What is A/B Testing and How can Dropshipping Sellers Use it?

Every successful webstore and brand employs A/B testing. This will be a quick overview of the topic so you can get your foot in the door for your dropshipping store.

 

What is A/B Testing?

A/B Testing, also known as split testing, is a method of measuring the conversion rate of two separate variables (A and B) of a webpage, email, ad campaign, or other digital asset shown to two different segments of web traffic.

Typically, 50% of the traffic will arrive at a webpage with variable A while the other 50% will be sent to the webpage with variable B. Whichever variable produces more conversions will get 100% of the traffic. Conversions can be sales, ad engagement, mailing list signups, or even simply opening an email.

Why A/B Test?

The goal of A/B testing is to predict your customers’ behavior and get more conversions. You want to optimize the value of your existing traffic to increase revenue. In the case of ads, you want higher engagement and store visits. A/B testing offers a high return on investment because it is a very inexpensive route to more conversions.

A/B testing can also help you solve customer pain points. Unclear product descriptions, oddly placed or colored purchase buttons, or vague categories can all cause friction that keeps your customers from moving forward in the purchasing process.

You may also incorporate A/B testing to help lower your bounce rate. An improved user experience can help drop the number of people who visit only one page on your store and immediately leave. You can A/B test different variants of your user experience and measure how to impacts your bounce rate.

How Do You A/B Test?

Start off by identifying a variable you want to test on your webstore, marketing emails, or ad campaigns. Your current iteration (A) will be known as the control while the altered iteration (B) will be the variable. Whichever iteration has a better conversion rate will become the new control (A) and then you can test it against a new variable (B).

Keep in mind, test duration should be short, and change should be quick. When you get a handle on A/B testing, it may be beneficial to develop a more sophisticated testing processing that becomes an ongoing efficiency effort.

How Do You Decide What to A/B Test?

This part can prove to be an obstacle for the emerging dropshipping mogul. Where do you start? For dropshippers just getting comfortable with A/B testing, start with your ad campaign.

Facebook Business and Google Ads (You should have both) have built-in A/B Testing functions for ads. You can choose variables such as ad content, audience, placement, and others. Let’s look at some examples.

1. Ad Content Variable

i. Control (A): Your payed product ad with a static image

Variable (B): Your payed product ad with a video or image reel

ii. Control (A): Your payed product ad with original text

Variable (B): Your payed product ad with an altered text.

 

2. Audience Variable

i. Control (A): Your payed product ad with original audience demographic

Variable (B): Your payed product ad with original audience with an added region

ii. Control (A): Your payed product ad with regional audience demographic

Variable (B): Your payed product with an interest-based audience demographic

While these may seem like small changes, the difference in conversions can be dramatic. Even small detail changes can catch the eye of customers and get you more visits.

 

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