Benefits to Using A/B Testing

A/B Testing is one of the most powerful tools in an Internet Marketer’s toolbox. It can really help a business see more leads coming in with less spent on advertising. A real-life example from a client’s company: We were able to boost their conversion rates by more than 27% due to this service we offer! But more on that later.

Incorporating A/B testing into your marketing strategy could change how you advertise for good – so contact us today and find out just what these tests are all about!

When Do You Need A/B Testing?

Almost every business can benefit from A/B testing somewhere in their marketing efforts, but here some situations that really show a great possible gain from A/B testing.

1. You have an online advertising campaign, and you are getting lots of clicks, but no one is signing up on your landing page (the page potential customers land on when clicking an ad).
2. You have an email newsletter, and you are not getting a very good open rate – less than 20%.
3. You are sending emails and people are opening them, but you aren’t getting the response you want after that (clicks, downloads, video views, etc.)
4. You are getting clicks on your ads and sign-ups, but you suspect you can get a higher sign-up rate percentage.
5. You are not getting any clicks on your advertisement and you don’t know if it’s the offer, placement, copy, or some other factor.
6. You have an online store.

A/B testing can be used for email, for pages on a site, or even advertisements. It allows you to try different “variants” or versions of your digital marketing and discover which is more effective.

How A/B Testing Works

1. 1. You create a baseline or original version of your marketing. This is your control in the test. Then you create another version with changes you think might help the ad perform better. This is your variant. The changes might be to the placement of elements on the page, the color of the submit button, the images used, the size of certain elements, the copy in your header, the number of fields in the form, any combination of these, or almost anything else on your landing page. You never know which changed will have the effect you are looking for. However, it’s a good idea not to try to test too many changes at once.
   2. You determine the criteria for success in the test and set that up as a goal. If you want more people to contact you, filling out the form might be your criteria. Or you might desire more clicks on a link, more sales, or more downloads. Whatever your criteria, you can usually figure out a way to measure it.
   3. After you have your variants, the A/B testing software automatically serves both versions to your audience. Ideally, it divides the audience by the number of variants and serves them all equally. So, if you have 2 variations, half of your audience will see the original, and half will see the variant.
   4. The software records the results. It keeps track of how many people completed your goal for each variation. After you have enough results, you can tell which of the variation performed better. This, then, is the version you roll out to all customers.
   5. Ideally, you start testing again. Find another thing to test on and create a new variant. Over time, the changes you make will probably be less drastic and the improvement you get may be smaller percentages, but in this way, you will find the most optimized (and therefore more effective) version of your marketing.

   A/B testing is not that hard to implement. It often just depends on finding the right software solution which allows you to test the kind of marketing you need to test.

Case Study: A/B Testing in Action

We have a client that has done advertising on Google for over 6 years. When we first started with them, their conversion rate was anywhere between 2 and 5 percent—meaning, 2-5% of people who visited their landing page submitted the contact form to get more information.

Conversion rates vary based on the industry and type of advertisement, but the universal standard for a good conversion rate is around 3%. So, in general, our client was performing well.

Here you can see inactive variants of the landing page from years past. This gives us the name of the variant, the number of visitors to the page, the number of views, the number of conversions, and the conversion rate.

However, by doing A/B testing with their landing page we could make changes to the page, test them, and continue to improve it over time. We started to see conversion rates of 10%, 11%, and even 12% over the next few years.

As we have continued to improve their landing page, our conversion rate has skyrocketed. Our conversion rates for this client are now anywhere from 20% to nearly 30%, which means 30% of visitors to this landing page are converting into potential customers!

This client and many more are reaping the benefits of A/B testing. It’s also important to note that while A/B testing is not an overnight solution, it doesn’t always take years to accomplish. There are many factors that go into a successful ad campaign with a high conversion rate—but, it does prove that investing time into your advertising and collecting data will pay off!

Do you use A/B testing for your business? Can you think of any ways it might benefit your digital marketing strategy? Contact Webster Digital Marketing today to see how A/B testing can benefit your business!