What is an A/B test?

What is an A/B test?

A/B test, also known as a split test, compares two versions of an email or a web page against each other to learn which is more effective.

In simple terms, it’s finding out which version your users like the most — A or B. A/B testing takes out the guesswork of an email or website optimization and enables data-informed decisions.

Statistical analysis is used to determine which variation is performing better for a given conversion goal.

Why Is A/B Testing Important?

A/B testing allows you and your marketing team to make the most out of the marketing budget. It enables you to make careful changes to the user experience while collecting data on the result.

You can learn better which elements are working for your users, which is the best time to send an email, and other essential factors.

For instance, you can A/B test which subject line of your email is grabbing the most attention. The results from such testing will help you determine which type of subject lines get better open rates.

This data can be further used to create similar types of subject lines for future campaigns, improving your ROI.

A/B test is continually used to improve user experience and produce maximum results.

How to Create and Send an A/B test

EngageBay A/B broadcast allows you to send two variations of the email to different sets of groups. You can A/B test multiple subject lines to see which one generates more opens or include advanced testing of using different email templates to see which one generates more click-throughs.

• On your Marketing dashboard,hover your mouse over the Campaigns tab.

• Choose Email Broadcasts.

• In the upper right corner, click on the Create Broadcast button.

• From the pop-up panel, choose A/B Broadcast and name your campaign. Choose Continue.

• You will notice the A/B version of the email option in the right corner of the screen. A is the first variation of email, and B is the second.

• Start with creating the variation A email. Enter Subject Line, From Email (it will show who is the sender), and Who is it from? (name of the person/company sending the email).

• Once done, click on Next. Next Under the tab, choose the list of contacts you want to send an email to. You can send a broadcast to All Contacts, Specified List, or based on a filter.

• You need to create the list or filter before sending a broadcast so that it shows on the list as an option.

• Choose whether you need to send a plain text email or use an email template. Hit Next.

• If you choose plain text, compose your email subject and the body text. You can add various options to format your email message and make it appealing. Click on Next once done.

• In the case of templates, you you will be given an option to choose from pre-designed templates, saved templates, or choose to create a custom template.

• Click on the block you want to edit and manually change them. You can adjust the setting of each section from the right-side panel. You can even experiment with the placement of different blocks. Once you are done editing the template, hit Save.

• You can now start editing variation B and similarly enter all information.

• Next to the A/B tab, you will see three dots (...). Click on it and set the metrics that will decide the winning variation.

• Go to the Confirmation section and review details before sending — From, Subject, Recipient, and Email Content.

• Once you check and confirm that all the details are good, click on the Proceed to Send/Schedule button.

• You can choose to send it immediately or schedule for later by selecting the date, time, and time zone.

• Experiment and learn what works best for your users.