What is A/B Testing and why should you do them?

Web design and e-commerce development have numerous dilemmas: which font works best, what wording will encourage purchases the most, and what is the most effective way to shorten the purchasing path? The multitude of options can pose challenges for designers and businesses alike. How do you choose the best solution? How will our clients react to such changes? Of course, applying best design practices is a good starting point, but it may only sometimes help answer all the questions. Design choices can positively impact revenues.

So, what should we do? Base decisions on solid data.

Where to obtain it? It’s best to conduct A/B tests and determine which solution performs better.

What are A/B Tests?

A/B tests in user interface (UI) design allow testing different variations of the interface. Conducting A/B tests involves presenting one group of users with version “A” of the interface while another group receives version “B.” The results of both groups are then compared to determine which version of the interface outperformed the other based on specified criteria.

Why Conduct A/B Tests?

1. Increase Conversion Rates: Testing variations of forms, page content, etc., help choose the best version that increases the conversion rate, whether the goal is lead generation or product sales.
2. Decrease Bounce Rates: A well-designed landing page tailored to user needs can significantly reduce bounce rates. A/B test results help select the optimal solution.
3. Boost User Engagement: Content quality and website ergonomics significantly impact user satisfaction. Testing different versions of headlines, descriptions, call-to-action (CTA) buttons, and page layout, followed by optimization based on A/B test results, contributes to increased user time spent on the site.
4. Minimize Time and Risk of Mistaken Decisions: Changes based on A/B test data reduce the time needed for experiments and minimize the risk of making incorrect decisions regarding website changes.
5. Continuous Improvement: A/B tests can be conducted continuously, allowing ongoing refinement of the project or product based on test results.

What Can You Test in A/B Tests?

A/B tests can be used to examine prototypes during product development and support the creation of marketing and promotional strategies. They are effective for small and large decisions impacting the organization’s financial outcomes. A/B tests are valuable when you already have a hypothesis based on prior research and want to confirm it.

In this research method, there are single-variant tests and multi-variant tests. Single-variant tests compare two variants of a given element, such as comparing a red button to a blue one. On the other hand, multi-variant tests can simultaneously compare more than two variants of a button, for example, red, blue, green, and white (which may also differ in headlines, like “Check This” and “See More”). From our perspective, it’s often more straightforward to use single-variant tests as they allow for easier tracking of test results and subsequent decision-making.

Consider testing elements that will significantly impact the user experience or areas where you lack sufficient data to understand user behaviour or emotions.

Some examples of A/B test elements include:

• Page element layout
• Order
• Copywriting, including voice and tone, CTA, sentences vs. questions
• Icons
• Buttons, including size, color, shape, location, hyperlinks vs. buttons
• Fonts
• Colours, including button and background colours
• Images, including illustrations vs. photographs
• People in images: gender, age, groups of people, individual persons
• Individual project-related changes

How to Conduct A/B Tests?

1.Define the Goal: Before conducting a test, know why you’re doing it. Defining the goal of A/B tests helps identify which element of the site you want to study. Ensure that versions A and B are “tracked” and analyzed using tools like Google Analytics or Google Optimize for quantitative assessment.

Examples of goals:

• Improve the conversion rate for newsletter sign-ups.
• Obtain more responses to a form.
• Increase the number of shares.     

2.Specify Testable Elements: Consider what aspect of the project you can change to move closer to your goal. Before starting tests, define the test result with your team, signifying “success” for a particular version.

Examples:

• Move the newsletter sign-up field to the centre of blog posts.
• Reduce the number of questions in a form.
• Increase the size of social media sharing buttons.

3.Develop Hypotheses: Formulate hypotheses to help answer your questions and create test versions. This ensures the validity of the tests and allows critical consideration of your ideas. Try to condense your hypothesis into a single sentence.

Examples:

• Moving the newsletter sign-up field to the centre of the blog will increase newsletter sign-ups.
• Reducing the number of questions in the form will increase the number of completed forms.
• I believe that increasing the size of the sharing button will increase shares because they will become more accessible and visible.

4.Create Version B: To conduct an A/B test, prepare two versions of a single variable (button colour, CTA, etc.). Determine the target audience to obtain statistically significant results. Randomly expose half of the target group to version A and the other half to version B.

5.Results Analysis: When results are available, analyze the data obtained and select a clear winner. If version B achieves the established effectiveness level and confirms your hypothesis, you can implement it for all users (without A/B versions). If the hypothesis is debunked, stick with the original version A or create and test a new hypothesis. Consider using other research methods to supplement data. Inaccurate analysis of test results can negate the entire research process.

Summary

A/B testing methodology is technical. A good understanding of statistics and specialized technical or programming knowledge (or collaboration with a programming team) may be essential to construct such a test. Nevertheless, it is a direct, relatively simple, fast, and cost-effective method. It allows comparing two alternative versions of a product at minimal cost and obtaining satisfying results based on tests conducted by real users. However, only some elements of a site or every detail can be tested using A/B tests. Therefore, consider using other complementary research methods in conjunction with A/B tests.

We are happy to assist you in conducting A/B tests to optimize your users’ experiences. A/B tests can significantly improve the effectiveness of your website or application, but they require careful planning and monitoring, which our specialists at Media4U can guarantee.

If you are interested in conducting such tests, contact us now, and we will help you refine your site and achieve better results.