Do you need every piece of your landing page to work together to generate more leads? Want to know which landing page version generates more clicks, better conversions and a lower bounce rate? Conduct landing page A/B tests and continue to refine your pages until you achieve the best possible result.
No matter the level of your research, always test your assumptions about your audience.
The purpose of this article is to show you the best way to A/B test landing pages.
To A/B test a landing page:
- Understand What A/B Testing Means
- Familiarize Yourself With the Components of a Landing Page
- Zero in on Your Target Audience
- Understand User Behavior So You Know What to Test First
- Specify the “A” Version
- Pinpoint the Proper Opportunities Based on User Behavior
- Create the Variation (the “B” Version)
- Choose the Proper A/B Testing Tool
- Determine How Long You Want to A/B Test
- Analyze A/B Test Results
Ready to learn more? Let’s dig deeper.
1. Understand What A/B Testing Means
To A/B test your landing page, understand what A/B testing means. A/B testing is system in which you test two different versions of a landing page simultaneously. That way, you have the best version of your landing page possible. Keep in mind that A/B testing can help you reduce your bounce rate and improve conversion rates.
A/B testing can help identify the perfect and creative copies for your landing page that can resonate better with your audience.
Try out different versions of your page and see which one performs better in terms of conversion rate, engagement and sales.
2. Familiarize Yourself With the Components of a Landing Page
To A/B test a landing page, familiarize yourself with the components of a landing page. A landing page contains three main sections: a headline, a subheading and a call to action (CTA).
The headline is arguably the most important part of the landing page; this is what encourages shoppers to stay long enough to scroll through the bottom of the page.
Your subheading provides more information about the headline and what the visitor can expect to find on the page.
The CTA (call-to-action) is the third and final part of the page. This is where you encourage the visitor to take some kind of action, like sign up for your newsletter or make a purchase.
The headline has the title, tagline and hero image. The subheading has the support text and testimonials—and the CTA includes the button text and form.
3. Zero in on Your Target Audience
To A/B test a landing page, zero in on your target audiences. Create different versions of your landing page and test them against each other to see which performs better.
Use tools like Google Analytics to find out shoppers visiting your site and what they’re interested in. Narrow down your target audience with the result from Google Analytics and create a more focused test. Have a clear target audience in mind before you start your A/B test.
4. Understand User Behavior So You Know What to Test First
To A/B test a landing page, understand users and their behaviors. What are they looking for when they come to your page? What are their goals? What are their pain points? What motivates them?
Study how users behave when they visit your site to figure out what you should A/B test first. To gather thorough, relevant information about user behavior, use Google Optimize.
Think about what to test first once you have a good understanding of your users. Find out the key section of your page with the biggest impact on your users. Test those areas first and then work your way down to the smaller details. Remember, the goal of an A/B test is to improve the user experience.
5. Specify the “A” Version
To A/B test a landing page, specify the “A” version of the page. Choose which version of the landing page you first want to display to users. Base the test decision on your goals as well as any previous data you have on the performance of the two versions.
A/B test your landing page with an existing page on your site or create a brand new one. Use an existing page if you have one.
Create a landing page if you’re starting from scratch with a new website.
6. Pinpoint the Proper Opportunities Based on User Behavior
To A/B test a landing page, pinpoint the proper opportunities based on user behavior. Identify the section of the page that contributes more to your conversion rate.
Target audiences with the highest probability of converting. Segment those opportunities to identify what to test first. If the segment can test two or three different variants, determine which variant performs best. If the segment is a smaller subset of visitors, test the variants on other segments.
7. Create the Variation (the “B” Version)
To A/B test a landing page, create the variation (the “B” version). Make some changes to the existing page, but do it one at a time. Add some new content to test against the original page, like new images, colour, text or even a different layout.
After adding the new features, create a second version of the page that includes this new content. Track how the new content performs for each version of the page.
8. Choose the Proper A/B Testing Tool
To A/B test a landing page, choose the proper A/B testing tool. Choose a simple-to-use A/B testing tool. Consider the goals and objectives of your business before you select a testing tool.
Check the cost of the tool to know if you can cope with the pricing, and select a reliable tool based on your plan for the future.
Here are some of the A/B test tools you can choose from; AB Tasty, Adobe Target, Google Optimize, Optimizely, Qubit, VWO, etc.
Choose wisely!
9. Determine How Long You Want to A/B Test
To A/B test a landing page, determine how long you want to A/B test. This depends on your specific goals and objectives. Run your A/B test for at least two weeks to collect enough data.
Run your test for more weeks if you’re testing a high-traffic website. Ultimately, decide how long you want to run your test, but make sure you give yourself enough time to collect meaningful data.
10. Analyze A/B Test Results
To A/B test a landing page, analyze A/B test results to evaluate the best possible ways you can improve your page. Keep the following questions in mind when evaluating the page performance:
- How many people visited the page?
- How long people spent on the page?
- How many people took the desired action on the page?
Look at these factors to find out whether a page performs well and whether it’s worth keeping around. If you see that a page isn’t getting much traffic, this scenario indicates that the page is not performing well. If a page gets a lot of traffic and people spend time on it, it’s likely to rank well and increase conversions.
Conclusion
To A/B test a landing page, understand what A/B testing means, and familiarize yourself with the components of a landing page. Zero in on your target audience and understand user behavior so you know what to test first.
Specify the “A” version of the page before pinpointing the proper opportunities based on user behavior. Create the variation (the “B” Version), choose the proper A/B testing tool, and determine how long you want to A/B Test.
Analyze A/B Test results to get the best out of the experiment.
