By Michaleen Craig
Internet Marketing Strategist

Internet Marketing is a broad term. The Internet Marketing business model revolves around the concept of turning users into conversions. In an effort to improve conversions, Internet Marketing companies employ A/B Testing.

What is A/B Testing?
With regard to Internet Marketing, A/B Testing is a method of comparing two versions of a web page by altering various page elements and randomly and simultaneously presenting them to visitors. Site owners leverage A/B Testing to improve conversion rates.

What is a conversion rate?
To start, imagine you are the owner of a website that sells shoes. If you want to know what your conversion rate is, you could measure how many visitors come to your site versus how many of those visitors buy shoes from your web site.

What can you test for with an A/B test?
There are several components that site owners can manipulate in A/B Testing. At MicroArts, we consider everything within the page, but major components we consider include:

• Headline – Tell users exactly what they can get, clearly state benefits. A clear and direct headline should be the first thing the user notices upon viewing the page.
• Promo – What is the call-to-action (CTA) that prompts your visitors to act (purchase, sign up, opt in, download, etc.)?
• Copy – Usually we focus on the first sentence of the first paragraph. Compelling benefit-focused copy captures a visitor’s attention, engaging them to continue reading.
• Benefits – List your benefits in order of importance, this order could be determined by your product’s value hierarchy to the target market.
• Imagery – Clearly portray the biggest benefit of your product. Placement is important. Add powerful captions (when necessary) and make appropriate images clickable to the order / sign-up page. Imagery includes buttons. Attracting attention is what the main action buttons are all about.

Do I have to run my A/B testing concurrently?
Yes! It is important to conduct A/B Testing simultaneously. Factors such as the state of the economy, competitor activity and even the news can affect your findings. Testing on Monday will yield different results than testing on Saturday.

How long should I run my A/B testing?
There is no one answer on how long you should run an A/B test. For budgetary purposes, you can set an audience size at the onset … but you may find that you see a clear trend early in the testing OR you may find that you aren’t seeing enough of a trend to determine a clear winner. Additionally, what happens if, at the end of a pre-determined time, you still don’t see a trend? At MicroArts, it is our experience that you need to return to the drawing board and re-run the test from the beginning. In order to be most-effective, A/B testing needs to show irrefutable evidence. Otherwise, why change anything?

This is just the beginning of A/B testing. We love about A/B testing because we can glean trends that are common, regardless of industry. It makes our work that much stronger when we can kickoff website designs with our proven “Best Practices” already locked and loaded!

Is your site in need of A/B testing? Contact MicroArts to schedule a time to review our Internet Marketing ROI presentation.