When asked about the source of his genius, Albert Einstein said, “I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am,” he told the Saturday Evening Post in 1929.
Einstein was on to something, but he also had years to ponder his theories. When it comes to knowing what’s working and what’s not for your content marketing, you don’t have years to think about it. Intuition is a poor substitute for data. If you’re experiencing a lack of qualified leads, low customer engagement, and leaks in your conversion funnel, it’s time to use quantitative data to determine where you can improve. This is where A/B testing can help.
Why A/B Test
A/B testing provides you with accurate insights to improve your content marketing efforts and find the best path forward. Using data-driven decisions, you can make changes that make your content marketing more informed and meaningful to deliver greater digital marketing ROI.
What is A/B testing
A/B testing is a marketing experiment where 2 (sometimes 3) different versions of a campaign or a piece of content are tested on your audience to discern which performs better—Version A shown to some of your audience or Version B shown to another.
With A/B testing, you can learn a lot about your audience’s behavior, preferences, and what piques their interest by how they react to each version.
Version A
Version B
In this example, Version A and Version B have two major differences—the subject lines are different (one is playful and the other professional) and the placement of the video.
What you can A/B test
You can A/B test anything your target audience sees from your business. Whether using it to optimize any online marketing content you create, determine the optimal length of content, or the best time to publish it, A/B testing helps you understand what your audience finds most engaging.
Here are the most common ways to utilize A/B testing:
Emails
- Customize your message to your audience/segmenting lists
- Subject line copy
- Copy and imagery placement
- Call-to-action (CTA) and links at the end
Marketing tip: Getting your email opened is a key first step to getting customers to engage with you. Modifying your subject lines from professional to playful, including emojis, asking questions, or personalizing them can provide invaluable insights into your audience’s preferences.
Website
- Design elements and placement
- Copy length and placement
- CTA copy and placement
Social media and banner ads
- Design elements
- Copy topic and headline content
- CTA copy and placement
Marketing tip: When starting out, it’s best to test 3 ads that link to one landing page. Each ad should reflect your message going from broad to narrow in scope—example: Cybersecurity (broad), Cybersecurity for remote workforce (less broad), Multifactor Authentication for remote workforce (narrow).
Landing pages
- Design elements and placement
- Copy length and placement
- CTA copy and placement
- Downloadable content
Social media posts
- Design elements and placement
- Copy content, length, and placement
- CTA and offering
- Social scheduling
Marketing tip: When it comes to A/B testing, don’t think you have to create 2 of everything. Subtle changes, such as a headline or a CTA message can provide a lot of insight.
Blogs
- Copy content, tone, and length
- Design elements and placement
Call to action
- Copy
- Location on the page
- Color and design
Marketing tip: Try different avenues for your audience to contact you in each test. Don’t just lead them all to a “Contact Us” page or provide your email. Try your email on one, contact us on the next, and your phone number on the third—if possible, tell them to text you too.
Forms and surveys
- Phrasing of questions and input fields
- Question order
- Design and color
- Incentive to respond
How A/B testing benefits your marketing efforts
Using the results you discover from your A/B testing, you can improve your content, use your resources more effectively, learn how to best engage with your current audience, and garner more attention from prospective net-new customers.
Maximize engagement
Reach your audience by understanding how and when they want to engage and deliver content that makes them take notice.
Increase open and click-through rates
Optimize every piece of content you create for more clicks and a lower bounce rate.
Quickly determine what works and what doesn’t
Stop relying on your gut and instead focus on data-driven statistics to deliver results.
Boost social media impressions and engagement
Know exactly what your audience is looking for when it comes to your business and use that to generate leads.
Improve website ROI
Increase conversions by making the most of your existing traffic without having to spend more on acquiring new traffic.
Optimize all your marketing efforts
This is where working smarter, not harder, comes into play. Optimize the use of your resources and spend and get more bang for every buck.
Elevate your marketing
With decades of combined marketing and content creation expertise, our team can help you make the best decisions when it comes to A/B testing—from what to test to how to test.
