A/B testing allows you to test the performance of your marketing content. By comparing several versions of a landing page or an email, you can identify the elements that improve your performance.
Today, we’re sharing our 7 tips for successful A/B testing. Let’s goooo
Test high-traffic content
A/B testing requires sending different versions of your content to your audience. For your results to be representative and meaningful, it is important to test content with high traffic.
For a landing page, choose a page whose audience represents several thousand visitors. Make sure your landing page is prominently featured throughout the entire duration of your test.
For an email, the size of the target audience is even more important because you will send your emails to only a sample of your segment. We therefore recommend that it include at least 1,000 contacts.
Choose a clear objective
Behind every marketing action lies a specific objective. For your A/B testing campaigns, it is the same: define a clear objective for each test you are going to set up. This will allow you to determine the winning version of your test.
On Webmecanik Automation, the success goals of an email A/B test are: downloads, form submissions, page visits, clicks in an email, open rate. The success goals of an A/B test for a landing page are: number of downloads, form submissions, bounce rate, reading time.
Test only one criterion at a time
With A/B testing, it is possible to test many variables: colors, subject lines, layout, send time, content, frequency (we made you a list of the best variables to test in this article. All these factors can potentially affect the results of your marketing actions, so you will no doubt want to know which of them will be the game changer and bring you the most customers. To determine this successfully, you will need to test your variables one by one, otherwise you will not know which action improved your results.
Give your test enough time
The reliability of your A/B test results depends on several factors: statistical confidence level, the size of your audience and, in particular, the duration of your test. It is necessary to give your test enough time to be sure that the result is significant. Indeed, the difference observed over a short period may be due to variations in user behavior.
For a landing page, the duration of your test will depend on your objective, the length of your contacts’ decision cycle, and the traffic sources you are going to activate. We recommend the very comprehensive article by AB Tasty on this subject.
For an email A/B test, we advise you to set a test period of at least 24 hours so that all the contacts in your sample have time to process your email.
Track and analyze your results
The ultimate purpose of an A/B testing campaign lies in the analysis you make of your test results. To be effective, we recommend that you track very precisely the different criteria you test as well as the external factors that may influence your results. Once you have collected enough data according to the objectives you have set, we recommend creating a tracking table with the different variables tested, the messages sent, the audience and the size of your sample, the test period, the traffic sources that may have had an impact, as well as the seasonality of your market and the different statistics obtained.
Iterate your A/B tests and go deeper over time
A/B testing is a long-term process, and one test alone will not be enough to find the magic formula that will make your emails and landing pages perform well. Iterate your tests, be more and more precise in the criteria you are going to put to the test, and also try changing the parameters of your tests.
Implement corrective actions
The purpose of an A/B testing campaign is to implement the “winning” elements in your landing pages and emails. Create a best practices guide for yourself and your team based on the results you obtain throughout your tests. Over time, your marketing campaigns will improve in performance. Do not hesitate to repeat your A/B testing campaigns to check that your contacts’ behavior has not changed.
In conclusion, A/B testing is a powerful tool to help you make data-driven decisions and can greatly improve your performance. Be patient and open-minded about learning from your tests, and you will see improvements in your campaign performance.
