A/B Testing for eCommerce Website

We are living in an era of eCommerce boom. There is a massive adoption of eCommerce in developing countries. In developed countries eCommerce is growing so far that small retailers are being replaced by their online counterpart. Almost everything is available online & by a single click, you can get that product or service at your home.

Key ingredients of a successful eCommerce development is having the right user interface, good performance, secured technology & the complete experience which they provide to customers while shopping online. Improving your web presence is an ongoing activity & everyone has different idea about it. Real expertise lies in deciding what to optimize in your website & increase conversion rate. One sure-shot way that adds immense value to your business & website improvement is A/B Testing.

What is A/ B Testing?

A/B Testing also commonly referred to as spit testing is basically an improvement methodology whereby two entities which can be applied in any given scenario & are compared quantitatively as well as qualitatively.

A/B testing is the latest trend whereby it provides an approach to logically identify the improvement areas of the website & to strategize the technical implementation based on business needs. Using A/B testing you can split the different variant across to your visitors & put real data into action. Compare each variant and check analytics to see which variant get a high conversion rate. Thereby you can optimize that page by testing individual elements on it like Call to action, Contact Form and so on. With the help of A/B testing you get

• Better resonance with the audience
• Boost conversion rate
• Increase ROI

The success of an eCommerce website depends on its ability to facilitate more business online. A/B testing is a systematic approach that can be utilized to improve any aspect of your business whether it is sales, marketing or website technology. Many people use it in the context of improving the UI & UX of the website since it is the customer-facing entity.

How to do A/B Testing?

In terms of a website, A/B Testing can be implemented by having two different versions of the same web page is implemented & tracking the user behavior on the same. For example, for your eCommerce business, you have a special product which you are promoting by giving heavy discount. How would you showcase the same in the website & where will be this item displayed? You will have several questions like this.

Take any specific part of your website. For example the “Call to Action” button on the home page. These are basically “Buy Now”, “Add to Cart” or “Purchase Now” buttons on the web page tempting users to purchase a specific product. Few areas while testing this “Call to Action” buttons can be:

Placement: What are the places where we can put this button? Which is the most suitable place?

Aesthetics: What should be the size & color of this button? Should it be bold or subtle?

Text: Usage of appropriate words is very important. Should it have “Buy Now”, “Avail Offer”, “Add to Cart” or any other contextual text which facilitates a call to action?

In the above scenario website, an owner should be having two different versions of the call to action buttons and implementing it for a specific period of time & then comparing them together. Experimental learning will be providing some very interesting insights into your business.

A/B Testing is not a onetime process. In fact, this is an approach -a way of thinking, strategizing and executing business approach which should be continuous and touching almost every aspect of your website.