The Power Of Split Testing (A/B Testing) In ECommerce Stores To Change Impacts Your Customers’ Behavior And Sell More Stuff

If you own or manage an eCommerce store, you may have a smart business model, get more traffic to your store through SEO, paid ads, social media, and email marketing, have a great customer service and every reason to be pulling in profits, but you looking for getting more prospects and the sales. Do people seem to find your website, but not your sales pages? one question matters above all others, you’ll do whatever it takes to find out the answer:

How can I sell more stuff?

How? Here’s the answer! Use segmented surveys to find out the things that quantitative data analysis won’t tell you: the way customers think and their opinion about your online business. You can display surveys according to traffic segments. Also, use branching logic to drive the respondents to a certain question based on the previous answer.
Another way to investigate customers’ behavior and get A/B Testing ideas is to use heat-maps and click-tracking. Keeping track of user’s clicks can lead to great insights. Heatmaps reveal how users see the website, what elements attract them more, and what call to action stands out.

Whether you’re just starting out, or you’re an established trader, split testing can take your business to the next level. By focusing on what makes sales happen, you’ll channel your energies in the right direction.

What Is Split Testing (A/B testing)?

Split testing, sometimes known as A/B testing is a powerful weapon in the arsenal of eCommerce traders. With split testing, you can change any element of your website, and observe how that change impacts your customers’ behavior.

You can see the precise impact of the change because some visitors will be shown the website as it was before you made the change, while others will only see it after you’ve made the change.

With split testing (A/B testing), you can see whether the changes you make get your customers to:

• Spend more time on a specific page, or on your website.
• Click where you want them to click.
• Sign up to your email list.
• Buy a specific product.
• Buy more stuff overall.

In an A/B test, you take a page on your webpage to create a second version of it. The original version or variant A will be shown to half of your traffic and the other half will be shown the modified version or variant B.

The engagement and key performance metrics per variation will be collected, measured, and from there, you will know whether the change had a positive, negative, or no effect at all to your visitors’ behavior.

What to test on an e-commerce website?

The Split Testing (A/B testing) process must be designed along with the business and conversion goals. So, it’s not a great to start testing everything on the website, without knowing the results you want to get. Keep in mind the goals you set up and translate them into effective actions. You can test anything on your eCommerce site that might change how your website visitors behave. If you can tweak it, you can test it.
On an e-commerce website you can test:

• Content: headlines, texts, product descriptions, testimonials, etc. I strongly believe that words can make a huge difference for any business. Communicating the right message, in the right way, to the right audience will boost conversions instantly.
• Images and video. Sometimes, people tend to skip the lines and simply look at the pictures on your website. Always display high-quality pictures, related to the topics on site.
• Call-to-action buttons.
• Design. I include here: fonts, colors, position of elements on the page, etc. The whole website must have one design to match the brand’s identity. Use matching colors and always check the meaning of every color because it has a huge impact on visitors.

Benefits of Split Testing (A/B testing)

In our opinion, the most important benefit of Split Testing (A/B testing) is that you get improved content. Nowadays, in e-commerce, it is crucial to provide the right kind of content and to send a message in a tone of voice similar to the audience. If the website doesn’t communicate in a familiar language, it’s more likely for visitor to leave your online shop and go to other e-stores.
Also, A/B Testing comes in handy because it lowers risks when it comes to important decisions in the company. Doing A/B Testing constantly, will point out what to do and not to do on your website, and you will know what decision to make.
With A/B Testing, failure is not an option. We say this because you have nothing to lose in an A/B Testing experiment. Even if the test hasn’t reached a statistical relevance or if the results are not how you expected, there’s no financial loss involved.
It is cheaper to use A/B Testing that to directly modify your website. In case you decide to modify your website, without testing it first, you invest lots of money and time in programming and design. And nothing could tell you if the money you spend will get back to you as profit. But, if you test the variations and you realize it’s not worthy to make those changes, you save time and money.

Conclusion

Even though A/B Testing might seem a complex process, do not panic. Organize the experiment and take it step by step. Once you will see the first positive results and taste the success, you will fully understand the importance of A/B Testing in eCommerce.