Convert Your Marketing Mindset With A/B Testing

“Most of our assumptions have outlived their uselessness.”
― Marshall McLuhan

So many times in the haste of developing our marketing strategy and materials, we use the ol’ seasoned judgment of ‘I think’:

“I think this is the best creative” – it follows brand standards.

“I think this is the best day of the week to mail or post” – the latest industry best practices say this is the best day.

“I think this call to action will be the most responsive” – our rates have been pretty good so far.

Despite knowing that we really shouldn’t make assumptions when it comes to truly knowing our customers, sometimes assumptions still make their way into our marketing plans. After all, we’ve already spent the time building out our customers’ personas and have segmented our data but do we really know how our audiences will respond?

So how do we get from, ‘I think’ to ‘I know’? A great place to start, no matter what level of marketer you are, is to run a relatively easy A/B test. Why is this necessary? Well, our customers’ preferences are changing all the time. Testing allows us to stay on top of these changes and adapt our marketing strategies to ensure our efforts are relevant. Variations in campaign elements can increase engagement and conversion.

Here are the three core testing categories to consider that will have a significant impact on response:

1. Creative: style of graphics, layout, copy length

2. Content: subject line, call to action, promotional or editorial copy

3. Timing and frequency: send time, send day, send or share frequency

Okay, but are marketers really still running A/B tests?

According to a Marketing Sherpa study regarding Website Optimization:

Over half of all marketers use some form of testing but up to 75% of the more mature strategic marketers use A/B testing routinely as part of a formal marketing strategy to learn about customer behavior.

Pretty impressive, right?

So, let's get started! Follow the six steps below to help you develop a successful A/B testing strategy. Remember, we should consider testing a continuous process, so when one test is completed, another is started. And this all begins with thoughtful planning.

“Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.”
― David Ogilvy

Steps to Developing an A/B Testing Strategy:

1. Develop a Plan - this will be pivotal in garnering the best results!

· Ask yourself:

• What are my company’s top business goals?
• What are the measurable results we want to achieve?
• Which of the three categories will I start testing (creative, content, timing and frequency)?
  Remember to only test one element at a time.

2) Execute the Plan by Building a Testing Team

• Find an executive sponsor. This shouldn’t be too challenging since most executives love to have metrics to validate programs.
• Assign people to support each step in the testing process. For instance, determine who will create and build the testing program in the system.

3) Reporting

• Ensure someone is reporting and benchmarking metrics in the system.

4) Analysis

• It’s essential to review results during the test time to optimize the final version. If you can assign an analyst to the team, they can often validate the statistical significance beyond the basic metrics.

5) Documentation

• Don’t forget to document the full process along the way, including the steps taken and the results achieved. This will help the team review what was successful and where to focus next.

6) Recommendations

• What did you discover during your testing?
• Communicate findings and recommendations to management.

If you are just getting started with A/B Testing or want to further develop your knowledge, request to have the A/B Testing Strategies for Success Facilitated Discussion with a marketing advisor today! Also see our full menu of Facilitated Discussions that are available at no cost to Oracle Marketing Cloud customers.