A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a research method that tests two (or more) versions of a live product or website to determine which variations perform best based on predefined goals. Most commonly, you compare variant A, also called control, against variant B. It involves testing ideally only one design element such as a button, an image, or text, against the original design.
In addition to A/B tests, there are also A/B/n tests, which is a type of A/B test with more than two variations.
How does A/B Testing work?
During the duration of an A/B test, the traffic is split across the variants – most commonly, it’s spread evenly across. During this time, you collect a set of metrics that you can use to compare the variants and make a data-backed decision as to what performs best.
Tests should run long enough to reach statistical significance. You can then determine whether changing the experience (using variant B) had a positive, negative or neutral effect against the control (variant A). After finishing the experiment, you should select only one of the versions to remain being used.
Why run an A/B test on your website?
Website A/B testing enables you to quantitatively compare and determine what works best with visitors on your website. These experiments allow you to make careful changes to your website visitors’ experience while collecting data on the impact it makes.
Over time, you can combine the effect of multiple winning changes from experiments not only to the test page or section but to your whole website, improving your goals and your visitors’ experience.
In essence, A/B testing eliminates the guesswork out of optimizing your website and lets you take granular control of what drives conversions, engagement, or any other goal you set. The more you test, the more you learn about the average customer’s behavior and lower the risk of adding new elements to your website.
What can you A/B test?
A/B tests can be performed over multiple website elements, but ideally, you would only choose to experiment with one at a time. Here’s a list of elements you can A/B test:
- Call-to-actions (CTA): A/B tests a CTA’s size, placement, color, or its copy.
- Headlines and subheadings: Headlines are an important part of your website,and having good headlines can help keep users reading through your website’s content – A/B testing copy on headings and subheadings can be impactful.
- Graphics: Images can also be A/B tested by changing the design elements on the graphic, its color, size, prominence, or even placement.
- Colors: You can A/B test a section’s color scheme or a specific color on one of the elements in your website.
- Form design: Forms are an important part of websites making users take action on your website – A/B testing the form layout, design or copy can help you get more form submissions.
- Layouts: You can test different placements for texts and buttons to see which one performs better.
- Copy: Any website copy can be A/B tested, to see what performs better and help users understand your content better.
- Pricing displays: Experiment with what format and how you display your services’ and products’ pricing.
Where on your website should you A/B test?
You can A/B website sections on almost every page of your website, but a general rule of thumb is to test those pages with higher traffic. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of places you can perform A/B tests on your website:
- Hero content: Heroes occupy the majority of the “above the fold” section on a homepage. By testing the copy, images, and call-to-actions, you can ensure your content is optimized to capture your website visitors’ attention.
- Navigation: Effective navigation improves site usability and helps with converting visitors – experiment with navigation items or call-to-actions.
- Pop-ups and lead capture forms: Pop-ups can be highly effective or disruptive, small changes on them can help optimize their results.
- Social-proof elements: Trust-building elements such as testimonials or trust badges can significantly influence conversions.
- Product or service pages: These pages are critical for conversions. Optimizing how products or services are presented can impact purchase decisions.
- Pricing page content: Pricing is a sensitive area where clear presentation and perceived value can make or break a sale.
- Landing pages: Landing pages are typically designed for specific campaigns or goals, such as lead generation or sales. Minor tweaks can significantly affect conversion rates.
- Blog pages: Blogs often drive organic traffic and can be optimized for lead generation or user engagement.
- Contact page: A user-friendly contact page can lead to higher engagement and inquiries.
A/B testing best practices.
Website A/B testing is a powerful experimentation method to improve website visitors’ experience, engagement, and conversions, but it requires a structured approach to ensure reliable results. Here is a list of best practices to get you started:
- Define clear goals: Without a clear goal, you won’t know what you’re optimizing for. Identify key indicators such as conversion rate, average order value, or time on a page.
- Formulate your hypothesis: A well-formulated hypothesis provides a “why?” to the test and ensures it’s aligned with your goals. Here’s an example: “Changing the CTA button color will increase click because it draws more attention”.
- Test one element at a time: Testing multiple elements at a time can make it very difficult to attribute the results to specific elements, focusing on a single variable at a time can help isolate its impact.
- Test for a sufficient duration: Running tests too briefly can lead to inconclusive or misleading results, allow tests to run until reaching statistical significance (or a good rule of thumb is at least two weeks). Don’t stop or make any changes to your tests before completion.
- Prioritize high-impact tets: Testing every detail can be time-consuming, instead focus on high-traffic pages and elements that are directly tied to your goal (e.g. conversions).
- Plan your tests with external factors into account: Consider external events such as seasonal campaigns, promotions, etc.
- Evaluate all metrics: When making decisions, make sure you evaluate the primary and secondary metrics you set for your goals – sometimes optimizing for one metric, can impact another one negatively.
- Test often: Optimization is an ongoing process, get yourself and your team in the culture of continuous testing and use your insights to inform subsequent tests.
- Learn from all tests: All results are relevant, even if an A/B test fails. Analyzing failing A/B tests can also help you understand user behavior better and reconsider your hypothesis.
- Use reliable A/B testing tools: Accurate tracking and easy-to-set-up tests will help with a smoother process for your website optimization – Kadence Insights gives you all the tools you need in a lightweight, budget-friendly, easy-to-use interface to get your website optimization to the next level!
