Analysis of web traffic reveals a great deal about
the online behaviour of users. The data however does not explain why they do what they do,
which is crucially important if marketers wish to act on the information.
Understanding “why people do what they do” typically involves a two-stage
process — constructing hypotheses or scenarios and testing those hypotheses. To construct
hypotheses, and explore issues and scenarios, marketers often conduct qualitative research,
or use techniques akin to qualitative research. To test hypotheses and alternatives, they
rely on quantitative research methods, and their website is often the ideal platform for
data collection.
A/B testing and multivariate testing allow marketers to test
elements (headlines, paragraph text, images, call-to-action buttons, testimonials etc.) on
a webpage. A/B Testing is used when marketers want to choose between one of two or more
versions of a webpage. And multivariate testing is used when they are seeking to optimize
the elements on the page.
Multivariate testing is conducted in a live, controlled environment. The webpage is
dynamically generated and rotated among incoming visitors so that each gets to see one of the different combinations of
elements. Visitors are tracked and their behaviours recorded as they navigate the site, to determine which elements (i.e.,
independent variables) on a webpage make the biggest impact on the site’s performance.
Site performance is measured in terms of a specific objective metric (i.e., dependent variable) such as conversion
rate.
Exhibit 28.15 Video demonstration of Google Optimize’s A/B Testing facility.
A/B testing is a method used by marketers and web
designers to choose between two or more versions of a webpage. The goal is to identify which
variant is more effective in achieving their marketing objectives. Elements of a webpage, such
as the page header or images, can be tested to improve website performance.
A/B testing is easy to manage, control, and execute online, making it a
cost-effective way to evaluate various elements of the marketing mix. For example, advertising
campaigns can be tested on platforms like YouTube before being aired on TV (refer to Section
Testing Advertising Online, Chapter
Advertising Analytics, Volume II for more details).
Google Optimize is a free and feature-rich A/B testing tool that can be linked
to Google Analytics (GA4). To run a test on Google Optimize, follow these steps:
Create an experiment by giving it a name.
Enter the URL of the webpage you want to test.
Choose an optimization technique, such as A/B testing or multivariate
testing.
Create variants, such as different headers or images, using the Optimize
visual editor. You can set the variant weighting or keep the default setting, which is equal
weights for all variants.
Set primary and additional objectives related to purchases, conversions, or
page views, or create a custom objective.
Start the test.
Review the results and use them to optimize your website.
You can scan the QR code in Exhibit 28.15 for a demo on how to use Google
Optimize to test different versions of a page header on a webpage.