73 ideas for A / B testing

In A / B testing, the most difficult part is usually to determine what needs to be tested first. In working with thousands of customers who conduct AB tests every day, we constantly hear one of the most common questions - “Where do we start A / V testing?”.

At its core, testing raises more questions than answers. Your first test can lead to many subsequent analyzes and iterations. In case you have already run out of ideas for tests or are just starting to test your site, here are 73 ideas for conducting A / B tests.

Call to action

Your site is needed so that visitors can perform the necessary actions for you: buy something, read, register, download or share something. Here are some tips to help you achieve the desired result.

1. Buy now? Share? Add to Cart? Use calls to action as an inscription on the buttons and see which word or phrase gives the greatest result.
2. Try to change the location of the CTA-button, make some buttons more noticeable than others.
3. Test what works best: one or more CTAs on one page.
4. Try using hyperlinks instead of buttons, or try combining buttons and links with each other as an additional call to action.
5. Try using different calls to action: CTA with text or icon, or text + icon.
6. Try replacing the page content with the button “Click here to get a free beer!”.
7. Test different colors, shapes and sizes of CTA-buttons on your site.
8. Use volumetric buttons that change their shape, color, size when you hover the mouse over them - this helps to create a sense of interactivity of the page and usually increases clickthrough rate.

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Content (content filling site)

Content is practically fuel for your internet business, especially for companies operating in the B2B sphere. Testing various site content will help identify the most effective content, as well as help you find new sales funnels on your landing page.

1. Try to close content from unregistered visitors. So you can understand whether the information on your site is useful or not.
2. Website visitors want to know more about your company before or after making a purchase? Close the “About us” section on the landing page of your site to check it out.
3. The tone, mood and intonation of the content can play a big role in keeping the visitor on your site. Experiment with this. State the information with different intonation, different mood of the text. Play with text formatting and see which of the options your visitors prefer the most.
4. Experiment with different representations of information. For example, is it more convenient for users to scroll down the page, or is it easier for them to go to another page to learn more about something?

Landing Page Content

It is the text on your landing page that helps the visitor to understand what you are - it is very important to choose the text correctly. It is he who sets the tone for the whole interaction with the client. It is necessary to test many variants of the text in order to learn how to talk to your audience in “one language”.

1. Test different versions of headings, slogans, product descriptions and other content on your site. Maybe your user does not want to read much and prefers short versions of text more.
2. Test headlines. Try using more specific sentences instead of abstract, superficial phrases.
3. Text information is better perceived when it is broken down by paragraphs, divided into paragraphs, etc. Keep this in mind when testing and try using both.
4. Different users can react to different negative and positive messages. Test different ways of presenting information.
5. Try using hokku
   To describe the product,
   Everywhere on your site.
   (X o kku is a complete work, a poem of 3 lines)

Infographics, pictures for the site

Images, infographics, and any other visual information can have a very significant effect on conversion rates and visitor engagement on your site. Any visual information affects us subconsciously, and sometimes even consciously, therefore it is very important to test all graphic content.

1. Test different types of images on your landing page.
2. If users prefer to look at the images of people more, then try replacing the man with the woman (or vice versa), test the age of the people in the picture, their number and so on.
3. Try replacing a static image with a video presentation of the product, or make a 3D review of your product.
4. See how users react to real photos of your employees or customers in action (for example, in the first image, an employee can perform his or her work duties, and on the second, show how a customer uses your product).
5. If there is a video on your landing page, try to play it automatically when the page loads (or play as soon as the user twists the page to the video).
6. See if the video with the description of your product works better than the video where the sloth is hugging the cat.
7. Test what works best: a carousel with auto-scrolling on your landing page, a static image or video.
8. Try to better adapt your site for reading. For example, change the font, size, color contrast, etc. Do not use playful and serif fonts in general text. Better prefer fonts like Arial, Calibri, etc.
9. Now there are many services for creating infographics. Be sure to try them out. Try to present graphically any numbers you can, better in comparison with other indicators or in the “before and after” format. As a rule, infographics can greatly increase the conversion of the site.
10. Test different voices video dubbing. See if there is a difference in the effectiveness of using female and male voices.
11. Try using different versions of the product demonstration, maybe it will be an animated image, or maybe just a photo of him or a screenshot of the personal account.
12. If possible, try to start a video broadcast of how to use your product, or how your employees work in real time.

Pictures for the site and infographics can be easily found on free photo stocks. For example, www.freepik.com (there are a lot of beautiful and free infographics) or www.istockphoto.com/en/en (and everything else here).

Sales funnel

Sales funnel is an excellent tool for converting visitors to customers. For a site, it can be applied in different ways, for example, by transferring a user from one page to another or gradually leading him along the landing page to the target action. To use it, A / V testing tools are our everything.

