A/B testing is important to online marketing. You hear this a lot, but what does it mean? What is A/B testing? Why is it important to do A/B testing? What should I test, exactly?

This article will help answer these questions and provide some guidance moving forward for the small business entrepreneur/marketer.

What is A/B testing?

A/B testing (also called split testing) involves using two versions of an ad or landing page or other marketing piece to be shown to your target audience in order to determine what is more effective. The first piece (A) is your control, while the second piece (B) is your test.

Why is it important to do A/B testing?

If you are not testing your marketing efforts you could easily be missing out leads because your marketing is not optimized for the highest conversion rate you can get. Minor differences in your message can be huge. How can you ensure that you are getting the highest conversion rates? By testing and optimizing based on the results of your research.

Example: Bob sells bottled water at a local gym on the weekend and displays them in straight rows on a counter top. Usually he will sell 100 bottles over a weekend. A friend tells Bob about A/B testing and he decides to give it a chance. The following weekend, he arranges them in a triangle configuration (like bowling pins) and finds that he sold 140 bottles. By changing the display people were more compelled to buy water and sales increased by 40%.

The same approach should be used with your landing pages and other marketing pieces in order to get the best results. Little changes can have a BIG effect.

What should I test, exactly?

For the rest of this article I will refer to landing pages, but the same principals apply to any marketing message.

It is important that when conducting these tests that only one element is different between the two versions, otherwise you don’t know for sure what is responsible for the difference responses.

There are a lot of elements of your landing page that you could consider testing, but there are 3 items that have proven to move the needle much more than anything else and should absolutely be used in any A/B tests.

1. A/B Test CTA Button

The CTA (Call To Action) button is the button that your visitor clicks to go to your conversion page.

There are different elements to the CTA button you will want to test.

• Phrasing of the Button
  Which words are used on the button such as ‘Free Trial” ‘Start your 10-day trial” ‘Start my 10-day trial”. Some phrases can bring much better results than others. So it is important to get this right. You want this to be intuitive and inviting, so ask yourself if the phrase is clear and descriptive enough or compelling enough so people want to click and know what to expect when they do.
• Placement of the Button
  Where the button appears on the page can be the difference between conversion or not. There is strong evidence that the CTA should appear ‘above the fold”(the page you see without scrolling down). Also you want it to appear in a place your eye is drawn to. The position also needs to make sense to the reader.
• Color of the Button
  Think about your target and consider which colors the are likely to respond to. Do you match your brand colors? Do you use complementary colors to your branding colors? Do you appeal to mostly female buyers? Is there a color they prefer? Consider the button color, as well as the text color.

2. A/B Test Images

The images you use on your landing page should communicate your message. They are especially effective when they clarify concepts that may be difficult to describe clearly in the text of your page.

The use of the correct image engages the reader, while the wrong images could turn them away. That is why it is important to A/B test the images that you use.

3. A/B Test Headlines

The way you phrase your headline can absolutely make or break your landing page. Your headline should be strong and clear and encourage the reader to learn more.

However, subtle differences in the wording can influence which group of readers you are attracting to your article. You want to make sure your target is who you attract.

For example, ‘Schedule your free strategy session” or ‘Schedule your free consultation” could have different responses. Your ideal buyer might like strategy session more than consultation. When testing headlines you need to have a deep understanding of your product or service and who is buying it.