How to A/B Test Marketing Campaigns

Timothy Allen

We constantly emphasize on the right message, right channel, and right time. Despite that, many marketers and campaign managers face low conversion rates. This could be due to a poor call to action, copy not resonating, lack of effective push notifications, or wrong channel choice.

That’s where A/B testing comes in.

There are several ways to boost your messaging – and A/B testing marketing campaigns is an effective way to optimize your customer engagement efforts.

Usually, A/B testing is associated with email marketing automation. However, with a solution like our omnichannel customer engagement hub Moments – you can (and should) use it for other digital channels as well.

This includes content, timing, and call to action across Email, SMS, Mobile App Messaging, and chat apps.

Why is A/B testing important?

A/B testing empowers you to optimize messaging campaigns, understand your customers’ preferences, and provide a personalized customer journey, all adding to an improved ROI.

Implementing A/B tests through Moments ensures:

  • Increased customer engagement: A/B testing improves interaction by opening up all your channels to stronger communications with hyper-personalized messaging.
  • Better understanding of your customers’ preference: A/B testing provides data on your customer behavior, helping you understand them and make better choices.
  • Enhanced campaign effectiveness: A/B testing lets you try various combinations, allowing you to know what clicks – thereby driving more conversions.

What to A/B test

To start A/B testing, it is important to choose the right variables to experiment with. On the one hand, you will have the original message and the other the challenger. Using Moments, you can A/B test various variables to find the right content, channel, and most receptive audience.

Channels:

With most businesses adopting an omnichannel approach, it is sometimes difficult to pinpoint the right channel for a specific customer base. With Moments dependent on if you’re using the Broadcast or Flow module you can choose from Email, Mobile App Messaging (push notifications), SMS, and chat apps (WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger) – to know which channel your customers prefer for a particular message.

Each of these channels have their own best practices, and the option to test the performance of individual channels comes in handy as you and your team fine tune your customer communications. Inside Moments, you can A/B test your email, mobile app messaging and SMS messages directly inside our mass messaging module – Broadcast, and test both the aforementioned channels along with chat apps, inside the Flow journey creator. The Flow journey creator is an orchestration module that enables you to create messaging journeys dependent on past action and behavior.

Variables:

The most common variable to A/B test are:

  • Messages: The copy that resonates most with your target audience
  • Visuals: The most effective design that translates into conversions

In addition to this, below are a few more variables that you can test through Moments that directly impact your bottom line.

  • Email:
    • Subject line: Which phrasing gets the most attention and highest open rates?
    • From: Are your customers more responsive to emails coming from a person or a company?
    • Content: Test different copy or templates – to check what resonates best
    • Links or Attachment: Do your customers download attachments, or do they click on links? What’s the perfect CTA?
  • Mobile App Messaging:
    • Title: Test titles to check which one is most engaging
    • Content: What wording gets the maximum open rate?
    • Image: Visuals, emojis, or plain text – what attracts maximum attention?
    • Push Message and/or In-App: Which works better in increasing app usage and upselling through your app?
  • SMS:
    • Content: Create different versions to see what gets a better response
    • Character Set: What is the ideal character limit for them to respond?
    • Links: What call-to-action prompts maximum click-throughs?
  • Chat apps:
    • Content: A/B test different text and character counts to narrow down on the right message
    • Visuals: What kind of rich media works well with the channel?
    • Links: Which call-to-action works best?

Segmentation:

Taking A/B testing a notch higher, you can even test the message on two different customer groups to see how it resonates with different audience profiles. This is where segmentation comes in handy.

Using our omnichannel customer engagement hub, you can segment your customers based on their attributes. The idea is people from the same demographic or engagement behavior will have similar responses.

Common ways to segment:

  • Demographic
  • Behavior
  • Interest

When to use A/B testing

A/B testing can be used for various campaigns. Some campaigns to keep A/B test include:

Welcome campaign:

  • Which channel works best?
  • Does an incentive or recommendation work better to make them a paying customer?

Form abandonment campaign

  • Does a subject line with an incentive or a form abandonment message work better?
  • Which channel works best in driving the customer towards the call to action?

Cart abandonment campaign

  • Does a subject line with an incentive or teaser work better?
  • Which channel drives the customer to purchase?
  • Are customers more likely to click a linked image or text?
  • Do customers prefer rich media messages or plain text messages

Promotional campaign

  • Which day of the week has a better open or click rate?
  • Does the time of the day affect the open or click rate?
  • Are customers more likely to click on a linked image or text?
  • Do customers prefer rich media messages or plain text?
  • What offer works best?
  • Do product recommendations on past behavior, or new products work better?

Reengagement campaign

  • Should you include your company name in your subject line to increase engagement?
  • What day and time of the week work best?
  • Does an incentive work better?
  • Do they prefer rich media messaging campaigns or text?

How to know messaging effectiveness

Based on the channel you use, you can test the effectiveness of your A/B test by:

  • Email:
    • Open Rate
    • URL Click Rate
  • SMS:
    • URL Click Rate
  • Push:
    • Open Rate
  • Chat apps:
    • Open rate
      URL Click Rate

A/B testing will let you see how they react to your content, channel preference, and best send time throughout your campaign flow. This will revolutionize how you run campaigns as the results are real, action-based, and provide data that improves efficacy. And help marketers and campaign managers stay relevant to their audience but up to date about their preferences and continue engaging them across the customer journey.

All it takes is moments of A/B testing through smart automation.

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Feb 2nd, 2021
5 min read

Timothy Allen