1. Remove all distractions from the purchase of factors - information on delivery, promotions, instructions for use, etc. Remove all this from your funnel. Try to simplify your sales funnel leaving only the most important things in it. Remove all other information somewhere else so that it does not distract the user from the purchase.
2. Test how the number of pages in your sales funnel affects. Does a multi-page funnel work better than a funnel formed into one landing page (and vice versa)?
3. Be sure to try as much as possible to clear the page with checkout. Remove from the checkout page all the navigation blocks and everything that can accidentally “catch” the buyer's attention (you can leave only a neat “back” arrow to return to the previous page, but test this too) and look at the result.
4. Try changing some of the steps in ordering. For example, if this is an online store, then try to arrange a form for choosing a delivery method not on a separate page, but to make it just a separate item on the order form.

Site Navigation

Navigation is one of the most important parts of the site. Much depends on it in exactly how visitors will use yours. It is very important to test it in order to understand what should be in it and what is best to be taken out of the navigation zone in order not to confuse users. Here are some ideas on how to make navigation more convenient and useful to use:

1. Test the order of the menu items. Remember that a person always reads from left to right, try to put the most meaningful for you or useful items for the user on the left.
2. Test the layout of the navigation bar. How it will be most convenient, in a horizontal display, or in a vertical? (A person perceives information from the top down.)
3. See how it is more convenient in your case when the navigation bar is fixed, or when it “moves out” from its place and follows the visitor when scrolling the page from the side or from above. It may be worthwhile to put into it the most basic points, such as “Login”, “Register” or some main sections of the site, so that the user can quickly jump to the desired section without going up the page. The main thing is not to overload the floating navigation bar.
4. Test different navigation headings. For example, a simple change in the name of the item “How to use us” on “Why use us” or “How it works” can have a very significant impact.

Testing Tip: Split traffic into new and old visitors. Users who already have experience of interaction with your site will not want to make an effort to find the desired menu item that is not in the same place. From this they can just leave the site, it can significantly spoil the statistics, and as a result you can refuse the right decision by making your choice in the direction of the old version.

Forms of registration, orders

Any point of user interaction with the site is very important. Registration forms or creating orders are often littered with additional, useless fields. Try these tests on your website:

1. Check the length of the registration form. Remove irrelevant fields, and fields that are not required to be filled away somewhere far away, for example, in the user's personal account or on another page so that they do not clog the form. Leave only the most important fields for registration or ordering goods.
2. Everyone loves free stuff. Still would. Try to make a special offer for users, for example, any discounts or promotions to increase the number of registrations or applications. (However, with this you need to be very careful.)
3. No one likes spam. Still would. Try to add a few words about the fact that you will not overwhelm the boxes of your users with useless information. We can say that you will not send them letters more than 1-2 times a week. Please note that this kind of message must be convincing.
4. Try to make some form fields a little more than the rest. Just do not overdo it. Large fields subconsciously seem friendlier than others.
5. Test this thing: try asking people for different information. For example, in one test, ask people for a work phone (or email address), and in another just a cell phone number.

Mobile version of the site

Increasingly, the popularity of buying from a mobile phone. Adapting your site to mobile devices can greatly increase user loyalty and site conversion.

1. Look at the length of your mobile pages. Are your mobile users more likely to buy from one-page sites, or is it more convenient for them to go to a new page to place an order?
2. Test different ways to navigate the site. Drop lists, buttons, and various interaction blocks are a good starting point for testing.

Testing Tip: Try splitting traffic on Android and iOS mobile platforms. This will help you better understand your target audience and customize your site for each of them.

contextual advertising

Split testing improves the efficiency of return on money invested in search engine promotion. To make sure that you get the most out of every ruble spent, try the following tests:

1. Look at the statistics of your site by the headlines of your advertisements to see which ones bring you more clicks.
2. Experiment with the display URL on your advertisements. This often greatly affects the number of clicks on your ads.
3. Look at how well the landing page of your ad resonates with it. It is important that the user gets exactly on the page that is able to solve the problem, which is written in your ad. Do everything possible so that the user gets exactly what he needs, otherwise the money will go "into the pipe."

Social buttons

Simplify the use of social networking buttons. Be sure to do this to make it easier for people to share your information. Here are some tips for conducting split testing to increase likes, reposts, retweets:

1. Change the size and location of social networking icons to understand what drives users to share your content more often. Try to place the buttons so that they are always visible and easily accessible from any part of the site, but do not “litter” the monitor screen.
2. Compare how the appearance of social networking icons affects the result: the standard view unlike those that were created in accordance with the design of your site.
3. Try to attach the floating buttons to the left or right side of the screen, so that they are always in easy accessibility. Try to make the buttons increase when the cursor enters their zone.
4. Add or remove a few icons according to which social network is the most popular among your target audience. It is important not to overdo it with the number of icons and at the same time give the use of all the necessary tools of sharing.

