What is A/B testing? Find out the best version of your content.

What is the A/B Test?

The A/B test consists of launching two different versions of the same content to know which one is working better than the other. Bear in mind that the main aim is to optimize your strategy.

Why should both variations be published at the same time? It’s easy to know exactly the outcome of each publication. Imagine that you launch those contents in different moments, how will you follow and control the interest of your users on each version? How will you know which one will work better?

The nature of the A/B testing is two compare two versions that are identical except for one unique variation. This difference can be founded on the colour, typography, text or location.

If you would like to apply a new variation on any of the two versions, note that this should be done one by one. We suggest you to be patient and to follow the results of each amendment you uploaded.

How does A/B testing work?

Let’s take a look on the following example:  Imagine that we have uploaded a CTA on our website that allows our users to download a touristic guide. Our aim is to get contacts, which means to convert visitors into leads.

So, we will launch two CTAs with the same content, purpose and text, but one with a blue background and the other one in yellow. Three days after, we realise that the blue CTA is the one with the best conversion rate. And then,  in order to find out which would be the perfect version, we launch the blue CTA again with an identic CTA with the green background.  To sum up, our objective of this test is to see which CTA generates more conversions.

We know it’s a slow and long-term test, but if you do it correctly, you will be able to understand your users and to improve their website experience.

A curious fact, the current studies show that the colours that are getting the best results and more clicks are purple and yellow. As an example, Amazon is now using these colours.

Even though, please bear in mind that the colours and testing you make should be customized according to your branding and to your targets. 

Finally, please note that launching different versions of the same content will not mean a negative impact, in contrast, it will help you keep your user close to the conversion.

The A/B test on your booking engine

Call to action buttons and its landing pages are website elements that are focused on the conversion the most. For that reason, the use of A/B testing is logical for these actions.

So, if your aim is to increase your room sales or to collect more contact details, you should know what your users are looking for and  offer it properly.

On the other hand, and regarding a hotel website or touristic page, the final objective is to get a new room reservation. So, it is essential to know which content version is performing better, and for that, you should proceed with an A/B test on your booking engine.

Finally note that the A/B testing can be applied to any other format and content. For example, we can work with an A/B test on Facebook Ads, on our e-mail marketing strategy or even with the simplest messages or images in any social network