Product Communication through Split Testing
If you’re trying to grow your business, it can be hard to tell which marketing strategies resonate the most with your audience.
Split testing is a conversion optimization strategy that puts two or more strategies, products or techniques against each other in order to, provide the best customer experience for users.
This guide extensively discusses what split testing is and how to communicate products through Split tests.
What is Split Testing?
Split testing, also known as A/B testing, allows one to compare products, strategies or techniques to identify which is more effective. Simply put, do users like version A or version B? Knowing which marketing asset works better can help inform future decisions when it comes to email copy, web pages, or something different.
How does Split Testing work?
In a split test, a landing page can be modified to create a second version of the same page. This change can be as simple as a single headline, a navigation button or a complete redesign of the landing page.
Then, half of the visitors are shown the original version of the page, known as the control and the other half are shown the modified version of the page known as the variation.
As users are served either the control or variation, their engagement with each experience is measured and collected in a dashboard and analyzed through a statistical engine. Then, one sees how each landing
page performs in metrics such as traffic, clicks, or conversions.
Why is Split Testing Important?
Split testing provides the data needed to make careful observations and changes to user experience. This allows one to learn why certain elements impact user behavior. Your opinion about the best experience for a given goal can be proven wrong or right through a split test.
Split testing lets one know what copy, navigation button, images, videos, design, and other elements work best and how they have an impact on conversions, traffic, and other metrics. This data can then be
used to shapen your marketing strategy accordingly.
What Elements Does Split Testing work on?
1. Email campaigns
2. Individual emails
3. Multimedia marketing strategies
4. Paid internet advertising
5. Newsletters
6. Website design
In each category, A/B testing can be conducted on any number of variables such as;
1. Headlines
2. Copywriting
3. Call to action
4. Images, audio, and video
5. Product pricing
6. Layout
7. Color schemes
Essentially, almost any content element in a customer-facing item is testable.
How is Split Testing Conducted?
The following processes are the testing frameworks that can be used to start running split tests:
- Research
Before conducting a split test, one needs to do thorough research on how the subject matter is currently performing and identify the specific problem.
2. Collect and Analyze User data
Collected analytics will often provide insight into where optimization can begin. It helps to begin with high traffic areas of a site or app to allow gathering data faster. Look for pages with low conversion rates or high drop-off rates that can be improved.
Tools that can help to conduct quantitative website analytics include, Google Analytics, Omniture,Mixpanel, etc., which can help figure out most visited pages, pages with most time spent, or pages with the highest bounce rate.
3. Create a Hypothesis Test
The next process is to decide exactly what exactly is to be tested, how to test it and why it will be better than the current version.
Once a list of ideas is identified, they should be prioritized in terms of expected impact and difficulty of implementation. Then, how changing those elements might fix the problem you’re facing.
4. Run the Hypothesis Test
Create a variation based on your hypothesis from a UX perspective, A/B test it against the control, which is the original version. Then, randomly assign your users to either the control or variation of your experience. Their interaction with each experience is then measured and
compared to determine how each performs.
5. Analyze the Data Result
Once the test concludes, the test can be analyzed to see if there is any significant difference between how the two versions of the page performed. If the test succeeds, deploy the winning variation. If the test generates negative results or no results, draw insights from it, and implement these in subsequent tests.
6. Find new challengers for your champion:
The term “champion” and “challenger” in the A/B testing world means the current best option and new possibilities. When two or more variations compete and one is more successful, it’s called the champion. The champion can then be tested against other variations, which are called challengers. That test might provide a new champion, or retain the original champion.
After following the aforementioned procedures, a decision can be made as to whether or not the test case has fulfilled its objective.
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