A/B Testing Your Content: Propel Some and Destroy Others

Quick Takeaways

In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, A/B testing is essential to stay ahead. Here are the key points to understand:

• What is A/B Testing? It involves trying different types and formats of the same content to see which one performs best. This can include changes in writing style, layout, media type, and more.
• When to Perform A/B Tests? Always and regularly. Trends change quickly, and what works today might not work tomorrow. Regular testing ensures your content stays relevant and effective.
• How to Decide Which Tests to Run? Try everything, especially at the start. Different lengths, styles, and media formats can yield different results. Testing helps find what best captivates your audience.
• Using AI for Content Creation: AI can help rewrite content in various styles and formats, making it easier to test different versions without extra effort. This allows for cost-effective testing and optimization.
• Know Your Audience: Even if you think you know your audience’s preferences, continuous testing and adaptation are crucial. Staying updated with trends and competitors is key to maintaining your position.
• Don’t Reinvent the Wheel: Focus on your core business and follow existing trends in online communication. Test what works and apply successful strategies.
• Segment Your Goals: Broaden your target audience initially and narrow it down over time based on test results. This approach ensures effective reach and better engagement.
• Test Tools: Utilize AI and other digital marketing tools for content generation, monitoring, and trend analysis. Trial versions can help identify the best tools for your needs.
• Automate Old A/B Tests: Don’t discard previously tested versions. Revisit and automate tests to identify rising trends or shifts in audience preferences.
• Better Late Than Never: Exploit trends even if you discover them later. Continuous monitoring and adaptation are essential for long-term success.

By understanding and implementing these strategies, you can enhance your content’s performance and stay ahead in the competitive digital landscape. Read the full article to dive deeper into each section and ensure your A/B testing practices are up-to-date and effective.

A/B testing, an essential tool to optimize content

In the dynamic world of digital marketing, staying relevant and effective is a constant challenge. A/B testing has become an essential tool to optimize content and maximize impact. Imagine being able to predict which version of your content will best capture your audience’s attention and generate the best results. This article guides you through the essentials of A/B testing, its importance, and how to implement it to continuously improve your content strategy.

What is A/B Testing?

If you’re not exactly sure what A/B testing your content means, here’s a brief overview. A/B testing involves trying different types and formats of the same content to measure which one generates the best metrics according to your goals. Sometimes it’s about changing the writing style, whether it’s the titles or paragraphs, sometimes changing the layout and order of chapters. Other tests might completely change the type of media, such as comparing the impact of a version with graphics versus a video version. There are various types of tests, both in form and content.

When Should You Perform A/B Tests?

Always, regularly, non-stop! Trends are changing faster and faster, what’s in vogue today will soon be obsolete. Resting on your laurels is a recipe for getting left behind. Initially, you should perform many tests, especially after defining your personas, but you should regularly plan new approaches and keep an eye on KPIs to see how each format impacts them.

How to Decide Which Tests to Run?

Easy, all of them, especially at the start. Write an article in both long and short formats, then for the next one, create a version with a standard title and another with a more shocking style. Try a neutral writing style versus a narrative one, test with lots of illustrative images versus few images… Human behavior isn’t an exact science.

For the same industry in the same geographic area, one type of content can yield great results while a competitor’s audience might dislike it. Sometimes it’s because the first has already established that style and copying it would be frowned upon. Other times there are different reasons. Nothing beats testing for yourself to find out how to captivate your target readers.

My Content Creator Has a Unique Style

Whether it’s the same style of writing or their technical skills limit them to a certain type of content, this was indeed a limitation that blocked many entrepreneurs a few months ago! Good news, artificial intelligence is here to help!

Today, you can give the same initial draft to an AI and ask it to rewrite the text in any style you want. You can tell it to rephrase it as if Steve Jobs wrote it, or as if it were penned by Barack Obama! You’ll keep the same core content, but the phrasing and terminology will be rewritten in seconds in any style you choose. Even better, several AI solutions on the market today allow you to create content from text in multiple formats: audio, video, or graphics. This lets you test at a lower cost before deciding which direction to invest in based on real results!

I Know My Audience and Their Preferences!

You might be the only one selling jackets on a beach in August, and you’re doing well, and your stock is limited but that’s enough for you! We understand. Let us know as soon as a new competitor enters your market. Look at what happened to giants who thought the same way, like the former leaders of old-generation phones or the leaders of film photography, and other sectors. Once surpassed, it’s very hard to come back! That’s why leaders know that maintaining their position requires better market visibility than a follower who just imitates what the leader does.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel!

Do you sell houses? Do you do renovation work? Or do you have a dental practice? Focus on developing your core business. For online communication, you need to follow trends, but don’t venture into creation, it has its specialists. It could end up costing you dearly in every sense of the term, whether it’s the creation itself or its impact. Don’t venture into this area, just keep a good watch on what works, test it, and apply what works. Successfully following trends and applying them correctly at the right time will be more than enough to regularly attract new prospects and retain existing ones.

Segment Your Goals

Reaching your target prospects in the first campaigns isn’t always achievable. It all depends on the complexity of your niche profile. If you insist on targeting the same audience, you might get discouraged if results take time to materialize. The smartest move is to broaden your niche at the beginning and narrow it down as you go.

If your target represents a population of 100k people, but you can reach a population of 10M that includes your 100K, then tighten your campaigns more and more, you’ll get results quickly and increasingly effectively.

A/B testing requires numbers in both versions for the comparison to be reliable. Use the results of A/B tests to create your funnel and use the versions that bring you the best results, which include your final target. This is the key to eventually getting versions that best reach your target with the lowest possible cost and the least effort in sorting.

Test Tools as Well

We won’t tell you what you’d gain by using an electric screwdriver compared to a manual one! This applies to your digital marketing as well. Whether it’s AI to generate content, effective monitoring and statistical tools, or digital tracking tools to follow trends, today you have a choice of several tools with various features, different budgets, and specialized in different tasks. Most offer trial versions, test days. If you’re not sure which one to choose, take a paid trial month to better use the tool.

Ask professionals for advice to help you choose. Unfortunately, most comparison sites are simple lists with affiliate links that aim to highlight the solution offering the best commission. Over time, you’ll know who the most reliable ones are, who despite being paid commissions by the users they refer to the tools, make objective critiques. But if in doubt, ask professionals.

Automate Old A/B Tests

You’ve already conducted several tests, you have an approach you decided to follow at one point but the non-chosen version also had interesting results. Don’t discard it, you’re probably facing a rising trend, or one that’s coming back, or maybe a disappearing trend.

To be sure, plan further tests of this discarded version at a later date, and compare the results to see if the trend is increasing or decreasing. It would be a shame if it were a rising trend you could have discovered early but missed because you discarded it without monitoring. Especially after the first test, you have all the info to automate a large part, if not all, of future A/B tests of this discarded approach.

Better Late Than Never

Discovering a trend and exploiting it, even late compared to others, is always better than not doing it at all. No matter your means, resources, or knowledge, digital monitoring and trend tracking must absolutely be part of your marketing strategy. Unfortunately, we see many talented entrepreneurs fail because of this, and many of them don’t even realize that it’s the main reason they lost their customers and failed to market their products or services. Conversely, we also meet many entrepreneurs who succeed despite having a normal product or service, but they always market it the right way and adapt their communication to current trends.

In the end, A/B testing is a powerful tool that allows you to stay in tune with your audience and market trends. Don’t underestimate its importance and integrate it as an essential part of your content strategy. Adapt, test, and continuously adjust to stay relevant and effective in an ever-evolving digital environment.