Anyone can easily use AB testing to get better marketing results. AB testing is the art of showing different variations of an ad, email or webpage, to different people, and measuring which variation works best.
AB testing is the heart and soul of improving your marketing results. It is easy to learn and is free to implement if you use one of the free tools available.
This process requires statistical calculations and careful control over which variations the prospects see.
Most advertising platforms support AB testing.
Only some email providers support AB testing. (ActiveCampaign does).
Special software is required for testing your webpages (see below for paid and free options).
Other related terms you’ll hear include split-testing, split-run testing, multivariate testing… all of these accomplish the same objectives. Multivariate is more complex, and allows you to test a multitude of variables at the same time, but the idea is the same.
AB testing is possibly the most important marketing skill you will ever learn. If you have a website up and running right now, do not leave this section without setting up an AB test on your site.
I teach a name-selection methodology to my marketing students, (who are still available for hire). The selection process is the same one we use to choose the best advertisement messages.
Here are quick, step-by-step instructions:
- Define the market which you are targeting. The narrower the definition, the better.
- Narrow your list of test variations down to a small number. i.e. 2-3 or perhaps 4 at the most, especially if you are just getting started. The more variations you have, the larger the audience you’ll need to get accurate results.
- Setup an AB market test, prompting the chosen target audience to take an action off an advertisement, landing page or email message. The individuals in the audience must see only one variation of the ad, landing page or email message, and must then be prompted to take an action. The positive actions indicate resonance and affinity, and thus imply the ‘best’ variation.