Why A/B Testing Your Marketing Copy and Creative Work is Crucial

By: Charlie Fuentes

What is A/B Testing?

A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of a web page or app against each other. The goal is to determine which one performs better on specified key metrics such as clicks, downloads or purchases.

Two or more variants of a page are shown to users at random. Statistical analysis is used to determine which variation performs better for a given conversion goal.

Marketing Copy under the observation of A/B Testing

Optimizing the copy on your website and the design of your website are both equally important. Especially, when the primary goal of the site is to convert visitors. A pretty design may gain some attention but if you really want to acquire new customers, you need to optimize the text on your site to instill trust in visitors and make them want to purchase from you.

There is no set equation for developing the perfect content. What works for one company or product may not work at all with other companies. Yet, what will always work is maintaining rich relevant copy.

Determining topics/headlines that are capable of capturing an audience

If your product is mainly used during the summer time, rather than in the wintertime you need to promote benefits for use of the product during the cold winter. Your headline might read, “Need to get away? …When traveling to (insert tropical location) make sure to use (product name).”

In the case of writing about a company, your content should relate to the signs of the times. Perhaps you’ll find yourself writing in response to the ever-changing stock market. Maybe the solution is to write about your business/company under a change in policy or government tax.

This says to your customer, “I’m not just throwing slogans and trying to make you buy.” By listening to your audience and sharing common interests or concerns, you can potentially own or dominate a market. Making your target audience feel as if their needs are being met and that you actually understand them is more powerful than promoting a good product or profitable company.

Writing the best possible content.

So you think you got it? …You’re a genius writer and now that you understand the concept of A/B testing you’re ready to write a blog or update the content on your website every month, right? …Well, it’s not that easy! While the motivation is great and the inspiration is spewing, your article, blog or web copy still needs to be pleasant to read, visually appealing, and something that people will want to share. It’s not like reading the Sunday paper. When information is posted on the web it’s automatically enrolled in a competition against the world.

Known factors that can determine the relevance of your page:

How many minutes a person spends reading your page.
Whether or not they backed out of your page.
Did they purchase? (i.e. downloads)
Did they hit a like or share button? (i.e. clicks)

All these factors determine whether or not you have the best possible content and/or captured your audience. If you are achieving positive results with these factors, then your conversion rate should be high. What web score are you aiming for? Still feeling confident about writing for the web?

Creative work under the observation of A/B testing

Another web element to test includes how the ads look (color, photos, graphics). Make sure the images you use are always in direct correlation to your sales efforts or main topic. Charts, graphs, and spreadsheets can sometimes be difficult to understand which could lead to a frustrated viewer. Images can sometimes be offensive or just not pleasant to look at. Testing such elements, either by survey or focus group, can provide you with customer insight invaluable to the positioning of your brand.

The downfall of creating in a vacuum

It’s hard to believe that A/B testing didn’t really exist before the turn of the 21st century. People would make their best guess and launch ads, websites, and other products without testing actual designs. Now you can use surveys and other A/B testing methodologies to create the most effective advertising before you start spending your precious media budget.

The value of revising design and analyzing color

Build trust by making the design relevant to the target audience. To do this, consider the types of images you are using. Would your audience share them to their circle of influence? Also, don’t overlook color. Not every target audience enjoys or is impacted by the same color. Color can be a major influencer of a visitor’s behaviors on a website and even a basic understanding should be established when making design decisions. Color is a versatile tool in design since it can assist in achieving a range of goals.

(Ref: 1)

For example, contrasting colors can be used to increase user click through rates. Consider the color of buttons on successful landing pages. (Ref: 1) Often buttons are bright and in contrast to its background color. Which button are you more favorable to click?

In addition to influencing clicks, color can be used to create a visual path; an example would be a background gradient that fades down the page, leading the visitor to scroll. As my last tip, I’d like to encourage you all to attempt to include faces on your website when possible, they help create a feeling of safety and familiarity.

This picture to the left is my picture. I hope after reading this blog that I’ve made you feel comfortable and that you’ve found the information on here useful. If you did, visit this page periodically as I do practice what I preach. Updating the contents of this blog is done on a weekly basis. If you have any questions or would like to discuss these topics in further detail feel free to email me at: charlie.print@gmail.com.