Are You Conducting A/B Test To Learn More About Your Audience? You Should Be

Have you ever wished you could know how your audience will respond to an email before you click ‘send’? Ever looked back on a branded social media post and wished you hadn’t shared it? Hindsight is always 20/20, and sometimes what seems like a brilliant idea can turn out to be a flop. A/B testing involves creating two different versions of a site, page, email, or other content type, and randomly exposing different subsets of your audience to one of the two versions. Analyze their responses, and you can identify which of the two versions will be most effective.

At Personalized Creative, we believe in the power of analytics. When you conduct A/B tests, you don’t have to wonder whether your audience will respond well to your messaging. A/B tests are powerful because they can help you maximize your marketing results, protect your brand reputation, and better understand your audience. Let’s take a closer look at a few reasons why A/B testing should be part of your brand’s overall marketing strategy.

What Should You Be A/B Testing?

According to one Forbes writer, the following content types should definitely be A/B tested:

• Emails

• Webpages

• Facebook ads

• Social media posts

• Blog titles

• Calls to action

This list can be a great rule of thumb to help you get started. Ultimately, a lot depends on your brand, audience and messaging, so you may need to refine the list to best fit your needs.

Reason # 1: Improve Your User Experience

Your customers aren’t just buying a product – they’re buying an entire experience with your brand. This includes browsing your website, checking out online, asking product-related questions, and getting help with service-related problems. Your customers expect every interaction with your brand to be seamless, from start to finish. A few aspects of user experience that you may want to A/B test include:

• Website layouts: Customers are looking for ease of navigation, logical arrangement of pages, and mobile optimization.

• Forms: A good form is quick, clear, concise, and easy to fill out on a mobile device.

• Checkout processes: How many different screens will customers view as they go from browsing your online store to completing a purchase? Are you offering enough options, like gift packaging or express delivery, or do your customers want more? A/B testing can help you optimize your checkout process and strike a balance between speed and thoroughness.

It can be especially important to conduct A/B testing if you’re experimenting with a newer tool. Features like voice activation, visual searches and QR codes are just a few of the extras that can take your user experience to the next level. However, if they’re not implemented effectively, they can do more harm than good by producing a clunky, confusing interaction.

Reason # 2: Optimize Your Visual Content

Your audience might not remember the specific words you use in your digital content. However, they’re likely to form an instant opinion of your brand based on the colors, font, images and layout they see. They’re also likely to associate these visuals with your brand, long after viewing your content.

Again, changing only one variable between your A and B versions is crucial for success here. Sending two different versions of an email that are identical, except for font color, is a great example of a meaningful A/B test. Try experimenting with variables such as:

• Font size, style, or color

• Image size, saturation, or brightness

• Size of tabs and buttons

• Image subject matter

• Number of images

Ultimately, a successful A/B testing strategy takes patience and commitment to the trial and error process. 

Want To Improve Your A/B Testing Process?

The Personalized Creative team can help you take your whole marketing strategy, including A/B testing, to the next level. Just performing A/B tests isn’t enough – you’ll need to deeply engage with the data your tests produce, so you can get the maximum benefit from the process. Ready to work with a marketing team that really knows their stuff?  Contact us today to start a conversation!