If you’re using your website for lead generation, you’re likely using a conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy and A/B testing. But if you’re struggling to get real results from your A/B testing strategy, you’re not alone. Research shows that 58% of companies use A/B testing for CRO, and 57% of those stop testing once they reach expected results. This is where A/B testing goes wrong. It’s a complex, iterative process that requires know-how and oversight to prevent inaccurate findings. In actuality, only one in eight A/B tests produces significant results. In this blog, we’ll explain how to implement effective A/B test strategies to get real results from your CRO efforts.
How To Apply A/B Testing Tactics to Refine Your CRO Strategies
Follow A/B testing best practices
A/B testing isn’t a foolproof process, especially for CRO, which can be influenced by the relevance and quality of test variables, as well as sample sizes, external factors and user behaviors, all of which can skew results and complicate decision-making. That’s why savvy A/B testers adhere to best practices to ensure a statistically significant result.
A/B testing best practices include:
- Following the A/B testing process
- Running a validation test
- Prioritizing tests based on potential impact
- Running tests for an appropriate duration
- Considering external events and seasonal factors
- Testing again (and again)
- Automating the process with A/B testing tools
To refresh your A/B testing expertise, read our recent blog about the A/B testing process and best practices for CRO.
Segment your audience
Segmentation helps you understand how different audience groups respond to variations. This can help you develop more targeted CRO strategies. For example, you might want to compare the performance of headline messages among prospects in the awareness phase against those in the consideration phase. You can segment your A/B test by demographics, user behavior, technographics, customer status, etc. When segmenting your A/B tests, you design tests specific to each segment and run parallel tests simultaneously across different segments. For example, you might test CTA button sizes with one test for mobile users and another for desktop users to understand which variation performs better on which device.
Use micro-conversions as test goals
Micro-conversions are small steps, like downloads or newsletter signups, that users take on their journey toward a larger conversion like a purchase. Micro-conversions can improve your CRO by providing deeper insights into user behavior and helping you identify specific areas where users are dropping off. Focusing on these intermediate actions helps you optimize key touchpoints in the buying journey. A/B testing micro-conversions can provide you with quick wins to enhance the user experience, leading to higher overall conversion rates.
User behavior analysis integration
Leveraging user behavior insights ensures your tests, and subsequent site improvements, are grounded in actual user behavior. CRO tools like heatmaps, session recordings and user journey analysis help to identify areas of friction in the user experience. You can develop more targeted hypotheses for your A/B tests with these insights. For example, if users frequently abandon a form at a specific form field, you can test variations that simplify or provide clearer instructions for that field. Integrating user behavior analysis into your A/B tests can lead to more impactful optimizations and higher conversions.
Testing beyond the CTA
Using A/B tests to improve conversion rates on your website goes way beyond the aesthetics of CTA buttons. You can expand your testing scope to make significant improvements to your site performance by including:
- Visual elements, including page layout, the arrangement of navigation elements and the effectiveness of popups and banners.
- Content elements, including value propositions, product descriptions, testimonial placement and formats, content length, titles, and summaries for blog posts and other assets.
- Functional elements, including form design, navigational structure and menu placements, search placement and search result formats, page load speed and the effectiveness of interactive elements like sliders, accordions and tabs.
- Behavioral elements, including personalized content and user-specific offers, live chat options, social proof like user counts and activity notifications, and the place and format of trust signals like certifications and security badges.
- Technical elements, including mobile responsive designs, browser compatibility, page redirects and error messaging design.
- User journey elements, including onboarding processes, pricing structure and display, email capture methods and sales funnel sequences.
Partner With CRO Experts
A/B testing to improve your website conversion rate is a complex and ongoing process that requires extensive know-how, strict oversight and complicated mathematical calculations. While online tools can make it simpler, it’s still easy to get it wrong. If you’re A/B testing and still not getting the expected results from your CRO––or if you’d rather not even go down that rabbit hole––we can help. Contact Elevation Marketing to learn how we can boost your website conversions with A/B testing for CRO.
