What is A/B Testing?
A/B testing (which is also sometimes known as split testing or bucket testing) allows you to compare the performance of two versions of a web page or app to see which one performs better for a defined success metric or conversion. Visitors are randomly shown two or more variants of a page or app and the one that produces the best conversion rate is declared the winner.
Silence the HiPPO!
By running an AB test that directly compares a variation against a current experience it allows you to get data driven answers about proposed about changes to your website or app, and to then quantify the results of that change.
It means that decisions can be data-driven rather than formed by personal opinion or guesswork. It also reduces the effect often know as the HiPPO problem – it’s that time when the “Highest Paid Person’s Opinion” is quoted as fact and leads the direction for UX and UI decisions.
In More Detail: How A/B Testing Works
Once you have identified the page or app screen that you want to target, you create a variation that alters elements on that page. This can range from a button colour, to headline text and page layout. Once the variation or challenger is ready, 50% of traffic is sent to the original version and the rest is sent to the new version.
The software that is used to create the test then starts to gather data about each variation and analyses it. The ongoing results can be viewed in an analytics dashboard which will display both a visual representation of the results as well as a statistical recommendation about the test.
Why You Should be A/B Testing
You get traffic, lots of it. But you aren’t getting the sort of results you want. You can spend a fortune acquiring traffic and want to make the most out of every visitor. Conversion rate optimisation can produce strong ROI, generating significant increases in sales and user engagement.
What can you A/B test?
There isn’t much you can’t A/B test.
Headlines, CTAs, images, testimonials, security messaging, the hero image – they are all candidates for testing and can all yield great results. Basically, anything you can change can be tested. Through analysis and observing user behaviour you can identify which of these elements are likely to have the biggest impact on different sections of your website or app.
Kraken Data is software agnostic, we work with your A/B testing software of choice. Amoungst the ones we support and recommend are:
