A/B Testing: What is it and Does it work?

If you have been long enough in marketing, you will understand that A/B Testing has been the go-to of most analytics. It is reported to have the highest Conversion Rate Optimization method among companies who use it in their planning and strategy.  But with the rise of Omnichannel marketing, A/B testing is fading, especially as the marketing transition to social media platforms.

If you’re one of the companies that use A/B Testing, this article is for you to re-evaluate your strategy and we’ll introduce some new tips in marketing!

How did A/B Testing Become Popular?

A/B testing would feel like it has most weight than other marketing analyses. It is a controlled scientific method that yields a controlled and scientific data set. But why do marketers use A/B Testing in their marketing strategies?

Easy to Implement

Because of its simple concept, A/B Testing is also easy to implement. Even small business products and their operations can use A/B testing for their content and marketing campaigns and it’s simple to get started.

Gives Validity

Validity is a common concern for marketers. We need to have the justification of the decisions and the financial whereabouts of our operations by evaluating the performance of the content, ads, or campaigns. And because A/B testing has been part of marketing, it still gives marketers that sense of validity. 

Do A/B Testing Still Work?

A/B Testing is not absolute. However, current marketing strategies have become less effective when applied to social media platforms. In a survey, a surprising 28 marketers noted being satisfied with their conversion rate after implementing A/B Testing. 

Few core reasons for the decreasing efficacy of interactive marketing:

• Less Control

With the rise of social media, it’s impossible to get control over everything simply because you cannot control every variable affecting how the customers receive your content.

• It’s Not Random

Every social media platform has an algorithm that ranks viewers of certain content. And no surprise, the biggest platforms have the most algorithm– Instagram and Facebook are examples. 

Since these algorithms filter your content to only a chosen audience, your marketing is never random. But rather calculated.

• Different Algorithm Agenda

A/B Testing simply cannot override the media platform algorithm. Google Ads and Facebook, for example, always test and show content to different groups that will most likely take actionable responses. In all sense, media platforms have other agendas– and that is to prioritize profit. 

Shifting from A/B Testing to a more Unified Measurement Approach

While A/B Testing will not completely go away, utilizing a unified marketing approach has become more reliable, giving marketers a more accurate picture of their marketing performance and making testing more efficient.

The unified measurement approach brings together all data sets, techniques, and approaches that affect marketing performance, either digitally or offline. This approach, enables marketers to identify the impact and how customers interact across your content and ads, and even marketing efforts.

Testing your marketing through the Unified Measurement Approach has benefits such as:

Omnichannel Optimization

Using Unified Measurement Marketing or Approach allows you to optimize your entire marketing strategy. This results in increased efficiency and enables you to create an Omnichannel campaign.

Decreases Lag Time

Since your approach is already unified across all your media platforms, you can now get an accurate picture of your marketing ads' performance. Since your content or campaign is uploaded simultaneously, it reduces the lag time, especially in testing across channels.

With everything being tied up, you can operate faster and increase your business productivity.

 Wider Scope

The most significant benefit of utilizing the Unified Marketing Approach would be an accurate view and easy comparison of campaigns across channels, media, time, and more. You can look at the performance of each data and capitalize on the quality of data available to you.

Final Thought

Digital marketing is changing rapidly. These changes make it overwhelming even by the sheer presentation of data. Suppose you want to stay ahead of the vast competition. In that case, you need to partner with a digital agency that knows exactly how to implement your marketing objectives while setting your business up for optimization, among other competitors.

A/B testing may still work but it’s not the solution you need for your marketing. Unlock your business potential with the Unified Measurement Approach to turn your marketing into a continuous learning process.

Allow KLB Solutions LLC to assist you.