‍What Is Split Testing? (And How to Do It Right)

By the end of 2023, most online shops only turn about 4.29% of their visitors into buyers. 

This means that out of every 100 people who visit, only about 5 end up making a purchase. 

And if your store performs below this average, you might even lose almost all your visitors without a sale. If you've spent a lot of money getting people to visit your site, you want to make sure more of them buy something. 

That's where split testing can help. 

It's when you try out a new version of a webpage, cold emails, or ad to see if it convinces more visitors to make a purchase. 

This guide will tell you what split testing is, why it's helpful, and how you can try it yourself.

What is Split Testing?

Split testing, also known as A/B testing, is a way to figure out which version of something works better. Imagine you have two different recipes for a cake, and you're not sure which one people will like more.

So, you decide to bake both and ask your friends to taste them. The one they like more is the winner. In the digital world, split testing works similarly but with things like emails, web pages, or ads.

Here's how it works: Let's say you have a website, and you're not sure which call to action button will get more clicks from your visitors.

You can use split testing to find out. You show one group of visitors one version of the button (let's call it version A) and another group a different version (version B).

Then, you see which one gets more clicks. The great thing is you can see the results in real-time! This saves time and helps you make decisions based on what actually works.

Plus, it's like getting a free trial of your ideas before fully committing to them. Split testing isn't just for buttons; you can test different parts of your website, email content, or even different offers to see what resonates best with your target audience and helps increase conversions and improve the overall customer experience.

The benefits: Why do we do split testing?

We do split testing because it helps us make better decisions for our websites or apps. Imagine you're trying to decide which outfit looks best on you. You might try on two different shirts to see which one fits you better and makes you feel more comfortable. 

Similarly, in split testing, we try out different versions of our websites or apps to see which one users like more. This helps us understand what our users prefer, so we can make changes that improve their experience.

Split testing has many benefits. First, it helps us figure out what works best for our users without guessing. Instead of just making changes and hoping they work, split testing gives us real data to make decisions. 

Second, it can increase things like clicks, sales, or sign-ups because we're making changes based on what our users actually like. This means we can make our websites or apps more successful and enjoyable for the people using them. 

Overall, split testing is a smart way to improve our online projects and make sure they're the best they can be.

How to Set Up a Split Test the Right Way?

How you set up a split test depends on where you're doing it and what you want to test. But randomly choosing what to test isn't a good plan. 

It's better to begin by finding clear chances for improvement and spots where things aren't working well.

Identifying Opportunities and Weak Points

This means finding areas on your website or app where you think changes could make things better. 

For example, if you notice not many people are clicking on a button, that's an opportunity to improve. Weak points are spots where your website or app isn't doing as well as you'd like.

Forming the Test and Hypothesis 

Here, you decide what you want to change and come up with a guess about what you think will happen. For instance, if you want to change the color of a button, you might guess that a brighter color will get more clicks.

Split Testing an Email Marketing Campaign

This is when you send out two versions of an email to different groups of people to see which one performs better. Maybe you'll change the subject line in one version to see if more people open it.

Split Testing a Landing Page

Similar to email testing, but instead of emails, you're changing parts of a webpage to see what works best. You might try different headlines or images to see which ones make more visitors stay on your page.

Setting the Weight and Starting the Test

This means deciding how many people will see each version of your test. You want it to be fair, so you might split it evenly between the two versions.

Beyond Split Testing: Use Insights to Segment and Personalize

Split tests give you special information about different groups of people who see your stuff.

For instance, you might find out something like this: People who come from social media like short videos, while those who come from regular searching like longer articles.

Then, you should make sure each group sees the version that they like the most.

Many business marketers say almost all of their money growth comes from making things personal. And it's also a big deal for people who buy things online: lots of them want things to be more personal, not less.

After a few successful tests where we tried different things, like showing different versions of a webpage to see which one works best, we can now take it up a notch with web personalization.

Instead of showing the same webpage to everyone, we can customize it for each person based on what they're interested in. 

By using our Success.ai’s AI email writer tool you can take your personalization game to the next level, making sure every email feels like it's made just for the people you're sending it to.

This technology lets us make sure that each visitor sees exactly what they're looking for when they come to our website.

Splitting your Email Audience

With a fancy email tool, you can make each email feel special for the person getting it. You can also use our marketing tool to make different experiences for different visitors and leads.

For instance, if someone is planning a wedding, we can send them helpful things like free wedding invitation designs, and suggestions for great caterers, and then recommend venues.

And if someone is planning a business event, we can give them advice on setting it up, getting people to come, and even offer them a discount on renting one of our places for their event. 

You can use our lead finder tool to detect the right people, as it will make sure the people you're contacting are genuinely interested and responsive, so you can put your energy into making your emails better, knowing that you're connecting with the right audience.

4 Common Split Testing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Making mistakes in split testing is normal, but it's important to learn from them to improve our experiments. Here are four common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Not Testing One Change at a Time

Sometimes, people make multiple changes to their website or app all at once. This can make it hard to know which change actually made a difference. To avoid this, test one change at a time so you can see the real impact of each change.

Ignoring Statistical Significance

Sometimes, people stop their tests too early because they see one version performing better than the other. 

However, this difference might not be big enough to be meaningful. It's essential to wait until you have enough data to determine if the difference is statistically significant before making a decision.

Testing Too Long or Too Short

Running tests for too long or too short can skew your results. If you run a test for too long, external factors may interfere, or users may become fatigued. 

If you run a test for too short, you might not gather enough data to make an accurate decision. It's crucial to find the right balance and determine the appropriate duration for your tests.

Not Understanding Your Audience

Lastly, not considering your audience's preferences and behaviors can lead to ineffective tests. It's essential to understand who your users are and what they're looking for. 

Conduct research and gather feedback to ensure that the changes you're testing are relevant and meaningful to your audience.

By avoiding these common mistakes and following best practices, you can conduct more effective split tests and make data-driven decisions to improve your website or app.

How to Prepare and Plan Your Next Split Test?

Sure, let's break down each stage of the split testing process in simple terms:

Determine What to Improve

This means figuring out what part of your website or app you want to make better. It could be anything from the color of a button to the wording of a headline. You need to decide what you want to test to see if you can make it work even better for your users.

Hypothesize your Test

Here, you make a guess or prediction about what you think will happen when you make a change. 

For example, if you think changing the color of a button will make more people click on it, that's your hypothesis. It's like making an educated guess before you start your experiment.

Create Variation and Run the Experiment

This is where you make the change you want to test. You create two different versions of your website or app – one with the change you want to test (let's call it Version A) and one without the change (Version B). 

Then, you show these versions to different groups of people and see how they react.

Measure Results

After running your experiment for a while and showing both versions of your website or app to your users, you need to see what happened. 

Did more people click on the button in Version A? Did they stay longer on the page? 

You compare the results from both versions to see which one performed better based on your goals. This helps you decide if the change you made is worth keeping.

Conclusion

Split testing is a great way to not only sell more but also to learn important things about your audience. It helps you make your website or app better for each person who visits. 

Every time you run a test, you're learning more about what your audience likes and why. Keep testing and learning because each test is a chance to make your marketing better. 

Even if the improvements are small, like just 1% or 3%, they still count! Look at your results over a whole year to see the big picture. 

If you can make even small improvements each month, your sales could grow a lot over time.

Use Success.ai’s tools to figure out inbox placements, find the correct audience, and optimize your email send times.