A/B Testing involves running two test versions of the same thing, against one another, to see which one performs better and eliminate guesswork.
It is a data-driven approach to sales and marketing where you analyze and optimize the performance based on evidence rather than relying on your “gut feeling”.
In an A/B test, half of your audience automatically receives “version A” and half receives “version B”. Usually, version A is the original “creative” you had in mind, whereas version B is the challenger to that “creative” to see which one users respond to better.
You can perform A/B testing on a landing page, display ad, marketing email, cold outreach templates, social posts, etc.
Best practices:
Test early: Test early in your campaign to a small segment of your total list.
Test one element at a time: Only test one element at a time, e.g. Subject Line, or CTA button. Your results won’t tell you what really worked if you try to test multiple things at the same time. How would you know which one of them really pushed the needle?
Create only two variations of the tested element: Test only the A version against the B version.
Trust the results: Trust the test results rather than your “gut”. Personal bias can interfere.