What is A/B testing?

A/B testing is also used to improve the usability or SEO of a website. You should realise that there is no room for improvement if you do not know where exactly things go wrong. That is why it is important to know which physical efforts are effective and which are not. How can you make the website more accessible or more visible for the customer? Which actions will improve conversions?

The only way to test this is to create two almost identical situations and only make one variation each. Then, lead one group of visitors to one scenario and the other group of visitors to the other scenario. In which scenario do you get the most customers? What effect does this small variation have on the whole? It could very well be that version A is more accessible than version B or that people in version B feel they are helped better. A/B testing is an important tool in the marketing world and contributes to understanding customer behaviour and responding to it with one's own skills and tools. 

Definition of A/B testing 

A/B testing is used to better understand customer behaviour and to adapt the website accordingly. By using this form of testing, you learn exactly what a visitor to your website is looking for and what can persuade him or her to make a purchase or get in touch. This way, you can improve not only the user-friendliness but also the conversion rate of your website. 

With A/B testing, there are many different models possible. Sometimes complex, sometimes very simple. Let's keep it simple for this example. You assume one variation on two identical models. You call them website A and website B. Then you divide two groups of equal size into the various models. They don't know that there is also an alternative on the pages they see. Nor whether they belong to the normal group or the control group. An analysis can then be shown. What actions did these people perform? What did it lead to? Are there significant differences between group A and B? And if so, could you elaborate on this?

The purpose of A/B testing 

A/B testing can have many different purposes. Usually it is used to achieve the goals of the website. After all, most website creators have a goal. Standing still is going backwards. Therefore, a goal may be to receive more visitors each month or to create more conversions. An objective can also be to achieve a higher turnover and make more profit. With A/B testing, it is important that the objective is formulated well and that each time is looked at how it can possibly be achieved by making small adjustments to the website. Think for example of a different profit margin on the different products. This can be very exciting. However, through A/B testing you know in advance whether it will work or not. This takes away a lot of the tension.