If you’re hoping to reach a higher level of performance with your Magento website then you need to put it to the test. An A/B test, that is. While it’s very important that you work with UX/UI experts to create a great shopping experience, you’ll find that even the best user interfaces can be improved with A/B testing. A/B testing is one of the most cost effective and efficient ways of figuring out what actually works on your eCommerce website and how best to connect with your target market. Because, what works for some websites and brands may not work for you. And if you don’t put it to the test, how will you know?
In this blog we’ll cover why A/B testing is essential, the basics of A/B testing and the best Magento extensions for A/B testing.
Why A/B Test?
You have a lot invested in your Magento store and it’s only natural to want to get the absolute most out of it. And while you have invested heavily in the UX/UI design of the site as well as your own internal testing, the only results that truly matter are real world results. By implementing A/B testing and analyzing its results, you can determine what does and doesn’t connect with your website’s visitors. For example:
- Pricing – A/B testing different levels of pricing can provide you with a better understanding of the prices your customers are actually willing to pay for your products. It is estimated that merchants are missing out on 5%-15% of profits because of imperfect pricing and unfavorable free shipping thresholds.
- Calls to Action (CTAs) – Altering the copy, font, colors, and even button designs can help you learn what CTAs your visitors will respond to. You may find that visitors will respond to a CTA about dwindling available inventory, but respond less to CTAs about sales offers and price reductions. You may have a higher conversion rate with a Green, ‘Order Now’ button rather than a Red ‘Order Now’ button. The only way to find out is through A/B testing.
- Page design – You may have the most informative and interesting content on the web but you may also have a page that is not skimmable to visitors. By testing with different page layouts and monitoring the bounce rate and the time guests spend on your pages, you can determine the ideal page design for visitor retention and conversion.
What is A/B Testing?
A/B testing has become quite the buzzword in recent years but it can be most simply described as creating two or more versions of a webpage and measuring the results to make improvements to the site and ultimately earn greater conversions and revenue. The alternate A/B versions of your site can include, but are not limited to, variations in the content, colors, images, copy, Calls-to-Action, and even prices. Through creating alternate versions of webpages and monitoring the activity you’re able to improve the overall quality of your website and increase conversions. It is through A/B testing that you’re able to come up with the optimum combinations of website elements that will keep visitors engaged and making purchases.
With the example below, 50% of visitors are shown Page A and 50% of visitors are shown Page B. Whichever version proves to feature elements that result in greater visibility, reduced bounce rates, increased conversions and more time-on-site is the superior page design and those elements should then be shown to 100% of visitors.
Best Magento A/B Extensions
A/B testing is not a native feature in Magento. While there are many different methods and technologies available for powering A/B testing, below are a few of our favorites.
- HiConversion – The HiConversion extension was built based on the idea that your real-world customers and website visitors are your greatest teachers. HiConversion will run its own A/B tests automatically to your pages, changing the elements based on visitor behavior. It will then provide recommendations based on these continual and evolving A/B tests. It’s a great extension because, simply put, it chooses a winner faster through the automated testing of multiple variables.
- Optimizely – This extension focuses on personalization and web experimentation. It features an easy-to-use visual editor that allows users to safely and simply run multiple experiments on a single page. Optimizely is also one of the industry’s leading CRO platforms and it offers far more than website A/B testing including messaging platforms and mobile apps, allowing you to customize the entire customer experience from a platform that can grow with you as your conversion optimization needs expand.
- Apptimize – This is an extension built for mobile-centric brands. Apptimize allows users to A/B test personalized experiences, cross-platform experiments and more all through a data system specifically programmed for mobile data. Merchants can monitor how behaviour on mobile affects decisions made on web and vice versa. Or, how server-side changes impact the front-end mobile experience.
- A/B Tasty – This reasonably priced, drag-and-drop app is incredibly easy to work with. In addition to standard features like split and multivariate testing options, heatmaps and conversion optimization tools, A/B Tasty boasts a unique funnel testing feature that allows merchants to experiment with changes across multiple pages inside the sales funnel.
Conclusion
A/B testing your Magento store is critical to better understanding your customers, increasing your conversions and improving its overall usability and functionality. There are a number of excellent extensions available to your site in the marketplace. To learn more about any of these A/B test extensions and how to optimize your ecommerce store, contact us today for a free consultation.