have visited each of the variations, the devices they have used during the process, and many more.
10. Examine the A/B testing figures
Finally, analyze the figures that are obtained from the test. Draw a conclusion based on whatever variation triumphed; mention the winner as well as the other challengers. Once you get to know about the version that had a better impact on the audience – and by what margin it won – you can once again set up this 10-step procedure for a new variant.
How long should an A/B test run?
In the majority of the A/B tests that we run, statistical consequence matters more than duration. For instance, if you run a test for eight months and only 40 people visit your web page during that period, then it won’t generate any illustrative data. Simply, the number of iterations would be very less to base an outcome on. Nevertheless, it may fancy running the test for a long time to ensure there’s no proof of outcomes convergence. This sort of circumstance arrives when there appears to be a significant contrast between the two variations initially, but the difference reduces gradually.
If you observe convergence at some stage in your test, you can then put a conclusion stating that the variation didn’t have a considerable effect on the metric that you’re following.
If you run A/B testing for some weeks then it will start producing good results until you manage to have stable traffic on your site.
You can consider looking at other websites and see how they have executed an A/B test. Many organizations publish testing examples on their site and you’ll surely be benefitted from them. You don’t need to replicate them completely, but you’ll get a clear idea of what exactly to expect from them.
Conclusion
After reading this informative article on A/B testing, you should now have a complete roadmap on how to do an A/B test. Follow each step of the mentioned step meticulously and be cautious of all major and minor errors that you can make if you do not produce the proper information and importance that it actually deserves.
A/B testing is one of the most influential methods to gather data about your copywriting and selection of designs. There is no substitute for an A/B test when it comes to enhancing the conversion rates of a website.
If you execute it with complete perseverance and apply all the knowledge and acquaintance that you have, then the test can decrease a lot of threats associated while conducting an optimization program. An A/B test will also provide extensive support to enhance the user experience (UX) of your website. It will help you to find out the most optimized version of your website by removing all the weak links.
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Simran works as a technical writer. The graduate in MS Computer Science from the well known CS hub, aka Silicon Valley, is also an editor of the website. She enjoys writing about any tech topic, including programming, algorithms, cloud, data science, and AI. Traveling, sketching, and gardening are the hobbies that interest her.
