The great advantage of developing digital marketing strategies through communication channels such as social networks, emails and blog posts is that the results and effectiveness can be measured. In digital, any strategy carried out can be compared with another. Even more so, if it is framed in a marketing plan with performance indicators that quantify the level of compliance with the objectives developed specifically for each strategy.
Some of these indicators strive to measure the opening and conversion rate that content receives, using A/B testing as a comparative technique. Below we invite you to learn more about this instrument and its importance in measuring the effectiveness of your inbound marketing strategies.
What is A/B testing?
A /B testing is a technique that is used to compare the results of two different versions of the same content, with the aim of measuring which of them is more efficient and meets the effects that you want to achieve. It involves creating and testing two ways (A and B) of designing, structuring and presenting elements within an email, ad, banner, title, color, CTA, blog post, landing page, etc.; to check which version receives greater receptivity and brings us closer to our objectives.
A/B tasting works as follows:
If it is an email, the target audience is segmented into two halves. The first half will receive version A and the second will receive version B. The difference between these two versions will be represented by a different variable. That is, there will be an element in common between both emails that will be presented and structured differently. For example, the subject of the emails can be a variable to modify in each test. The email that receives a higher opening rate will be the one with the most attractive subject, that is, it is the same audiences that determine which will be the best communication strategy to implement.
It is important to highlight that this type of test involves modifying only one variable per test and ending an evaluation time. Although we can carry out the A/B tests we want to achieve the perfect email or landing page, it is essential that we modify only one element for each test. Otherwise, we will not understand what change is affecting the results or why.
Furthermore, the time factor is extremely important. The test for both versions must begin and end at the same stipulated time. Equal conditions in A/B testing is vital to obtain accurate results without any external alteration. To know the importance of this technique, here is a list of some variables that you can measure in your A/B testing:
1. Calls to action:
CTAs start your conversion process and are what allow a visitor to your website to become a lead, that is, a new member of your database. In this sense, you can play with the words that accompany that call to action, their colors, shapes, sizes and location. Your CTAs should not only be present in your blog posts and social networks, email marketing recommends that we also use them in emails as a button that motivates your sales opportunities to learn more information about your company, its services and products.
2. Headlines and description bodies:
Analyzing your buyer personas will allow you to have an idea of which keywords and phrases you should use in the titles and description bodies of your web articles and emails. Doing an A/B test for these variables would require building different types of messages and comparing two at a time, depending on the content offer you are providing. Remember that your messages must relate to the type of language your potential buyers use.
3. The extension of a form and types of fields:
If the CTAs start the conversion process, the landing pages define its essence. These are pages, to which your visitors land, to provide their data in exchange for a content offer that is attractive to them and provides value. Evaluating the extension of your forms and field types is important to know your conversion rate, that is, the number of visitors who have become leads. Thanks to A/B testing you will be able to determine which information fields (such as name, email, country of residence, etc.) that your visitors are most interested in filling out and exactly the size of the most appropriate form for your readers.
4. The visual aesthetics of graphic content (images, videos, infographics):
The audiovisual content that is incorporated into your social networks, web pages, emails and blog posts can also be elements that can be measured by A/B testing. You can know the effectiveness of one graphic content over another, creating two versions that are represented by different aesthetics. Here you can play with the color palette, the shape of the illustrations, the typography, the placement of texts and images. On social networks, these A/B tests achieve greater prominence, since audiovisual content is what is consumed the most on these platforms.
In short, the development of the digital world offers new situations and perspectives to multiply the possibilities of carrying out A/B tests and measuring their results. This tool allows us to quantify, through KPIs, the efficiency of our inbound marketing strategies, that is, it allows us to know exactly which elements are working within the methodology and which are not, their main reasons (why the origin is known). of said strategy) and the alternatives that, in turn, can arise from the tests carried out. Doing A/B testing is not a complicated process; on the contrary, anyone could do it since it is only a matter of comparing two different ways of achieving the same objective.
