Advantages of performing A / B test
Sometimes it is difficult to know which design is more optimal to increase conversions on a web page or in an email campaign, or we simply want to see if the new planned design will give us better results. The best way to know which of our options is best is performin A / B test.
What means A/B testing?
A / B testing simply consists of testing at least two variants of some element of our marketing. It will allow us to compare the results obtained to make the best decision for the project. Although it does not have a fixed use, email marketing campaigns and web design are the points that use these tests the most.
A curious case with this methodology to optimize a web page to the maximum we see it with Amazon. Your web analytics department did one of these tests to select the color of the purchase button on your website. The winner was orange, with a conversion rate higher than other colors. It is a curiosity, since it has always been thought that the green color is the one that most encourages to convert, but in this case it was not so.
Why use tests A / B?
The use of the A / B tests will give us a lot of advantages when it comes to getting the final design of a web page or a newsletter. Next I would like to share with you some of these advantages.
- Selection of images: nowadays visual support is essential to convert, and that is one of the best rated factors by users. Through a test, if we perform the analysis correctly, we can know which are the images that most interest us.
- Title selection: this factor is very important in email marketing campaigns. An attractive title can make the difference between whether an email is open or not. If we are not able to capture the attention of the user, it will be useless to have an incredible design within the email.
- General design: although it seems silly it is not the same to put the text on the left and the images on the right that vice versa. Analytics will help us choose the best option for our design.
- Improve the brand image: it seems silly, but it is so. In the end, by performing these tests we are adapting to the tastes of customers, that is, we think about improving your user experience on our site.
- To innovate: in the end with each test you are trying to innovate. If an experiment goes wrong, there will be few people who have lived it and your image will not suffer. You will not make any changes if most of your users are not satisfied with them.
- To increase profitability: it is the main objective of performing an A / B test. The decisions you will make will be based on the Kpis you mark, which logically will be directly related to the profitability of your website and your business.
How can I do an A/B testing?
Doing an A / B test is not as simple as it seems, but requires prior planning, to get all the advantages of performing an A / B test it is essential to be clear about this point. Then I indicate some steps so that you have clearer the route to follow.
Set goals
We have to be clear about what we want to achieve with these experiments. The most common is to seek an improvement in KPIs and increase conversions:
- KPI improvements
- Average time on the site.
- Pages visited.
- Bounce Rate Rate of abandonment of the shopping cart.
- Average value of the purchase ticket.
- Increase conversions
Decide what changes you want to make
Once we are clear about the objective we want to achieve, it is important to know which sections we want to change. In reality, anything can be modified to improve the ratios, size or color of the buttons, distribution of images and texts … the important thing is to make the changes one by one, since if you do them all at once you will not optimize to the maximum.
Create the test
There are several tools for conducting the A / B tests, although I will talk about the two I know, one for web design and another for sending newsletters:
- Google Analytics: In your experiments section we can do these tests. You will have to have two pages, and you must indicate to what proportion of the users you teach each one of them.
- Mailchimp: In the free version you already have the option to perform these tests. It will allow you to create two different mail designs. Once the campaign is over, it will show you the data, so you can choose.
Wait
The A / B tests are not done by time, but by number of users. It’s no use if the test is only done by 10 people. It is necessary to have a large number of users, the more, the better.
Choose the solution
Once the comparison is over, it is time to make the best decision.
Measure again
In the digital world, constant improvement is mandatory. Once you do a test, and its subsequent changes, you will have to continue seeing if it is possible to further optimize your page or your newsletter.
Should I do an A/B test?
It is a process that takes time, but that brings a lot of benefits. I encourage you to conduct a small experiment in one of your designs, you can only get positive data. In my case I did it on the contact buttons, choosing the one that gave me the best results. I hope this article on the advantages of performing an A / B test will help you plan a test the right way. If you have any questions about it, do not hesitate to write to me.
See you in the next article!
