When using marketing automation, you need to have a good grasp of how your customers are interacting. The best way to gauge and understand your customers' interactions and behaviors is through A/B Split testing.
What is A/B Split Testing?
A/B Testing is also referred to as Variant Split Testing. It is a great way to compare two variants of an email, landing page, or content at the same time. Traditional Split Testing is based on conversions and outcomes. The Split Test variant with the higher clickthrough rate, conversion, opens or views is the winner.
The majority of the SimplyCast applications offer A/B Testing according to the way the application behaves. This type of testing can give you a great deal of insight on how to optimize your content and best engage your customer base. In SimplyCast 360, the A/B Split Testing option is the Percentage Split Workspace Element.
What can you test?
Depending on the channel, you can test on:
- Conversions
- Opens
- Clicks
- Views
- Lead Score
- Contact Management Tags
- Subject Lines
- Headlines
- Links
- Image Placement
- Signups
- Logo and Image Placement
- Content
- Text Only
- Text and Visual Content
- Social Sharing and Social Following Buttons
- Call to Action Buttons
Using the Percentage Split Element can be a simple dice roll giving you an equal split of contacts syphoned off into different Flow Branches. You could also connect different Decisions in order to make the Split Testing more robust. The choice is based on your business or marketing process.
Why use A/B Split Testing?
Testing plays a huge role in optimization. When making decisions on how to send an email or design a landing page, the final decision comes from actively playing out the outcomes. With Split Testing, it is simple to find out which content your audience prefers.
If you test something and learn its outcomes, you will be able to replicate the process many times to come. Defining each of the application variables is as simple as scheduling an email, for example. The subject line might be a great place to start for an email. Getting the customer to open the message can be a battle. Imagine if you try out varying subject lines over a large customer base. You will know which subject line is more effective based on how many contacts open each email.
Now that your contacts have opened the email, you need them to interact. You need more feedback and more information. The times of day the emails were opened is a great piece of data to look at. Find your average across the variants and you may have found your peak reading time. Also, include links with different call to action text. Customers behave differently toward different text. Plain old "Click Here" engages some while "Click Here To Solve the Riddle" could be the text to cause a reaction from another customer.
When should I stop testing?
Once you have your formula on how to achieve the outcomes that benefit you as a business, you can replicate and expand on the ideas. However, testing doesn't end when you find the magic slam dunk. It is an ongoing process that needs to change with your business or marketing process. Testing is really one of those tools that you continue to use as you continue to improve. Keep trying new things!
Make sure to keep checking this blog to continue learning more about marketing automation features with SimplyCast.
If you want to learn more about the features we offer, feel free to join one of our demos. Demos are weekly, Monday to Friday. Register Today!
Isiah Wint-Rose
Account Executive