How to Do A/B Testing and Why You Should

• Updated on: 2023-02-14
• Read original article here

If you’re in marketing, chances are you’ve heard aboutA/B testing. As for whether you’ve actually had time to put it into practice, that’s a whole other story.

For small business owners or marketers who are trying to do everything themselves, it can be tough to add yet another task to the ever-revolving list of marketing must-dos. But A/B testing has a ton of utility in terms of helping youremail marketingefforts succeed — and it’s often the easiest path to determining what is and what isn’t going to work for you.

If you’re new to A/B testing — or if you’re just not confident you have the time to put it into practice — we’re here to help. Keep reading to learn about the basics of A/B testing, including why it’s important and how to implement it in youremail marketing strategy.

A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a randomized marketing experiment that compares the outcomes of two methods: the A method and the B method.

This type of two-sample hypothesis testing is used widely by marketers, especially when it comes to email marketing. It allows you totest various features and formatsand see which performs better with your audience. It can be used to compare results on everything from subject lines and body copy to image and CTA placement.

We often get asked the question: is there a difference between an A/B test and a split test? 

The answer to this question depends on which marketing professional you ask! Although A/B and split tests have been used interchangeably for a long time, the term “split test” might be more frequently used when a larger element is different. 

So, for example, an A/B test focuses on showing the same version of an email, with changes to certain minor elements. Essentially, the email recipients will see the same email in both A and B versions, but each version will feature a different element, for example, a different CTA or button size.

On the other hand, sometimes, when marketers talk about split testing, they are talking about an entire redesign to the content. So in a split test, recipients might receive two entirely different emails, for example, an old and a new design. 

When conducting A/B tests or split tests, the goal is to measure the conversion. The one with the highest conversion is considered the winner.

The benefits of A/B testing come from the insights that it gains for you. Without it, you’re pretty much just shooting in the dark with what you think your audience will engage with — instead of making informeddesign and copy decisionsbased on real-world analytics.

Some of the most direct advantages that you can gain from split testing include:

Better user engagement. Something as small as the size and color of your CTA button can have a huge impact onemail engagement. A/B testing lets you see which option garners the most clicks — so you can focus solely on features that are most geared toward audience conversion.

Better conversion rates. Speaking of engagement, the more you can get your audience to engage, the more you can get them to convert. With A/B testing, you can hone in on the content and design features that lead tomore conversions— and avoid those that don’t.

Better use of analytics. Looking at your data is one thing; understanding what it means is another. And if you’re not A/B testing, you’re not digging deep enough into what matters. Split testing takes out some key variables, so you don’t have to wonder quite as much aboutwhy your email marketing is (or isn’t) performing.

A/B testing isn’t only for email marketing. It also helps you learn what works and what doesn’t work with yourtarget audiencewhen running online ads. To A/B test your online ads, you’ll need to create two different versions, send traffic to both versions, and measure the results to see which one performed better.

Your split test should also be tied to a metric that will be dependent on your goal for the ad. If you want people to click on your ad, you will be measuring your tests to see which one gets the highest click-through rate.

In your online ad, the elements to A/B test include:

When setting up your ad A/B test:

Conducting A/B tests on your website is crucial foroptimizing your conversion rates. The goal of conducting regular A/B tests is to identify which website version is more effective at getting people to take the desired action, whether that’ssigning up for your email listor making a purchase.

By constantly testing and tweaking your web pages and forms, you can identify what is working and what isn’t, then use that knowledge to gradually increase your conversion rate over time andget more leads and sales from your website.

There are several elements on your website that you can A/B test to see how well they perform. These elements include,

When conducting A/B tests on your website, you should

A/B testing your emails is a great way to improve your email marketing campaigns and ensure they’re effective and conversion-focused. When you A/B test your emails, you discover the most effective versions of your emails and understand your audience better by seeing how they respond to different versions of your marketing message.

This, in turn, saves you time and money by helping you focus on the most effective email marketing campaigns. You can also improve your email metrics by using results from testing to create campaigns that boost your email open rates, click-through rates, and, ultimately, your bottom line.

Below are various elements that you can A/B test in your emails.

Before A/B testing elements of your emails, you should:

The fastest and easiest way to do A/B testing is to utilizeemail marketing automationand marketing software. Not only does it make it easier to divide your groups and create multiple templates of the same email — it’s also a one-stop-shop for gathering data on your outcomes.

As for other A/B testing tools, so long as you’re using an email marketing platform that provides the service, you won’t have to worry about investing in another piece of software. That’s good news for your budget, as well as for your timeline.

If you have the existing software but aren’t sure how to get started with A/B testing, contact a customer service rep who can guide you through the process. Or, reach out to us directly, and we’d be happy to chat with you about how our email marketing software can help you test your emails and sendeffective campaignsto your subscribers.