Unit - 2

A/B Testing
What is A/B Testing?
A/B test aims to compare the performance of two items or variations against one another. In
product management, A/B tests are often used to identify the best-performing option. For
example, two variations of a new user interface could be tested, and, in this case, the variation
that receives the most user engagement would win the A/B test.

An A/B test is used to determine which version or variant of something will perform more
effectively in the market. This strategy is commonly used by marketing and advertising
professionals, who show multiple versions of an ad, marketing email, or web page to
randomly selected users, and then analyze the results. Product managers can also use A/B
testing to develop products that will resonate with users.

There are many benefits to using A/B tests, including:

 Marketers (or product managers) can focus on very specific elements to test
 The results are immediate and easy to analyze
 Unlike surveys, where users’ answers are theoretical, A/B tests measure real
engagement with the asset

Why is A/B testing valuable?

With A/B testing (also called split testing or A/B split testing), teams can create true apples-
to-apples comparisons of a single variant of an asset, to ensure their results reflect how actual
users respond specifically to that variant.

For example, by sending out two entirely different sales emails, a marketing team can learn
which of the messages performs better. But that team won’t necessarily know which specific
element of the winning email resonated with readers. With an A/B test, that team can send
out two nearly identical versions of the email with just a single element changed — the
subject line, the call to action, etc. — and learn which of those elements users find more
compelling.
If a team continuously employs A/B tests to measure the effectiveness of each element, over
time that team will be able to build an asset (advertisement, product, website) that resonates
with the company

Why should Product Managers use Testing?

Although it has historically been primarily a tool of marketing and advertising, A/B testing
can also help product managers build better products.

With an A/B test, a product manager can experiment by releasing multiple versions of a new
feature, layout, or another product element to a randomly selected segment of their user base
— and learn which of those versions users respond to most favorably.

How do you run an A/B test?

There are many ways for a product manager to conduct an A/B test. One useful example is
the approach offered by Product School, in which A/B testing follows a five-stage process:

Stage 1: Determine the data you’ll be able to capture.

First, determine what types of information you’ll be able to collect and analyze, before
building your experiment and running the tests. If you skip this step, you might waste time
and resources developing an experiment where you can’t accurately measure the results.

Stage 2: Develop your hypothesis.

Based on the data you know your team will have available, you’ll now want to identify the
opportunities for your experiment and formulate a theory about how users will react to a
specific element of your product.

For example, you might assume that users will want the steps required to complete a task
using your new feature to be ordered in a particular sequence. That’s your hypothesis.

Stage 3: Build your experiment.

Now you’ll want to develop the details of your test. This will have your team create a variant
of your planned feature — using, for example, the same functionality but with the steps
sequenced differently.
During this stage, you’ll also need to generate the different segments of your user base that
will receive the variants of your new feature. You’ll also want to define the metrics you’re
going to measure. Will you gauge user preference of one variant based on surveys after your
users have had a chance to engage with the product? Or will you base it instead on
monitoring usage data and, if so, how will you determine users’ preferred method?

Stage 4: Run your test.

Now it is time to send the different versions of your new feature out to your various user
segments and wait to see how the groups respond to each version.

Your team will need to determine for yourselves how long to run your A/B test, how much
data to collect, etc. — because this will vary for each company and because you want to
gather and analyze enough data that you know you’re working with a statistically significant
representative sample of your user base.

Stage 5: Measure your results.

Finally, you will review the data you’ve collected from your A/B test and make a
determination about which of the two features (or layouts, or color-schemes, or whatever you
are testing) earned the most positive response or the greatest degree of engagement from your
users.

Landing page A/B testing is the process of comparing different versions of a landing
page simultaneously to find out which one gets more clicks and conversions. All
landing pages need great design and a persuasive offer. But marketers who
consistently create successful landing pages swear by this extra step of A/B testing
to create high-converting landing pages.

What is landing page A/B testing?

Like the name suggests, A/B testing is the process of simultaneously comparing
variants of a landing page to identify the one that brings in more clicks and
conversions.

Once you publish your landing page, you can create a version of the landing page
in which one element, such as the headline or CTA button, is different. Visitors
will be served one version of the landing page. After running the landing page A/B
test for a considerable period of time, you can arrive at a conclusion about the
better-performing landing page between the two.
The winning landing page is then served to all users. Remember, A/B testing is a
continuous process where landing page performance needs to be consistently
improved by testing them against new variants.

