Getting Started with A / B Testing for Paid Advertising

Beginner’s Guide to A / B Testing for Paid Advertising

The best practises for paid advertising are always evolving. It’s paramount that businesses evolve their approach too. The continuous process of optimisation should be built upon a firm framework of testing and experimenting with different ad copy and styles.

A / B testing for paid advertising is relatively simple to other forms of experimenting, mostly because there are a limited number of things to test. But this doesn’t mean any less attention and planning should go into running and analysing these tests. It’s key that your business tests its ads often, to make sure you aren’t letting conversions get away.

What Can You Test?

Before you begin A / B testing, you need something to test on.

1. The Headline

The headline appears as a link in search results. It’s usually designed to reflect your key selling point or what is being offered. Usually it’s short and to-the-point and includes the keyword you’re targeting.

2. The Body Texts

Essential the description, this section gives searchers more information about what you’re offering and what they can expect when they arrive on your landing page.

3. The Link

Usually your ad link directs users to a landing page or product page.

4. The Targeted Keywords

Some keywords and phrases will generate more targeted conversions that others – the only way you can know for sure which ones work best for your business is to test different ones and analyse the results. Once you have found a combination of keywords that convert best for you, you can focus your advertising on them.

Why Are You Running A / B Tests?

You might decide to run A / B tests for several reasons. Whether you’re looking to get people on your mailing list or to buy right away, you need to have an objective from the start, so you can review your results.

You need to also decide whether you want to focus your testing on your click-through-rate or if you want to dedicate the testing to the entire conversion process. If your main goal is to generate leads, for example, then running tests to optimise your CTR might be enough.

How to Analyse Your A / B Testing Results

Remember pay-per-click advertising is all about your click-through-rate and how many conversions your clicks result in. The ultimate goal is to generate the greatest CTR ad conversion rate. High rates in both will give your business the best return on investment.

Depending on how much traffic you generate and your sample size, you will want to run your ads for at least 7 days, but ideally longer.

If your results seem suspicious or contradictory (like one ad generating a significant click-through rate but the other has a high conversion rate) then you should think about running more tests and changing the variations until you find the optimal combination.

Top Tips for You’re A / B Testing

– Begin A / B testing without any assumptions at all
– Conduct a qualitative analysis to uncover what resonates with your audience
– Do not stop a test too early – reach your sample size
– Test one variation at a time so you can analyse effectively what is affecting your ad’s success
– Test early and frequently
– Test your ad variations at the same time to avoid time-based factors that might mess with your results
– Ensure your tests run for long enough to collect correct results