Is your amazing, fully SEO-compliant website not getting the traffic you want? Worse still, have your sales or lead conversions dipped from earlier levels? Nightmarish as it sounds, this can happen to the best of us. You want to improve SERP ratings and ROI for your business website without spending a fortune. An introduction to SEO A/B Split Testing is the answer.
Here’s a stat for you. Former US President Barack Obama got $60 million for his campaign using A/B testing alone. Whether it’s for mobile app testing or monitoring landing page performance, digital marketers choose A/B split testing as the most effective testing methodology.
So here’s a breakdown of all you need to know about A/B Split testing and why it’s crucial for your business growth:
What Is A/B Testing?
Put simply, A/B testing is a method of checking how your current web page is performing compared to a modified version of the same page shown to different groups of randomly selected users.
How Is A/B Testing Done?
To perform an A/B test (also known as a bucket test), you choose a webpage and create a second modified version of it. The edit can be as simple as a cosmetic variation like a color adjustment or the inclusion of video content. Or, it can entail a complete site overhaul.
One-half of your traffic is shown the original ‘control’ page while the other half is shown the ‘test’ variant. Data analytics are used to assess both groups’ engagement with the two pages and their experience is recorded. Based on these statistics, it can be seen whether the modifications have had a positive or negative impact on user experience and engagement.
Who Needs A/B Testing?
For most websites and particularly for mobile apps, A/B testing is a continuous testing process. Businesses like e-commerce that rely heavily on providing enhanced UI/UX to attract traffic have to constantly test and update their pages.
For B2B operations, A/B testing is an effective way to troubleshoot pain points on their site. The recorded data from mapping UI/UX can pinpoint the areas where they are losing sales leads. Based on this data, the company can modify its CTA or landing page content or even the overall navigation of its webpage or mobile app.
This kind of tailored user experience can have a significant impact on traffic and ultimately lead to increased conversions.
What Can You A/B test?
Ideally, any content that is on a business webpage or app can be A/B tested, including the following:
Headlines and Subheadings
A catchy headline is one of the first things a user reads on a webpage or app. Make sure the headline is short and self-explanatory. It’s a good idea to A/B test different font sizes, styles, and colors to see what works best. Sometimes, the stylistic elements get the better of us and businesses use fonts that are hard to read, losing them leads.
Body Content
The body of your webpage content should be clear and concise and relate to the page heading. It should aim to answer the focal questions succinctly. A/B testing here can show if your content has the right tone of voice to resonate with users and encourage conversions.
Formatting your content in subheadings also improves readability. A focused answer to a question can also help you achieve the prized spot of a featured snippet, further enhancing your SERP rankings.
Wording for PPC Ads
You can see a marked improvement in your click-through rates (CTR) by modifying the wording of your PPC ads. Simple tweaks in your ad text can double your CTR.
Email Subject Lines
What you write in the subject line of your email has a direct impact on whether or not they are opened. A sizeable 58% of businesses use A/B testing on their emails experimenting with variants like the tone of text, punctuations, and emojis.
CTA Buttons and Placement
A sizeable 80% of businesses employ A/B testing regarding their call to action (CTA) buttons. This is the exact point where leads become conversions. So, it’s not an exaggeration to say that CTAs are the most important elements of your page or app and need to be A/B tested thoroughly. Use different sizes and placements for your CTA banners to see what attracts users the most. Find innovative options like a dial by name CTA for that added boost.
Page Navigation
A well-structured, easy-to-navigate webpage or app screen increases user engagement. A/B test your website to ensure the navigation is smooth and matches user expectations. A good website planning template helps to address this straight off the bat. A fluid user experience will encourage traffic to your website and enhance your chances of conversion.
This list is by no means exhaustive and includes several other elements including meta titles and descriptions, landing pages, and URL structures.
How To Run an A/B Split Test
The fundamentals of running an A/B Split test are simple:
- Research pages to be tested – conduct thorough research to identify the areas that need to be optimized first. Use data analytics to identify pages with high drop-off rates. This is where your work begins.
- Set a goal – set a clearly defined goal or outcome for the testing process. An example would be an increase in email sign-ups
- Form hypotheses – after setting a goal, form hypotheses on why the variable in your A/B testing method might generate better results for your ROI. Prioritize the method based on its impact and ease of implementation.
- Create variations – make the necessary modification to the variant. This could be simple tweaks like font and image placement on your website or app or more extensive structural changes for improved navigation.
- Run the experiment – run your experiment and await the results. At this stage, any visitors to your website will be randomly directed to the control or variant page. Their user experience will be tracked and recorded.
- Assess results at the end of the experiment – the data analytics will show how the two versions fared and flag any differences in performance.
- Automate where you can – many tools such as cloud RPA are available to utilize for businesses looking to streamline and optimize processes such as these.
What Are the Challenges of A/B Testing?
A/B testing is not a foolproof method to guarantee an overnight spurt in traffic or conversions. Interestingly, only 1 in 8 SEO A/B tests yields real results. There are several reasons for this, including:
- Choosing the wrong pages to test – it’s a waste of time and resources to test pages that don’t impact conversions. Instead, focus on the pages that get maximum visits like your homepage, product section, and Contact Us page.
- Testing too many elements at once – it’s not a good idea to test too many elements at once. This is simply because you won’t know what made a change. Preferably, stick to changing any one element on an app or webpage and testing that with the control version. Continuous integration of changes on the variant may prove to be a hindrance.
- Test with the right traffic – it is important to get the right amount of traffic to run your test. Remember, if you have a sizeable in-flow of site visitors, your test can be concluded sooner.
To Conclude
A/B Split testing plays an integral part in boosting your AMP and SEO strategy. Whether you’re an E-commerce, B2B, or B2C enterprise, you need to constantly review and update your existing websites and mobile apps, to provide the best UI and UX.
Track user engagement to find out what works and what doesn’t. With A/B testing you can streamline your SEO strategy and make it go that much further.