Digital transformation means businesses must constantly test, experiment, and find new ways to stand out. This applies to E-Commerce websites and email marketing campaigns, too. An effective A/B testing strategies for E-Commerce websites can help you optimize your website, generate more sales and increase the number of returning visitors. Discover how you can use A/B testing to optimize your E-Commerce website and give it a competitive edge.
What is A/B Testing?
A/B testing is a type of experiment that helps you to figure out which version of a page, product, or message is more effective. In this process, two versions are created and the audiences are divided into two groups. One group sees version A, and the other sees version B. The version that converts better is then used to serve the entire audience.
Timing for A/B Testing Strategies for E-Commerce
Timing is crucial in all aspects of life, and A/B testing is no different. To get accurate results, it’s important to plan your test to match your customer’s behavior. Choosing the best time for your test depends on your customers’ habits. For example, if you’re trying to drive more traffic to your blog during the holiday season, you may have more success with your ads during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday periods.
Build a Habit of Continual Testing
A/B testing is a continuous process that becomes a habit when you have a process and schedule in place. A/B testing is done to test and optimize customer experience, messaging, calls to action, and layout. You can test your homepage, product page, checkout page, and even customer support page.
There is no magic formula for testing. However, there are a few guidelines to follow when you are starting out. First, define your goal. You need to find out what is the main metric you want to improve. Is it customer retention, sales, clicks, or conversions? You also need to identify your customer, what they want, and what they need. You can build your continual testing plan to meet these goals.
Decide on Your Conversion Goal Before Testing
It’s important to set a goal before you begin your testing. The goal can be related to one of these metrics - sales, customer retention, clicks, or conversions. Once you know what your goal is, you need to make sure that your experiments are relevant to your goal.
If your goal is to sell more products, then you can create variations of your landing page and product page to see which one generates more sales. It’s important to know that you don’t have to run a test for a long period of time to see results. Experiments that last for seven days are usually enough. However, if you’re testing for a longer period of time, then make sure to follow up on your test and analyze the results as soon as possible.
Know Your Website Visitors and Current Customers
Before you start to test anything, it’s important to know who your audience is. You should also know how you acquired your visitors and what your current customers want. It’s very rare that your first attempt at a landing page or product page will convert 100% of your visitors. It’s a process that takes time, feedback, and testing. You need to be patient and know that it will get better with time.
Plan the Layout and Copy You'll Test
Once you’ve decided what you want to test, you need to create two different variations of the experiment. You need to have a plan for each variation. For example, if you want to test the layout of your product page, you need to create two different versions. The first one should have the layout you have right now, and the second one should have a new layout. You need to make sure that both variations are exactly the same except for the layout.
When you create the variations, you need to ensure that they’re different enough to get accurate results. At the same time, they have to be similar enough so that you can make an accurate analysis of the results. You also need to be careful about not biasing either variation as you create them by changing too much at one time.
Make Informed Decisions With Benchmarks
During your testing period, you need to be aware of the benchmarks for your website. You need to know how many people are visiting your website, how many are clicking on your call to action, how many people are making a purchase, etc. You can use tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, or other analytics tools to track these metrics.
It’s important to know that you don’t have to wait for your experiment to end to collect the data. Instead, you can start collecting data as soon as you create the variations. That way, you can use the data to make more informed decisions, and it can also help you determine when your experiment is done.
Be Transparent With Your Audience
It’s important to be transparent with your audience during your testing period. Let them know that you’re testing new things, what you’re testing, and why you’re doing it. Don’t make the variations hidden. This can help you get valuable feedback, and it can also give you some insights into your customers. You might try one thing and find out that it doesn’t work. That’s okay. The important thing is that you’re testing and making adjustments.
Contact Us for Help With A/B Testing
Digital transformation is an ongoing process. An effective A/B testing strategies for E-Commerce websites can help you optimize your website, generate more sales, and increase the number of returning visitors. An E-Commerce website can benefit from A/B testing. You can use A/B testing to optimize your website and give it a competitive edge. It’s important to note that A/B testing is a continuous process. You need to test different elements of your website, such as the layout, copy, and CTAs. It’s also important to be patient and make adjustments based on the results of your experiment. KitelyTech can help. Contact us at (800) 274-2908 to get started.
