When refining your marketing efforts, you can learn a lot through trial and error. What you thought might be a hit could actually, well, flop. Alternatively, you may find what you did for another campaign performed surprisingly well. Before putting all your eggs in one basket, it’s smart to test out different ideas against each other to learn what appeals to your target audience and will convert. A common way to do this is through A/B testing.

In this post, we answer “What is A/B testing?”, explore applications for A/B testing, and discuss best practices for testing your marketing ideas.

What Is A/B Testing?

A/B testing is when you run two different marketing variations across an audience to see which one performs better. Like any experiment, you need to control your variables, meaning that you only want to test one variation at a time so that you can pinpoint what variation is working better than the other.

So, for example, if you want to learn how to refine your paid advertisement copy, you might run an A/B test (also called a split test) where in one version you have a call-to-action (CTA) that says “Call us today!” and the other version says “Call us now!” but all of the other copy on these two ads is completely identical. You can then run both versions for the same exact period, and then analyze which one led to better outcomes. Based on the results, you can move forward with the winning CTA and try a different A/B test.

Why Is A/B Testing Important?

A/B testing is important because it is backed by data. Rather than solely trusting your gut on marketing initiatives, you can use A/B testing to find quantitative data on different variables you’re considering.

A/B testing is a great way to save your business’ resources, including time and money. Instead of going all in for a marketing campaign and having it fail, you can spend a little money on each variation of your A/B test, and then more heavily invest in the winning option.

What Can You A/B Test in a Marketing Campaign?

You can A/B test virtually anything in a marketing campaign, so long as you can gather data and insights into your findings. It’s common for businesses to test different aspects of their website landing pages, email marketing campaigns, and paid ads. Common items you might consider testing include:

• Images
• Calls-to-action
• Copy length
• Verb usage 
• Colors
• Fonts
• Emojis
• Headlines
• Forms
• Subject lines
• Posting times

Best Practices for A/B Testing

When conducting an A/B test, remember these best practices:

• Test one variable at a time: If you run two variables in one test, there is no way to determine what is causing better (or worse) performance. Choose one variable to test, and then keep the rest of your two versions exactly the same. 
• Choose the right testing length: You don’t want to do too short of a test, or you might not get meaningful results. When it comes to testing on Meta’s platforms, the social media giant suggests running A/B tests for a minimum of seven days. 
• Be mindful of your testing audience: When selecting your testing audience, choose a group of people who fit within your target audience. Many platforms, such as Google ads and email marketing websites, automatically split your audience into equivalent halves when running your test. By having the demographics of your two audiences match without overlapping (since one person seeing both ads can skew your data), you are gathering more reliable information.

Need help leveraging your data to make informed marketing decisions? We can help! Fill out our contact form here or call 920-214-4025 to get started.