When it comes to marketing, brainstorming and conceptualizing are important to find out what effective approach, design or strategy you’re going to use to promote your company or business. Marketing is a very challenging task especially on the internet. There are hundreds of companies and businesses with the same services or products being offered. You need to make sure that you standout and reach as many people as possible.
One of the factors that will help when it comes to internet marketing is the design and visual impact your material has to the viewers. A/B testing is one effective and proven way to measure which marketing material is more effective or which of the materials would people prefer. In A/B testing, there are two version of a piece of content. It may be a landing page, a call-to-action or an email marketing material. Both versions are being run at the same time using a software to measure which one performs better. This will help your company or business improve its online presence.
Identify The Elements
When applying A/B Testing, it is important to identify what is/are the element/s you want to test on a certain marketing material. For example you have a design, and you want to know which one is more effective, the one with a green, blue or red background color? Or maybe you want to know if a 25% discount headline more effective? Or the one with a $5 dollar discount? You may also consider two materials with different layout or font size or color. There are many elements that can contribute to its effectiveness. Many tests fail because of unclear or vague reasons for testing the materials. As long as you know what you want to test, then you’re on the right track.
A/B Testing: Call-to-Action
- Headline: This is usually the first thing a viewer sees on your material. So the impact it has on the viewer is important. It is good to try two different headlines in order to identify which headline can attract people more to click the material. Use different “power words” you can use to draw people to click on your material.
- Photos and Images: Test different photos on your materials. If you are promoting a product, try on one version a photo of the product and a photo with someone using the product on the second version. These can actually have different impact to people. When viewers see someone using the product on the photo, it might affect how they think of the product, because they saw someone using it as compared to just the photo of the product.
- Text length: When a viewer sees a design with too many words, will he or she more likely to ignore it? Or will it make them read through? Should you choose to go straight to the point or explain it to help them understand? Testing materials with different text length would be a good idea. The two versions should have the same thought and idea, just different text length.
A/B Testing: Landing Pages
When conducting A/B testing on landing pages, the best advice is to test two versions with different layout to determine which one is most appealing or effective. The layout can influence how people perceive or think. Is it more effective if the image is on the right side or left? Would it be better if the fill out field is place on the upper half of the page or lower half? Experiment on two version with different layouts to identify which one is more appealing and pleasing to the eyes.
A/B Testing: Email Marketing
When it comes to A/B testing emails, it is best to try two different subject lines. The subject line can very much influence the recipient’s decision on whether or not he or she should open the email. Try short and long subject lines. Also, you can try using different sender name. You can choose to use the name of your company/business or use the name of one of your marketing staff. Knowing where the email is from can also influence a recipient’s decision to open it or not. So in order to prove this theory, you can try one version where the sender uses the company or business’ name and try one with your marketing staff’s name.
