Should I Be Using A/B Testing?
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David
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December 31st, 2012
A/B testing is a way of running two design or marketing elements at a time to see which fares the best. In blogging and content marketing, we use this trick often to figure out which of our offers, projects, layouts, designs, wordings, or anything else draws out the most interaction from our users.
Although this seems like a really technical way of acting and thinking, it's not! It's like running a taste test for your blog. Trial and error. If you want to know which recipe your family likes better, you'll make two versions and taste test them side by side. You can do exactly the same thing with your website through a host of different elements, and I highly suggest integrating this practice into your daily life!
There are a few ways to do this, including a handful of particular areas to test the most.
One of the most important ones to consider: the call-to-action.
I'm sure that you're getting sick of me beating this dead horse, but I see it as still living and breathing! CTAs are the lifeblood of your website. They are how you convert an already sold reader into a paying customer. Want them to do something? Tell them, and they will! Want them to do nothing? Keep CTAs off your site, then.
Figure out what your readers really want with a little A/B testing.
Here are a few places to use A/B testing:
End-of-Post CTAs:
First, you should already have some sort of CTA at the end of each blog post. Consider adjusting the colors, font, and language. Only test out two options at a time or you might alienate customers with your wildly varying website.
Notification Bar CTAs:
Second, add a notification bar plugin to your page. I recommend ViperBar as it already has A/B testing features built in! Simply select one box over the other, and they'll automatically give the selected one 16% preference over the other.
This will let you see which phrasing draws in action more than the other. Perhaps your readers like focusing on "free" things or wordings that create a sense of community. Give it to them! "Join the free club today!"
Email campaign subject lines:
If you run email campaigns, which you should, there are ways to integrate A/B testing in the creation of subject lines. MailChimp is my go-to email marketing company, and they have an easy way to split up your emails into two sets so as to test for user effectiveness. Perhaps you'll find that the more traditional "Updates from Barnadus T. Clampton" is highly undesirable compared to "Special news from the Clampton Crew." You won't know until you test it out. Control the variables through A/B testing!
Ad campaigns:
Want to know where to stick those precious ads throughout your website? Well, try out a few different models! Stick one in spot A for a week, then in spot B for the next (longer time samples will provide better data). See which provokes the most user interaction, and then use the preferred location in the future.
A/B testing is all about the user experience. Figure out what your reader prefers, and then give it to them! Sure, it takes a little bit of work, but happy readers are happy customers. Happy customers = happy wallets!
Do you use a special program for A/B testing? How is it? Should we check it out?