Why should you A/B test your landing

pages?
Enhance conversion rates
When users arrive at your landing page, they have a short time to engage with your
page and decide whether they want to purchase your product or service. A/B
testing is one of the most accurate, data-backed methods to ensure your landing
page is best optimized for conversions.

Make landing page improvements

Marketing teams are constantly trying to improve their baseline. Changing a
landing page element could adversely affect the conversion rate of a well-
performing landing page. A/B testing is a risk-free method to make improvements
to your marketing campaigns without losing out on conversions.

Learn about your visitors

By A/B testing landing pages over time, you can gain a holistic understanding of
user behavior and improve the overall user experience of your marketing
campaigns.

Types of A/B tests: What can you A/B test

on landing pages?
Deciding what to test on your landing page is crucial. You can choose any element
on the landing page as your variable, from headline to call to action. However,
remember, irrespective how you decide to do your landing page testing, it is crucial
to test one element at a time to get meaningful results.

Hero image vs. video

The primary visual element that depicts the value or offer of your landing page is
typically a hero image or a video. While A/B testing, you can choose to use images
or videos as your principal landing page visual. By varying the visual in the
variant, you can identify which works better for the particular campaign and
audience. You can also deploy variations in the type of image or video. For
example, you can see whether a product image, photographic representation of users,
or graphical illustrations would be better for the landing page.

Headlines
The headline is one of the first things users will see when they get to your landing
page. It is also an important factor when visitors decide whether they want to stay
on your page or leave. You can try different variations such as short vs. long
headlines, positive vs. negative tones, problems vs. benefits, or a playful vs. professional
approach in the headline to understand which caters best to your audience.

Short vs. long landing page

The length of the landing page is an important factor that affects your conversion
rate. Some products may require longer, detailed landing pages to bring in
conversions and some products can bring in the same conversions with a concise
landing page that does not elaborate much. By testing out both these formats, you
can understand the preferred length and implement it in all future landing page
campaigns.

Order of elements
There is no universal format for creating landing pages but most high-converting
landing pages follow a similar pattern: A prominent headline and an image or
video followed by product or service features, and an attractive form with a CTA
button.

Try moving the form up or down on the landing page to identify which location
brings in better conversions. While some landing pages can display a lead
generation form upfront and achieve success, others will have to convince users
more before asking for their information. By simply shaking up the placement of
elements on your landing page, you can easily identify the elements that make an
impact and the elements that don't.

Forms
In lead generation campaigns, the form is the most prominent element on the
landing page. To persuade users to share their information, forms have to be easy
to fill and attractive. When using the form as your variable, you can change
the placement, design, color, and number of form fields to identify the form type that
brings in more leads.

Call-to-action button
Anybody who starts A/B testing their landing pages usually starts it by testing their
call-to-action buttons. You can try to vary the shape, color, placement, font size,
and language used in the CTA button to determine the perfect call-to-action button
for the page.

How to perform landing page A/B testing?

Landing page A/B testing may sound like a complex science experiment to a
newbie but it is a fairly simple process that helps users consistently improve
landing page conversions. Learn how you can A/B test your landing pages in Zoho
LandingPage.
First, identify your landing page variable with the help of landing page
analytics such as heat maps, scroll maps, attention maps, and form reports. Once
you identify where users are bouncing away, which landing page element is
uninteresting to them, or why forms are not being completed, you can use A/B
testing to rectify the mistakes and improve conversions. Remember, it's always
best to test one landing page variable at a time.
Second, the existing landing page becomes the "A" variant or the control version.
Make a change in the selected variable to create the "B" variant or the challenger
landing page. Split the audience equally for both versions to get accurate results.

Third, run your A/B test for as long as it takes to gather meaningful results. If you
have high web traffic, running your landing page for a week or two can clearly
identify the winning landing page variant. However, for businesses with low,
inconsistent traffic, short A/B tests can be pointless, so those businesses need to
test longer to collect more data. That being said, running your A/B test endlessly
can be unfruitful as you could have missed out on implementing the results in time
to see the conversions come in.

Finally, once you end the A/B test, analyze the results and serve the winning variant
to all your users. Periodically test landing page elements to keep improving the
landing page experience for users to maintain good conversion rates.