A/B Testing Tips for Home Brands

With A/B testing, you can find out if your customers like your online marketing strategies. More importantly, A/B testing can give you a clear impression of whether you have a better conversion rate than before. Remember, the average conversion rate for websites is 2.35%.

It's natural for any website or application owner to want higher conversion rates. With A/B testing, this can become a reality for you.

What Is A/B Testing?

A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a randomized experimentation process that pits two versions of a variable against each other to find out which yields better results. This marketing technique helps you determine whether your web page or application is effectively optimized to drive more traffic and ultimately increase revenue.

To run an A/B test, you need to observe two variations of the same element. For instance, you may use different headings on the same webpage content to find out which version generates more user engagement. A statistical analysis of the A/B test will show whether version A or B produced better results, depending on your predefined indicators.

Version A of the test refers to "control" while B refers to "variant." The version that significantly impacts your business metrics wins. Once you establish the winner, you can put more effort into that version for a better return on investment (ROI).

Basically, A/B testing eliminates the guesswork in conversion rate optimization (CRO) since website owners and developers can make data-driven decisions. Both quantitative and qualitative user insights are crucial when understanding customer satisfaction, user behavior, pain points, and engagement rate. Optimizing elements and landing pages can lead to eCommerce growth.

Why Is A/B Testing Essential?

Jeff Bezos once claimed, "Our success at Amazon is a function of how many experiments we do per year, per month, per week, per day." Mark Zuckerberg also explained, "One of the things I'm most proud of that is really key to our success is this testing framework … At any given point in time, there isn't just one version of Facebook running. There are probably 10,000."

Improving core conversion metrics in the eCommerce sector — such as funnel conversion rates, cost per acquisition, average order value, and customer retention — can help to boost your revenue. If you consistently run A/B tests, you can find out what works and doesn't work for your home decor website, Android app, or iPhone app. 

You may use A/B testing tools to analyze:

• New traffic

• Returning traffic

• Social media traffic

• Organic search traffic

• Paid traffic

There are many split tests that you can run to experiment on various A/B testing variables. For example, changing the call to action (CTA) on your detergent or air purifier landing pages could end up increasing conversions. The CTA could include a color scheme that stands out from the rest of the page to grab your users' attention.

Here are some of the benefits of A/B testing that can make you realize what makes your visitors tick.

Increasing Conversions

If you want higher conversions, you should consider implementing A/B testing. You may have to change your notification settings, images, anchor text, or even place elements in new locations for users to get to your landing page. The single most effective technique to boost conversion rates is using A/B testing.

Understanding Your Audience

You can gain valuable insights when you understand the types of messages, offers, or headlines your users warm up to. Baby boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z may respond completely differently to product giveaways on your eCommerce site. For instance, baby boomers may prefer products related to a larger home, while Gen Z may prefer temporary decor pieces that fit better in rentals or apartments.

Increasing Traffic

Testing your web page content, pop-ups, titles, and meta descriptions is a sure way of determining what your users prefer. Increasing traffic through A/B testing can help drive more engagement to your landing pages.

A/B testing can also help lower your eCommerce bounce rate, implement low-risk changes, and assist in redesigning your website or app. Ultimately, you can implement effective marketing strategies and dominate your niche.

What Is the Right Way To Run an A/B Test?

You can track your eCommerce analytics using A/B testing data. In fact, businesses that use optimization software may increase their conversions by 30%. Analytics data will show you how visitors to your landing pages are behaving, while qualitative data will report why they are doing so.

The following tips can help you run an effective A/B test to attain a better eCommerce ROI.

Keep It Simple

Testing one variable on your eCommerce website makes it possible to accurately isolate the element's impact. This is the only way to unearth whether one variable is responsible for the difference in CRO.

For instance, a furniture brand may run A/B tests on two versions of CTAs to find out the responses they invoke. "Don't miss this offer" and "Add to cart" may elicit completely different actions that could lead to completely different sales numbers.

Define Your Success Metrics

It's important to know how you will measure the success of your A/B test before running anything. What is your goal? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs)? 

Make sure you know what will determine the winner by choosing something that points to your eventual goal. This goal should be specific and measurable. Your testing hypothesis can be: If the "Add to cart and pay" button is the most visible element on the landing page, users will save more time while averaging one transaction at a go.

Make sure your research looks into the techniques and tools that could make your marketing campaign more effective.

Evaluate Your Dataset

The aim of an A/B test should be solving customer pain points and increasing revenue. Once you're done with thorough research, you can evaluate data from various variables and arrive at datasets that can lead to actionable steps. Indicators such as cart addition rates, click rates, and conversions per ad may highlight what the underlying problem for customers may be.

Remember, not solving visitor pain points may lead to bad user experiences. Visitors who have a hard time searching for toiletries on your eCommerce site may never come back or recommend their friends to shop on your page.

Nail Your Test Time

A/B testing doesn't happen overnight. It's a process that may take a few days or weeks, depending on the traffic you get. You may experience heavy traffic during Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) and lower traffic volumes during the summer slump.

An A/B test that involves several variants and requires 4000 conversions may take longer than a test with one variant that requires 200 conversions.

To get more precise results of eCommerce testing, you should run one test at a time. Running your test for a short time may skew the results, portraying statistically inaccurate data. The same also applies if you run tests for too long, which may translate to sample pollution.

Running a two-week test is a reasonable benchmark that allows you to gather enough data to determine your winner.

Use Tools To Help

A/B testing sounds complicated for many eCommerce store owners. Many business owners and marketers avoid A/B tests since it feels like too much work. There's also the notion that something might go wrong, especially if you don't know anything about eCommerce testing.

When running an A/B test, choosing the proper tool that offers precise quantitative website analytics can significantly improve your CRO and ROI. It can show you data regarding the pages that drive the most traffic, how many users visit your site, where users spend most of their time, and which pages have the highest bounce rates.

Luckily, there are A/B testing tools that you can use to run your tests. Dynamic Yield and Omniconvert are effective tools that can guide you during decision-making. They gather and analyze relevant data to help you realize the statistical significance of tweaks on your page. These tools make the job of optimizing a website or application much easier.

Is A/B Testing Really Relevant?

No one wants their competition to beat them. That's why you must conduct A/B tests on your landing pages. Data from these tests can help you gain a competitive advantage over others in your niche. You can learn about what your customers like as well as what they don't.

You may start by redesigning your landing page by changing elements like your site search bar to see how visitors will interact with it. If the revamped search bar increases engagement with your audience, keep it. Don't forget to test other elements, like your color scheme, pop-ups, forms, and content depth, to improve your conversions and revenue.

Begin your eCommerce testing soon enough to help you gain more conversions. Be thorough when planning and running your A/B tests to get accurate data that you can act upon. A/B testing can improve your bottom line while it enhances the user experience of your customers.