Start A/B Testing Your Site In 2015

Running an ecommerce website is like juggling one hundred balls at once, you’ve got to keep everything up in the air for things to tick over nicely, which is easier said than done.

Over at NailPolish.co.uk, we’ve now come out of the holidays with another couple of employees, which makes my life a whole lot easier. We’ve made great improvements on how we source and store inventory, how we pick and pack, and how we manage the Customer Service part of our business. But there are still a few things on my checklist I have been putting off.

Top of my list, and my advice to you in 2015, is…

Start A/B testing your site!

I’m not lazy, but because I have so much to do on a daily basis, those tasks that I’m unfamiliar with will usually be pushed further and further down my “to-do” list. A/B testing has been postponed time and time again.

In the past I’ve spoken to agencies about working with me on an ongoing basis, but the main thing that put me off was their quite extortionate prices (I’m talking a $10,000 retainer per month, plus goal-based bonuses). As well as my websites do, that kind of money is completely out of the question.

I’ve managed to find a freelance A/B tester – he’s actually a long-standing friend, so I was super pleased to hear he’d been dabbling in A/B testing for clients. I’m now paying less than $1,000 per month all in for his services, that includes any/all performance related bonuses and a retainer.

Yes, this is still a lot of money. But…

For my particular business and the number of sites, products, and marketing outlets I have running, as well as the kind of control I like to maintain on things, this works within MY budget. I wouldn’t assume though that it works within yours.

Fortunately, there are some really great tools out there that can help you get to A/B testing your site very quickly, and easily! And best of all, they are very affordable.

I’d recommend you take a look at Optimizely and Visual Website Optimizer, as they are pretty much the leading A/B Testing platforms out right now for easy, non-technical use.

To reiterate, you do NOT have to be technical to get started using these tools, you can be up and running, on your own, with your first live tests, in just a few minutes.

But back to my business, and my consultant. He only started work about two weeks ago, so we’re in the very early stages of the A/B testing journey. Already we’ve found some winning formulas for buy buttons – both the copy on the button itself, and the color of the button.

We’re also trying a ton of other experiments – including two and three page checkouts, changing the placement of Trustpilot widgets on product pages, and lots of other variables. One of the tests we’ve run has lead to an increase of 26% in the number of people clicking the buy button. This just goes to show exactly how effective A/B testing is.

A/B testing, to me, seems hugely complex – and that’s why I haven’t wrapped my head around it in the past. I’ve done minor tests, but nothing serious or sustained. I’m hoping that by employing someone to look after A/B testing for me, we’ll see some huge gains in sales.

For you, get up and running quickly with one of the tools I suggested above.

No website out there is perfect, the best way to ensure your sales are as good as they possibly can be is to test, test, test! A/B testing allows you to wring out every last dollar of your marketing spend, by ensuring that more traffic than ever before converts for you.

If PPC ads are too expensive for you, or even magazine advertising, it’s a good idea to run some A/B tests to ensure your website is optimized for sales. If you wish to hire a personal consultant, but are struggling to find someone like I was, I’d recommend posting a job somewhere like Elance or oDesk.

Any other thoughts on A/B testing, or solutions you recommend? Tell us in the comments!