When we work on a project, whether it be a website, advertising campaign or email blast, we’re building what we think will work best. Our decisions are based on research, best practices, a client’s insights and our own experience—but without concrete data, having a good feeling about a project isn’t enough to guarantee success. Strategy plays a big role in how we approach digital marketing at Parkway; we care a lot about the “how” and “why” behind the choices we make. That’s why we rely on A/B testing. Also called split testing, A/B testing involves comparing two versions of a piece of content to determine which one resonates best with an intended audience. It provides real-world data that helps refine messaging, design and overall effectiveness.
Why A/B Testing Is Essential
A/B testing isn’t just about figuring out which ad or email performs better—it’s also about understanding why one approach has more impact on audiences than another. A/B testing can help you:
Eliminate Guesswork and Assumptions
It’s easy to fall into the habit of assuming what will work best based on personal preference or intuition. Unfortunately, even good guesses don’t always translate into positive results. Well-executed A/B testing is empirical evidence that makes what motivates audiences more clear.
Improve Conversion Rates
In theory, motivated audiences are more likely to convert. Testing different elements, identifying what works best and combining those variables can help you improve key metrics, such as sign-ups, downloads or purchases.
Optimize Marketing Budgets
Marketing budgets are often tight; spending money without clear direction is less than ideal. A/B testing helps identify cost-effective strategies, allowing you to allocate resources to the highest-performing tactics.
Enhance User Experience
Think about the last time you encountered a confusing marketing email or difficult-to-navigate website. Chances are you didn’t spend too much time on it. A/B testing helps you find solutions to areas of friction and other user experience pain points.
Google Ads Experiments with Richard Breen Law Offices
Recently, we redesigned Richard Breen Law Offices’ website and revamped the firm’s website copy to highlight two core aspects of its identity: compassion and aggressive advocacy. When new ad campaigns launched a few weeks later, we created two versions of a new landing page: one emphasizing empathetic support and the other focusing on the legal team’s unyielding approach to compensation for victims.
Over the next 60 days, we used Google Ads Experiments to test these two landing pages (while all other campaign elements remained the same). The data showed a clear winner, with one page delivering a conversion rate 2.5x higher than the other.
OptinMonster A/B Testing with CME Seminars
CME Seminars, which offers continuing medical education conferences in vacation destinations, grows its email list using a promotional popup on strategic pages across its website. We use OptinMonster to build popups for CME Seminars, which allows us to test various design and copy elements over time. As each test gathers data, we can make informed decisions about what motivates healthcare practitioners to sign up for emails, and continuously improve popup performance.
Best A/B Testing Practices
Before you start any A/B testing of your own, it’s important to follow some basic best practices and remember that testing is often an ongoing process.
Define a clear goal.
Have a specific objective and a way to gauge results.
Test one variable at a time.
Changing multiple elements simultaneously makes it difficult to figure out what’s driving behavior.
Make each variation distinct.
If changes are too subtle, results may be inconclusive. Variations should be significant enough to produce meaningful insights.
Ensure exposure is equal.
Use an A/B testing tool or platform to evenly split traffic between variations. Remember the time of day, day of the week, and season you run tests in all matters.
Have a big enough sample.
It’s important your tests run long enough to gather plenty of data, so depending on how much traffic you usually get, this could take anywhere from a week to a couple of months.
