Definition: What is A/B testing?
Although “A/B testing” originally comes from medicine, the term has now also become established in marketing and thus also plays an important role in the everyday life of web agencies. Here, an A/B test is understood to be a method that compares two versions of one and the same website. Modern WordPress and web agencies use this procedure to optimize their partners’ website accordingly.
History: How did A/B testing come into existence?
A/B testing has its origins in medicine. Here, since the 1920s, attempts were made to substantiate the results of clinical studies with corresponding tests. In its current form, however, the tests have only existed since the 1990s.
A/B tests: For which sites are they useful?
A/B testing is useful for any website. A professional web agency, for example, uses these tests to improve conversions and in lead generation:
- In the area of leads, these testing methods are great for finding out if email marketing is generating the desired increase in sales.
- On media sites, the tests can be used to find out how popular the website content is.
- In e-commerce, A/B testing makes it possible to compare different versions with the respective sales figures.
Relationship between A/B testing and conversion optimization.
To optimize conversion, companies and web agencies often decide to conduct an A/B test. This involves first making hypotheses about possible causes of insufficient conversion. Subsequently, these tests help to confirm or eliminate the assumptions.
Examples from the practice of a web agency
In practice, A/B testing can be applied to a variety of problems:
- Conversion problems: In this case, web analytics data helps determine the reason for the lack of conversions.
- User Experience (UX): A detailed test of the website helps to understand the user experience.
- Usability: A/B testing can also be used to analyze the usability of an app or website.
- Interaction: With heatmaps and session recording, it is possible to understand the interaction between individual subpages.
A/B testing: A useful tool for web agencies and marketing professionals.
The foundation for successful testing is formulating the right hypotheses. Once these have been established, problems with conversion can be identified relatively easily and remedied in the long term. In the best case, an experienced web agency should be contacted for this purpose.
Idea generation
The following questions may be helpful in generating appropriate hypotheses:
- What problems are currently present and what could be the cause?
- Can factors be identified that can be checked later using the KPIs?
- What solutions could help eliminate the problem?
These questions help with the initial brainstorming and thus form the basis for the subsequent tests.
Which elements should be tested?
Which elements companies or web agencies should review as part of A/B testing varies widely. Regardless of whether companies carry out the testing themselves or commission a web agency with this task, the following factors should definitely be considered
- The web design: How comprehensible is the website content, how intuitive is the navigation?
- Call-to-action: This is as much about the font and color as it is about the placement of the CTA button. Even the choice of words can have an impact on conversion.
- Titles and headlines should be useful and engaging. This is especially true for A/B testing in marketing.
- With images, it’s important to understand how certain product images affect users.
- Visibility and placement are also key for buttons and forms.
Tip: If you have any questions or uncertainties, it’s also worth getting support here, for example from a competent web agency.
Conducting an A/B test
For meaningful results, it is essential to use proven methods when A/B testing. The typical procedure of an A/B test is as follows:
- Form project team: First, assemble a team that is knowledgeable about conversion optimization and data analysis.
- Prioritize: Before the test begins, the test team defines initial hypotheses about possible causes of the conversion problems.
- Execution: The tests are best carried out with a special A/B testing tool. It can be useful to seek support here, for example from a web agency that specializes in web development.
- Evaluation: Subsequently, the collected data is evaluated to determine where action is needed. In this way, A/B tests can be optimally used for marketing purposes.
- Documentation: A high degree of traceability is useful for all online marketing measures. This also applies to A/B tests.
- Implementation: Implementation is independent of whether the improvements concern programming, web design or content marketing. Rather, it is always about creating a new, better version of the product. As a rule of thumb, as soon as the performance is at least ten percent better, you should replace the old version with this one.
A professional WordPress or web agency is familiar with these processes and knows what is important when testing.
Proven strategies and tips from the everyday life of a web agency
In order to skillfully implement A/B testing, it is important to familiarize yourself with “best practices” in advance:
- Perform A/A testing: The data used must always be reliable. A/A testing in advance ensures that this is the case.
- Proportionality: the number of tests should always fit the traffic volume.
- Be systematic: To get meaningful results, you should only analyze one variable at a time.
- Wait for high reliability rate: making decisions is not advisable until the reliability rate of the test is 95 percent.
- Time Frame: Regardless of the reliability rate, a professional web agency makes sure to run the tests long enough. A time frame of at least a week is ideal.
- Consider current marketing trends: This includes, for example, promotions from display marketing or current Google Ads.
A/B testing platforms: How to find the right one
Finding the right A/B testing platform is often a major challenge. Due to the fast pace of the Internet, it is advisable to choose a platform from a market leader. These usually have several tools on offer that can be used for conversion optimization as well as lead generation.
Although A/B testing tools are practical and can be used to quickly achieve passable results, it is recommended to cooperate with a specialized web agency such as ONELINE. In addition to improving the user experience (UX) and search engine optimization (SEO), A/B testing is also part of our range of services.
