A/B Testing – The 5 Times when you definitely must do it

The world is in need of more A/B testing. The reason is A/B testing is generally the successful way for raising conversion rates. Sadly, as stated by Ecoconsultancy, A/B testing is being done by measly 38% of companies. Evidently, it is a problem.

What is being proposed in this article are the 5 times when one certainly must go for A/B testing. The proposed 5 times of A/B testing are not elective. Actually they are indispensable.

Within the coming six months, you will be facing some of these times; and when you will, you will be happy and thankful to me for reading this article.

 

 

1. When you plan for redesigning your website, go for A/B testing.

In the world of online, redesigning a website is an element of life. Sorry to say, website designs may bring down traffic as well as conversion rates.

For the developer and designer, website redesigning is not a very rare happening; rather it happens every other day. It is apocalyptic for the SEO and CRO. SEO recoils since a redesign brings about 404s eruption, robots.txts, link backs, plummeting rank, along with a hoard of other awful things which I should not mention, for it may give you nightmares.

CROs are afraid of redesigns as conversions begin tanking, revenue starts dropping like ice cream cones in a toddler’s hands. You feel that you should be face palming your whole life.

Prior to the redesign, users were perfectly knowledgeable about the place to go, the link to click, and how to make a conversion. All of a sudden, they humiliate, and it seems like someone has swapped all their furniture. They will be beating their shins on the computer table and stumbling on the sofa rather than making conversions. It is similar to my mother as Facebook made changes all over again.

 

Why do you redesign your site?

There are a lot of bad reasons for redesigning a website, and very few reasons are good. Here I am telling you that the majority of reasons to redesign a website are bad. Let me tell you this thing specifically.

Bad reasons for redesigning your site: The following is a list of reasons for which a company plans to redesign their website.

• They redesigned it two years ago. That feels like forty years in Internet years.
• It has got an outdated look.
• In the budget there is a line item of ‘redesign’.
• The developers and designers are suffering from boredom.
• It was thought to be a good idea.
• The charming design intern persuaded the VP of Marketing.
• The old website colour scheme was disliked by the CEO.
• A certain over- enthusiastic usability designer took 10 cups of coffee in the morning.
• And so on.

Good reasons for redesigning your site: Good reasons for redesigning your site are only three.

• You want improvement in traffic.
• You want improvement in conversions
• You want improvement in usability.

The above three reasons form an awesome cycle. Greater traffic helps in improving conversions. Enhanced usability also increases conversions. Superior usability enhances traffic as well owing to SERP CTRs and lower rate of bouncing that sequentially elevates conversion rates that too bring about higher rating of usability that enhances traffic, etc.

 

CONVERSIONS

What type of ‘redesigns’ of websites are we considering?

A ‘redesign’ ranges from a tweak of colour scheme to a whole CMS-and-up refurbishment. When should you consider launching A/B testing with dynamism? The following are the kinds of redesign which need A/B testing.

• When you make changes in the organization or architecture of your website.
• When you do rebranding.
• When you make substantial amounts of addition or subtraction in copy.
• When you make considerable numbers of addition or subtraction of pages.
• When you change a page in the funnel of conversion.
• When you make any change on any landing page.

 

Leave-taking Advice

Three precious pieces of advice will be shared on closure of this section.

• It you are compelled to redesign, do A/B as well as usability testing prior to planning of the redesign. This data should be used as the starting point for your website redesigning. The three-branched objective of your website redesign is to enhance traffic, usability, and conversions. If your efforts to redesign do not mean to achieve any one of the goals in the cycle of awesomeness, you do not have to do it. If you do wish to achieve any one of the three goals, then you require hard data for making ultimate plans on how it is going to come about.
• After doing redesign, you must compare your traffic numbers with your conversion rates. According to Bill Ross of LinchpinSEO.com, traffic numbers might be the easiest to analyze at first, but conversion should also be looked at, as it might be that you are getting slightly less traffic, but it is converting at a much higher level, thus offsetting the traffic loss. He raises a good point of the variation between traffic and conversion. You can lose a little bit in one area as long as you gain equally in another area.
• After you finish redesigning, set free a spell of A/B testing. As your glittery new website is up and running, it is time to test the heck out of it. Hold back your analytical passions, and only run one test at a time. Moreover, you should exercise patience and keep each test running for at least two weeks.

2. Just go for A/B testing; when you make changes in a service, a plug-in, or a feature.

Sometimes, even many a time, you will require changing a feature on your website. It is time to test when you do.

Specifically, you should do A/B testing when the changes have an effect on customer data or the process of purchasing. The following are a few possibilities.

Shopping cart service or plug-in

Your shopping cart service is an exceedingly sensitive part of your website. This is where money changes hands, where emotions are high, and where you can potentially lose a violent flow of traffic. Every tweak to the shopping cart will create a compensatory shift in conversions. Make sure you test these conversions to find out particularly where, how, and why your conversions may be diminishing or enhancing.

You wish to have a shopping cart which will best advance your conversion goals. If you try one shopping cart service that has 50% abandonment, and another with 60% abandonment, at least you will know about this and can take action.

 

Email service providers or forms

One of most significant conversions is email signups. For other consultants, content marketers, or Saas businesses, email signup conversions are like the clutch. If you change your email provider, you will require to doing some A/B testing on the signup landing page or whatever capturing form you use.

The majority of quality email services have their own custom signup pages. Some are crap. Some are awesome. If you make a switch and find that you are converting at 4% as opposed to your previous 8%, you know that something has gone very wrong.

You are encouraged to test a range of services. If you use dozens of different forms, they may vary at converting traffic into email subscriptions from 1% to 50%.

 

3. Go for A/B testing when you change prices.

Conversion optimization is one of the quickest ways to increase revenue. Another quick way to raising revenue is to change your price. But it comes with risks. You can either enhance your revenue or shatter it with a price change.

 

4. Go for A/B testing when you think your conversion rates might be screwed.

The only sure data is going to come from A/B tests. If you read information regarding what your average conversion rate is supposed to be, or you hear about miraculous conversion increases, or just have a sneaking suspicion that your rates are off, it is time to test.

Do not make any changes on your site based on someone else’s A/B test. That is like taking someone else’s eyeglass prescription and having glasses made for you. It does not work that way.

You do your own testing to get your own results. Then you take action.

 

5. Go for A/B testing when you just want to raise revenue.

If you want to raise your revenue, then you need to A/B test. It is just that simple. A/B testing is at the core of conversion optimization. You may raise your conversion rates by sheer luck. But that is about as likely as winning the lottery. If you want something like that, then make A/B test.

The only way to make powerful, effective and informed decisions is to test. Target an area, make hypothesis and test it.

In year alone, Google conducted 7,000 A/B tests. A/B testing is practically responsible for Obama’s massive fundraising of $60,000,000. A/B testing is the path to success.

 

CONCLUSION

You will not be successful on accident. You will be successful through A/B testing.

If your business is faced with any of the situations above, there is only one response – A/B test.