What is A/B Testing and Why It Matters in Your Marketing Efforts - Online Business Growth Hack

A complete guide on A/B testing on the website for better CTR and Customer retention for online business. 

What is A/B Testing?

A/B testing is used to compare two different versions of the same webpage to determine which one performs better. Simple as that. A business would set up two versions of its website, and viewers would typically split in half at random.

One group would see the control page and one would see the variant(s).

Control: The control is the webpage before any changes are made to it.

It’s important to leave it alone because not every change is going to tremendously benefit the company.

There would be no way of telling what’s better or worse if there’s nothing to compare the changes to.

Variant(s): The variants are simply variations of the control.

A/B testing works best when there are tons of variations to consider.

If a business finds a solution that helps generate sales but slows down the website, it might not be worth pursuing, but if there’s another solution that generates sales, by speeding up the sales process, that would obviously be ideal.

Your business is testing to see whether version A or version B is more effective.

By tracking viewers and their actions, helps your business gather data to understand which website design works better, and which design leaves customers frustrated or confused.

Why Businesses Should Use A/B Testing?

The end goal is to improve your sales bottom line while reducing the sheer number of changes, and associated costs, required to improve that bottom line.

Small changes can make a big difference.

Make enough of them and they can have the same impact as a significant overhaul to the website.

Unfortunately, small businesses are not typically capable of hiring a web designer or developer that can focus exclusively on the website.

That’s where A/B testing really comes in since it can be done with minimal effort.

What Is The Process Of Creating A&B Testing?

1. Collect and Analyze Current Data

It’s important to have data ready to go before starting anything.

Get acquainted with the numbers and develop an understanding of what they mean and translate too.

CRM software can help collect and manage customer data.

2. Identify Goals

After the data has been organized and interpreted, it’s time to determine what your goals are.

What can/needs to be improved?

What’s a target number that can be reached?

Choose a statistic and determine what’s standing in the way of improvement.

3. Create a Hypothesis

A hypothesis can be broken down into

this: If X happens, then Y will result.

Let’s say your goal is to increase your

the click-through rate on an email.

Your hypothesis could be: If I add a larger

button to the top and bottom of the

email, more customers will click it and go

​to the website.

4. Develop Variations

Here, your business will take a number of factors into account. How big should the button be? What color? How many? What ​font looks best? Where should the buttons go?

The more variations there are, the easier it will be to determine if your hypothesis is correct.

5. Run the Test

This is where the customers get involved.

Split your base in half so one group sees the control and the second group sees the variation.

6. Analyze the Results

Ideally, you were keeping track of the data collected from the tests, so now it’s time to compare the results.

How did the variation hold up?

Was your hypothesis correct?

Do more tests need to be done?

The way customers interact with your website is another way of them telling you what they want and don’t want, so adjust accordingly.

What Can Be Tested on your website with A/B Testings?

Short answer: Everything!

We’re going to focus on some general tests and then dive into some more business/sales-related tests.

• Headlines: Headlines need to be powerful enough to pull the customer in immediately.
• Businesses can do this by making headlines funny, catchy, ironic, detailed, or simplified and testing to see which ones are most successful.
• Page Layout: Page layout can make all the difference in how customers interact with your website.
• It’s important to test based on key demographics like age to determine whether or not the layout should be more simplified, colorful, or interactive.
• Calls to Action: You don’t want to leave your customers with nothing to do with your website.
• Calls to action are psychologically effective because they make your business sound more authoritative.
• Links: Tests can be done to determine if customers even click on the links and which ones are clicked on most.
• Where you place links, what the links are, and the number of them can make all the difference when it comes to sales.
• Images: Do your customers want more pictures on the website, in emails, or in articles?
• Images are a great way to break up the text, and they can offer quicker explanations if need be.
• Tests can be done on placement, quantity, and size.

let’s now focus on the biggest changes that will have a significant effect on your business.

• Signup Forms: Signup forms can be used to encourage customers to get updates on products, sales, events, and other news.
• The way these are worded can make a difference in how many people sign up.
• Landing Pages: Landing pages are used to prevent customers from feeling like they’re being left to their own devices.
• Businesses can test whether or not they’re necessary when a customer should be taken to one, what the content should consist of, and if it should be personalized and specific or a simple thank you.
• Significant Sales KPIs: If your business uses CRM software, chances are you’re already getting tons of reports on what’s generating leads and revenue and what’s not.
• Prioritizing and testing specific metrics like Response Time could lead to more sales and improved customer experience.
• Emails: Many email marketing software providers, like Zoho Campaigns, already include A/B testing in their features list for good reason.
• Emails cannot sound generic, but they need to be specific enough for customers to know what they’re offering.
• Businesses can use A/B testing to improve email marketing campaigns.
• Click rates: How many steps does it take for a customer to purchase a product?
• Ideally, customers need to be in the sales pipeline for as little time as possible, but at the end of the day, they need to feel confident enough that they’re making the right decision.
• If there are too many or too few steps, this should be tested.

The Final Word

A/B testing is a great tool for businesses that are looking to improve user and customer experience.

More and more people are using the internet to buy products and services, and websites are often seen as powerful representations of how businesses view their customers.

Some email marketing software offers A/B testing, which should be taken advantage of.

As long as the data initially collected is correct, and your business has clear goals in mind, A/B testing can be effective; the number of features that can be tested are nearly endless.