If your company has recently undergone a website redesign project you should have heard of the phrase "A/B testing".
This commonly refers to the process of testing one element against another to see if one works better than the offer, whether it's more streamlined or generally more effective.
A lot of websites can be A/B tested in varying ways, but commonly it relates to whether a certain piece of text, a call to action or a sign up form works better styled one way or another.
Simple.
Why do it?
You take this one element and test two different variants, using a pre-decided metric, whether it's click-throughs, page views or otherwise.
It works well because it can be repeated over and over to find the most effective method for you - an ongoing process of improvement, if you will.
What can you get from it?
A/B testing will ensure that you have the strongest optimised conversion rates possible and it should be repeated to ensure that you remain "at the top of your game".
With that in mind, we want to make sure that you know the truth about A/B testing, how it's performed and why you either should be doing it or how you can do it better!
The truth about A/B testing
1. "You must test everything and anything."
Test one thing at a time, each time.
So, you've tested your headline text, sign up form, landing page image and the button text for your call to action?
Conversions improved 220% - excellent!
Why?
You haven't a clue because you tested too many elements.
Equally continual tests should be subtle and you shouldn't be testing too much on different pages at the same time. Your return visitors expect uniformity - be subtle (or as much as you can).
2. "Everyone should A/B test!"
We'd love to shout "Yes" for this, but for some, it['s just not feasible or it doesn't provide the results desired.
There are various testing and strategic methods at the hands of organisations and they can be much more useful than A/B testing.
Some companies can't make A/B testing work because it's simply 'obvious' what needs changing thanks to other data or because you don't have a large enough sample size.
Check out these great tips for introducing rigorous in-depth A/B testing processes.
- Conversion XL: Ignorant No More: Crash Course on A/B Testing Statistics
- Kissmetrics: How A/B Testing Works (for Non-Mathematicians)
Other methods for A/B testing are:
- Buyer personas - We love to support businesses produce these strategic documents that capture your ideal (and non-ideal) customer.
- Automation - Thrive provides automation software that results in much higher conversion rates thanks to various reasons (get in touch!)
- Mobile optimisation - This can be just as powerful if your website doesn't perform on mobile as effectively as it does on a desktop computer!
3. "Do it once and voila, job done!"
It's excellent that you've adopted an A/B testing approach - or any kind of testing, for that matter - but don't just stop!
Your first effort proved that option A or B worked better than the other. What about option C that wasn't implemented? You should only have two variants at one time, but that doesn't mean that you can't repeat to find a better solution!
Over time, this is particularly important as return visitors look for new features or technologies advance!
There is also the risk of an A/B test that produces "false positives" for any number of reasons.
4. "Conversions will double! Or triple! For definite!"
Not necessarily.
The hard truth is that A/B testing is just that - testing. There is no guarantee that you will see a huge increase or phenomenal change.
A/B testing should be viewed as a possible method to improve conversion rates on a wider scale. You should be doing more than just A/B testing in the hope of improving conversion metrics.
It's a tool to offer insight or possible information as to why your conversion rates aren't as strong as you might have hoped.
5. "I'm not a developer so I can't A/B test!"
Absolutely not the truth!
A/B testing can indeed get fairly statistical and involve a lot of maths, but it also doesn't have to.
Any kind of testing can be made complex, but a simpler way of doing it can also provide solid enough results to use!
- Decide your two variants
- Choose a tool to test the two
- Determine what metric you will use to measure the results
- Choose a sample size or traffic segment
- Test
- Analyse the results and then go again!
If you want to investigate improving conversion methods, A/B testing is a great option get underway with your research into doing just that!
To discuss the content of this blog or how we can support your business, get in touch with our team today, via hello@thriveability.co.uk / 0845 838 7517.
