If you have never heard of A / B testing, this is a good opportunity to find out what it is and understand the importance of experimenting during a social advertising campaign. Let’s see what exactly it consists of.
What is an A / B test
It is a way to test marketing campaigns on social media platforms. To verify how effective an advertisement really is we will rely on the A / B test . When we publish a sponsored post – model A – we take the first step of experimentation. In parallel, we will create an alternative sponsorship – model B – as a variant to compare which of the two versions will achieve the best performance . This allows you to understand what works best on a particular target audience and adjust the shot for better results. After the test, the data obtained will give a correct view of how to proceed to implement an effective strategy to achieve the business objective.
How to do an A / B test
The first step to collect data and correctly measure the KPIs – key performance indicators – is to identify the objective of the campaign: for example, to get more subscribers to the newsletter, to increase sales or visits to the site; whatever it is, you need to have clear metrics to analyze . After that, it is possible to choose the elements to be modified for the test and monitor the indicators.
It is necessary to select the target audience in quantitative terms, i.e. on how many people finder models will be tested? A larger statistical sample will give accurate data to analyze for testing purposes. The duration of the A / B testing is another factor to consider. It must be established at the outset, although it may undergo variations because of choices made during testing. Timing is also of crucial importance: for example, if we perform the test at certain times of the year – during holidays or cyber Monday – it will detect data that in other periods could be dissimilar. It should be considered whether to reproduce the test with the same variants in several periods.
What to test
The A / B test can be performed on any element: design, text, title, color or font of the call-to-action button, age and gender of the target, geographical area … All these elements can be modified for testing to verify their effectiveness with respect to the main objective. Minor variations that might seem irrelevant generate a surprising effect. Even the gaze of the subject in a photo makes a difference in prompting a user to click the “Buy” button – demonstrated with eye tracking.
Can you do without it?
Of course, it can be done without. However, at what cost? Like any other tool that digital makes available for marketing, even the A / B test can be a powerful ally to create ads capable of generating greater conversions , provided you know how to read the data collected through experimentation. The results will show the number of clicks, finalized sales, leads obtained, bounce rate, duration of page visits, etc.
A / B testing can also be done for the landing page. Where to place the button on the page for the call-to-action can make a noticeable difference in terms of conversions – and sales – as well as the copy or the image can improve the expected result of a sponsorship.
Conclusion
In terms of time and resources, an A / B test represents an expense that an online business must consider if it wants to maximize results. Collecting and analyzing data is a job that requires skill and attention; as much as it takes to design a social marketing campaign. A commitment largely rewarded by the results. Start experimenting now!
