A/B Testing is a digital marketing tactic that can help improve almost any aspect of your site. Whether you want to increase your conversion rate, keep users on your site for longer, or get visitors to view more pages on your website, A/B testing (also known as split testing) can help you achieve that goal.
At it’s core, A/B testing a webpage is as simple as sending users to one of two variations of a single page on your site. These pages should be identical except for a single difference. This difference is the variable that we are testing. By tracking our visitors and comparing their actions on either page variation, we can see the effect that this variable has on the metric that we are trying to improve. After we test enough users to achieve statistical significance, we can see which page performed better. Then, we can make the winning variation a permanent fixture of the page, and start a new A/B test to try and improve our metric even further. Ideally, this is an ongoing process – we are always striving to improve our webpages and as such we should always be split testing.
A/B Testing Examples
Almost any aspect of your website or webpage can be used as the variable for your A/B test. You can try modifying the color, text, and placement of specific elements on each page to try and guide your users toward a desired action or result. You can find a few examples of the most common variables to test below:
- The background colors for your Call-To-Action buttons
- The text included in your Call-To-Action buttons
- The featured image for your blog posts
- The number of slides in your homepage slider
- The placement of your “Add To Cart” button
- The icons for your social media links
In addition to the variable that you choose to test, there are a variety of metrics you can attempt to improve. Some of the more common metrics to focus on are included below:
- Conversion Rate
- Time On Site
- Pages Per Session
- Bounce Rate
- Specific Link Clicks
These lists only scratch the surface of the variables and metrics you can utilize in your split tests. With a little creativity and some helpful resources from around the web, you can easily build a near-infinite list of potential tests you to run on your site. It’s important to only test one variable at a time to avoid skewed results, but over time, your website will steadily improve.
A/B Testing Statistics and Benefits
So this all sounds well and good, but is it really necessary? Will the improvements you make after A/B testing really be worth the effort it takes to set up and monitor all these tests? The answer is almost certainly “yes.” These tests are especially useful for eCommerce websites. Here are just a few A/B testing success stories from around the web:
Bionic Gloves increases total revenue by 24.7%
Bionic Gloves is an eCommerce website that sells a wide variety of gloves for different industries and applications. After performing an A/B test on the promo box on their checkout page, they were able to increase their total revenue by 24.7%.
Paperstone increases conversion rate by 10%
Paperstone is a UK office product. After testing the effects of displaying competitor prices on their website, they were able to increase their conversion rate by 10%.
Body Ecology increases total revenue rate by 56.43%
Body Ecology is an eCommerce website that operates in the health and wellness spaace. After replacing their product category drop down menu with a more visually-engaging category page, they were able to increase their total revenue rate by 56.43%.
These are just a few key examples of the many successful split tests that website all around the internet (including your competitors) are performing all the time. The fact of the matter is, if you’re not testing your website, you’re falling behind and leaving money on the table.
How do I start testing my own website?
While the concept of split testing is simple enough to understand, implementing a test of your own can be complicated without the proper technical knowledge. There are several services that you can incorporate into your website to start testing, but nearly all of them will require a pretty thorough understanding of how your website is set up.
Luckily, we’re here to help. Watermelon has performed several successful A/B tests for clients and seen some impressive results. If you’re interested in working with us to start testing and improving your website, use the link below to get in touch.