Many marketers work on their websites and pages, hoping to figure out what makes others click and convert to their website. An A/B test or a split test helps to determine certain outcomes.
A split test is a randomized test where two or more versions of a web page or page element are shown to different website audiences at the same time. This helps to check which version of that website leaves a greater impact on the audience, thereby driving the business forward. The industry average success of A/B testing is around 12-15%. If you too, would like to know more about this, read on to know some result driving ways.
A/B testing
To run a proper split test, you’ll need two different versions of the same kind of content, with changes respective to a single variable. Next, you will have to show both these versions to two sets of similarly-sized audiences to see which version of the content has generated more positive reviews. The test has to be conducted over a specific period of time to see if your results are accurate or not.
What can you test?
Your website’s conversion funnel determines how your business will proceed in the future. So every content piece that you’d want your viewers to see has to be optimized and made as perfect as possible. This is especially true for elements that can influence how your website viewers see and engage with your content. You can optimize the following:
- Headlines
A headline is the first thing someone will notice when they visit your website. It also defines the first and last impressions, leading to an important question, “Will this customer be paying?”. So it is necessary to be cautious about your site’s headlines and subheadings.
- Body
The main context of your website has to be within the body that will also reflect on the heading and the sub-headings. Take notes of your writing style and formatting.
- Design and layout
The entire design of your website needs to be appealing and aesthetic to your target audience. If they see the fonts are too small or the information given is messy, they may never come back. So keep a clear, user-friendly layout in mind.
How to perform A/B testing
Coming to the actual question- how do you actually perform A/B testing of your website? These are a few simple steps to follow:
- Research
Before even building the A/B testing platform, you’ll have to conduct thorough research on your website’s performance. You have to collect data on the website traffic, the conversion goals, etc. Here, the A/B testing tools that can be used are quantitative tools like Google Analytics, Omniture, or Mixpanel. They can help you to figure out the most visited pages and the pages where users spend most of the time.
- Observe and formulate a hypothesis
If you have a business, it only makes sense to have proper goals. You can get closer to these goals by logging in research observations and creating data-backed hypotheses. The qualitative or quantitative tools can help you figure out how to track your audience’s behaviour and how to analyze that data. You can also capture website screenshots for later use, along with making keen observations.
- Run test
Before running the test, you have to narrow down which type of test you should use for your website. You can also go for SPlit URL testing, which is similar to A/B testing. Kick off the test and wait for some time before your results are generated. The timing and duration of the test are essential, so be sure to keep these two factors in mind. Calculate the test duration, keeping in mind the average daily and monthly visitors to your website and the estimated existing conversion rate.
Over to you…
No matter what kind of website you have, running an A/B test is a good idea to monitor your website’s growth and audience. If you cater to the viewer’s needs, your website will automatically generate more likes and views. Even though this test has its cons, it’s still widely used by a lot of people. If done properly, A/B tests can reduce a lot of complications and risks, benefiting your company in the long run.
