AB Split Testing | Optimize your Digital Marketing Funnel

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When marketers draft email for email marketing or design CTA for a blog, they do not know what would be to convince people to open the mail or click that button. To be sure, the marketers rather rely on A/B testing or split testing (sometimes also referred to as AB split testing or bucket testing). Those who are unaware of- What is AB split testing? AB split testing is an experiment conducted with two different versions of the same content, email, or CTA. These different variants are shown to an equal-sized audience for a set period of time. Later, statistical analyses are done to determine which of the two versions performed better. In short, AB split testing helps marketers to observe the performance of ‘A’ sample against ‘B’ sample. The analysis, further, helps them to boost the overall conversion rate of the website. Since AB split testing is a tool to optimize a website’s marketing funnel, AB split testing should be implemented on-
  1. Headlines and Sub-headlines of page
  2. Website Content
  3. Design and Layout of the Website, Landing Page, and Product Page
  4. Website’s Navigation
  5. Call to Action button (CTA)
  6. Customer Forms
AB split testing into the above-mentioned elements help remove visitor’s pain points, boost overall ROI (return on investment), lower the bounce rate of the website, landing page, and product page, and reduce cart abandonment rate. But in order to optimize the overall marketing funnel, well-established AB split testing step should be undertaken thoroughly. Read more: digital-marketing-for-startups/

Here are some of the essential Split Testing Steps

Step 1: Choose one element at a time to test: AB split testing enables you to test more than one element for a single page of email, but it is advisable to choose one element at a time. This would help you to determine the exact rise and fall of the website or email performance and the factor responsible for the same. Step 2: Quantify Goal: Although you will be able to measure multiple changes on website and customer action, it is recommended to set a primary goal. It helps you to notice the overall changes and set up the test as per the target. Step 3: Choosing the Research Question In order to stay focused on the A/B split test outcome, prepare a set of questionnaire for yourself and keep checking it periodically:
  • Which call to action produced higher conversion rates?
  • Does video enable to boost click-through rates?
  • The highest click rate is witnessed on which day of the week?
  • Which subject line has resulted in a higher open rate of the mail?
  • Which is the landing page resulting in the maximum purchase?
Step 4: Split your samples equally: If it is under your control, divide the sample of the audience into an equal number. This will help you to reach a conclusive result. For example, if you are AB split testing emails, you can sample your audience in equal numbers. Moreover, it also depends on the tools that you are using for split testing process. Step 5: Choose Segments Randomly: Even though the ideal circumstance is 2 test groups that have similar demographics, you can still achieve valid results by randomly dividing your list. Step 6: Choose Appropriate Testing Tools: Useful A/B split testing tools are now made available by many Email Service Providers (ESRs). These tools randomly select samples from each side, track your results while generating reports that include a side by side result comparison. Once the winning version is selected, it then proceeds to send it across to the rest of the recipients. Step 7: Run Tests for Ample Amount of Time: In order to obtain the substantial result to compare, run the tests for enough time. Also, the test time allotted for different variations should be equal. This will help in deciding on the variable fairly. Having said that, there is no idea time; it depends on the company. However, it is advisable not to stop the test during the result gathering interval. Doing so will impact the end result.

Step 8: Deciding a Winner:

Once you have collected enough data, compare them statistically. Once you have the result, check if the result is statistically significant to justify the change. There are various AB split testing calculators to help you determine the winner. Later, based on the result, you can implement the changes. On the other hand, if the test result is not satisfactory then it is advisable to change the variables, or analyze the mistakes and re-run the test. In comparison to the past, AB split testing has become much easier ever since split testing tools are rolled out. But it is also quite easy to mess it up as well and end up with the wrong conclusion that could undermine all your efforts.

Here is a list of some of the common Split Testing Mistake

  • Unplanned optimization roadmap
  • Testing too many variables simultaneously
  • Undermining statistical significance
  • Unequal division of samples
  • Not providing enough time for tests to collect substantial data
  • Failing to decide on the right kind of split testing tools
  • Ignoring external factors
In order to get the maximum result out of AB split testing, you should consider various factors and iterate the entire process at a specific interval. Other than the above recommendations, you should always be find out ways to collect users’ feedback. This, further, will help you plan your next AB split testing in an explicit manner; as the test impacts the digital marketing funnel.

Importance of Testing

It is incredibly necessary that your digital marketing funnel is optimized through A/B testing as it allows you to get a deeper understanding of the way your customers think and behave. To maximize ROI and optimize your digital marketing funnel, you should know to organize your website, landing page, CTA, product/service pages, and emails accordingly.

Conclusion:

Since we are living in the digital era, where everything is online, it is necessary to optimize your digital funnel accordingly to attract visitors and enhance their stay time. In order to achieve the goal, it is mandatory to conduct a lot of AB split testing at every stage. Because let’s be real, one formula doesn’t need to suit every website. Different websites require a different parameter, according to the domain, to rank on the search engine. We can get to know the parameters by experimenting through the right roadmap. Implementing above mentioned points will help you to follow the track of experiments. If AB split testing is done diligently and with complete dedication, it will surely help you to improve the UI and UX of the website. We, at Valasys Media, are experts in shaping perennially healthy sales pipelines for our customers. Our services included lead-generation, account-based marketing, lead nurturing, content syndication & business intelligence to name a few; all of which have been designed to help our clients achieve their bottom-line goal of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). For more information on our services, feel free to contact us.

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