Email marketing (email distribution)

How to increase the number of discoveries of your mailing list and the number of transitions from it? Here are some elements you need to test to increase these numbers:

1. Test the headers and length of the text and a series of letters. Remember that the maximum usable header length varies around 40-50 characters.
2. Test the message frequency. It is not advisable to send letters more than 1-2 times a week for informative, useful mailings. Try not to carry out various promotions and discounts more than once a month (and even then a lot), otherwise you risk simply “burning out” all your good customers and subscribers. Try to hold actions about 1 time in 1-2 months and launch small series of letters (3-7 letters in one series) informing about these same actions.
3. Pick the best time for newsletters. No need to send important letters at the weekend, they are unlikely to anyone open. However, it is worth experimenting with this.
4. Try using thank-you letters. For example, 3-7 days after making a purchase, send a message to the buyer in which you express your gratitude to the customer, report on the stage of processing the order and remind you that he can contact you for help at any convenient time. You can repeat this message after another 2-2.5 weeks.
5. Optimize your message text. Test and select for yourself the most optimal length of the text, the form of reference, the design of the letter, etc. for each type of mailing. Do not frighten your subscribers with rampant phrases like: “I know when your birthday is!”.
6. Check how well your email is displayed on different devices. Does it really look right everywhere?
7. See who your users prefer to receive messages from? It may be more pleasant for them to receive a message from your marketing director, or the founder of your organization. Try to use as few addresses as possible: “noreply@tratata.com” - users do not always positively relate to mailings that it is theoretically impossible to answer (we are people and it’s more pleasant for us to communicate with people, not machines).
8. If you still use automatic messages, be sure to experiment with the signature of such messages. In it, you can be polite and indicate contacts to ask for help.

Site customization

We are all accustomed to personalizing sites for our gender, age and our sources of visiting sites (although we rarely notice this as users). Try using similar personalization methods for your site.

1. Create seasonal and holiday special promotional offers and test them on visitors living in specific locations.
2. Test the autocomplete forms for the location of users. Simplify these tasks for visitors.
3. Be sure to check the language of your site relative to the country or region of residence of the visitor.
4. Test various options for page design and text content for new and returning visitors. Try to test the same thing in the context of men and women, as well as by their age and region of residence.
5. Test different content of pages for users who come to you from mobile devices and visitors from those who come to you from a laptop or desktop computer. Try to abandon the adaptive layout of pages in favor of pages written specifically for mobile devices.
6. If you have a promotional video describing your product, then try to show it only in the evening. That is, in the morning and in the middle of the day, try to focus on the text description of the product / service, and in the evening put the video in the foreground.
7. Experiment with the background of the mobile version of the site. Often users are not at home when using mobile devices. Try in the daytime to use the bright colors of the site, and in the evening a little darker (do not use white text on a black background) for comfortable perception of the site at any time of the day. The same can be done for the desktop version of the site.
8. Thanks to tracking the visitor's actions on the site, it is possible for the returning visitor to show a landing variant, which will greatly simplify all the information about the company's activities except the one that most interested the user last time. This time, the block with this information can be lifted altogether to the top, so that the visitor can quickly find what he needs. This will save the time of the user and his efforts, and also focus his attention only on what is important for him.
9. Test the amount of information on the site depending on the time of day. Try in the evening to show visitors a more simplified version of the presentation of information. Especially if you are not able to offer a video to the visitor in the evening.

Cost and delivery

Finding the most balanced cost plays practically the key role in the existence of your online business. The following tests are aimed at maximizing profits from your site:

1. Test what gives you better customers in the short and long term: a free trial of the product or an offer with a money back guarantee? Do not be afraid to promise a money-back guarantee, as a rule, if the goods are really high-quality, then they are returned very rarely, and the profit from successfully sold copies fully covers the cost of returning money. But keep in mind that you must honestly fulfill your obligations to return the money, otherwise you will earn yourself a very bad reputation.
2. Try to set default checkboxes on additional options or related products. Often, people do not like to personally give up something that they could get as a supplement.
3. Relying on the fact that people love pleasant things, try to make small bonuses to regular customers, or customers who have purchased a product or service for a significant amount. The main thing is that people do not know about their bonus, let it be a little surprise for them - they will definitely share this news with their friends. It is important to do this carefully, not to the detriment of yourself and your reputation, so as not to lure unwanted customers.
4. Try to list all the options in the tariffs that the user will receive when choosing this tariff plan. Such a detail of the services for which the user pays will help psychologically increase the value of your sales offer.
5. Try to place its more expensive counterparts next to a single product, which are only slightly better than it, but are superior in price quite significantly. You can arrange the goods so that the cheapest (profitable) version was read in the last turn. Here it is important that a person first pay attention to large numbers and only then notice something more suitable for him. For example, if the goods are arranged in a row, then install the most profitable option last or next to last.
6. If you have free delivery, then tell your visitors about it on the main page. Try experimenting with the placement of this information on the landing page.

During the translation process (source: blog.optimizely.com/2013/04/30/71-things-to-ab-test ) I could restrain myself from my own additions, so as not to overload the already voluminous article. True, it didn’t go without that - I made a few of my own additions and added a couple of points. But if I'm somewhere, I missed something, or you have your own additions to the article, then please tell us about it in the comments.

I really hope that my version of the translation of this article will help you. It gives a lot of useful tips, and she herself carefully laid out the points so that it is very convenient to use as a check list.

Therefore, be sure to save it to your bookmarks or throw off to your social networks and use for the benefit of your site every time there is a need to increase the conversion of the site.