Standard A/B testing is great, but according to a blog posting on Online-Behavior.com by Paras Chopra, founder of Visual Website Optimizer this basic method only skims the surface of web metrics. After all, the basic method only gives a limited amount of information.
In a posting titled, Advanced A/B Testing Tactics You Should Know, Chopra outlines some methods that go far beyond the average A/B test. These strategies allows webmasters to use segmentation to not only serve up different pages to different users; it also allows them to serve up different pages to different types of users. This can be a very powerful conversion tool.
It also allows publishers to see the impact achieving one goal has on achieving other goals. Testers are sometimes surprised to find out that a successful e-mail list building campaign can negatively impact other conversion goal, like sales.
Here are a few of his more advanced A/B testing scenarios and the value they provide.
Pre-Test Segmentation
Pre-Test segmentation allows webmasters to define certain user groups and test specific pages on that group only. This means webmasters can have specific pages served up to returning customers or visitors who have never made a purchase. Of course these pages should contain offers tailored specifically to that group. Pre-test segmentation makes it possible to test exactly how well these offers are working.
Looking for some more tips for ? Check out: Creating Better Conversion Rates.
Targeting
Once you’ve identified what pages are going to be most effective for each targeted group, you can start serving them up on a permanent basis – while tracking the results the whole time of course. Chopra uses an example of how websites serve up pages with ads based on a customers’ previous behavior and purchases. It’s a very effective means of personalizing a site, along with gathering some hard data, too.
Post Test Segmentation
Post test segmentation is similar to pre-test segmentation only instead of serving one page to a certain group, the same page is served up to everyone. What makes this technique effective is that customers have already been divided up into predetermined groups. Using this method, webmasters can harvest solid information on how different segments react to the same pages.
Knowing how individual segments of your audience react to different pages is a powerful tool that helps affiliates narrow down that special conversion mojo.
Chopra’s post isn’t called Advanced A/B Testing Techniques for nothing and we highly recommend that CAP readers check out the entire post for more details and some highly informative videos, too.
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