In the digital age, online marketing is the new and effective way of promoting your brand to a wide audience. But how can you be sure that your campaign is performing to its highest potential, attracting a variety of customers and resulting in the most conversions? Split testing, or A/B testing, is a method used by many marketers to decide on the best marketing campaign.
The basic premise of split testing is to test different variables against each other, keeping one variable the same and changing another to find which combination works most successfully. As a marketer, it’s important to consider the aim of your campaign, your target audience and the processes used by your team. Depending on the specifics of an online marketing campaign, there are a number of approaches to split testing and the variables you can test to optimize its performance. Check out these suggestions for implementing split testing in a few different online campaigns:
1. Content Marketing Campaign
The important thing to remember with split testing is that you can only change one variable at a time; otherwise, if you have a change in behavior, you won’t know what the cause of it was. When running a content marketing campaign, there are so many options regarding the type of articles written, what publisher to post with and how the content is promoted. All of these aspects can be used as variables in split testing. Try adjusting a number of different facets including: the headline, length of the article, type of publisher, position of the article on webpage, the types of images used (if any) and the wording of the call to action (if any). When testing these variables against each other, try keeping an eye out for the number of comments on each content piece, how many times it’s been shared and whether viewers are scrolling to the bottom of the page.
2. Email
A great way to begin split testing is to go through old campaigns and see what worked and what didn’t. With email, try looking at emails sent out previously. Taking the aspects that haven’t worked in the past, begin split testing each variable one at a time. With email, this may include subject headings, in-text banners and the type of call to action. The fact that emails allow for direct communication with individuals can have a significant impact on open and click-through rates, both of which can be easily tracked.
In order to make the most of the split testing process, try incorporating comprehensive tools to manage the success of each variable. InboxGuru in tandem with Infor CRM is a great mechanism for implementing, managing and enhancing email campaigns and, in conjunction with split testing, is an efficient way to maximize the success of each campaign.
3. Social Media
When conducting a social media campaign, the key to a successful post is pairing a great image with high-quality copy, targeting a specific audience and posting at the perfect time. Each of these factors, along with variables like wording and tone of the copy, should be considered to figure out what works best for your brand. One thing to think about is whether you want to include parts of your paid advertising campaigns in your split testing; maybe there is an image that worked really well for a content marketing campaign that could work well on social too. You could also think about the versatility of the campaign regarding your audience’s ability to respond to posts. Ensuring that they can easily upload files, post pictures or link with partner brands are other great capabilities to include in your split testing. When testing any campaign, try to be creative and adopt an all-encompassing approach to the process.
Split testing is a great way to ensure that your online marketing campaigns are performing to their highest potential. While it may be a complex and time-consuming process, split testing allows for a more streamlined and efficient marketing approach that is proven to deliver results.
