Multivariate and A/B testing are two methods used to test many ideas on how to improve the market perception of your product or service simultaneously. In internet marketing A/B testing is usually done to see which of two types of content is more effective. Multivariate testing, on the other hand, allows for the testing of an unlimited number of options simultaneously. Multivariate testing can help a webmaster understand which content or website design is more effective in improving potential customers’ conversion rate. Used properly both multivariate and A/B testing can be quite helpful in tracking and understanding the behaviour of visitors to a website.
Multivariate and A/B testing yield accurate results because all the variations offer the same information and options. The only thing that changes is how the material is presented. For a website owner this information can be invaluable. It can allow them to present their products and services in a manner that has proven to be most attractive to customers. This can result in increased sales or registrations or whatever the means of conversion is. Using these two forms of testing can save the website owner time and make them a lot more money.
More detailed information can be found on the Maxymiser website if you want more detailed descriptions of A/B testing and multivariate testing.
Why run these tests?
The multivariate and A/B testing concepts are being used increasingly by businesses on the internet because they work. Whatever means one uses to get potential clients to one’s website, knowing what configuration is most likely to make them commit is essential. Increasing the flow of potential customers to your website is important; but without a high rate of conversion it is meaningless. Your marketing dollar will have been wasted if visitors to your website are not motivated to convert. Knowing exactly what makes them convert is like owning a license to print money. Multivariate and A/B testing allows you to gather this valuable information.
How can bloggers use these techniques?
Many bloggers will not have given too much thought to multivariate or A/B testing and often become preoccupied with driving traffic to their sites. Whilst this is important there’s little point getting lots of traffic if you are not achieving your goals (for examples sake we will assume that your aim is to make money from your blog). First identify what actions you are looking for visitors to achieve on a page of your site; for example this could be to click on an AdSense advert or a newsletter sign-up button. Next decide what you want to test by changing different elements of the page. Using the example of a newsletter sign-up this can include size, colour and placement of the sign-up button on the page, images used, titles and content on the page. A/B testing is the easiest method to get started with, by changing one of these elements on your page each time you can see which version works best. It’s often worth making big changes to start with then fine tuning these once you find the winner from the initial A/B test. If you manage to increase newsletter sign-ups from 0.5% to 1% then this will mean twice as many sign-ups and twice as many new, potential customers to promote products of services to in your newsletters.
Thankfully running A/B testing is not as complicated as it used to be and can be carried out free of charge using Google’s Website Optimizer. Google include lots of useful tutorial videos so it’s easy to get started.
Being able to increase the rate of conversion of visitors to one’s website can mean the difference between success and failure for any blogger or online business. Using A/B or multivariate testing can be an important key to success and should not be ignored.
This article is by Richard Patterson, a freelance online marketer who writes about all aspects of online marketing including SEO, PPC and landing page optimisation.
image credit
No matter what method you use for gaining success..just remember that hard work will be your biggest road block.
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
has proven to be most attractive to customers. This can result in increased sales or registrations or whatever the means of conversion is.a vry scare news..but why visitors avoide this….
Multivariate and A/B testing concepts seems interesting i was unaware about them.
Good for websites which are into affiliate marketing.
I spend hours daily to check where your blog post .So I like this ‘A bloggers guide to free A/B and Multivariate testing’ blog posts.By means of listening to real life experiences from those who used Trilastin and from trilastin reviews can offer you a relief to know it really works.
fter reading this post I have found the special trick which are going to help in my life Thanks for the great post.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article author for your site. You have some really great articles and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d absolutely love to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please shoot me an email if interested.
regards,
brendan
Excellent writeup. One of the best in my opinion. I am reading about A/B and Multivariate testing for the first time and I have come to know a lot from this post. Yes, it is always better to go for hit and trial process to make the best of your blogging efforts which of course can range from enticing visitors for simple subscription to make them purchase product online. It is never an easy job to do but with steps like as mentioned above, it looks very possible. Thanks for the headsup..!
I have studied mathematics where I learned multivariate data analysis. A have done a lot of correlation and regression analysis baseed on multivariate data but I never though that the technique is also used for analysis the website contents or layout. Excellent post and really an innovative idea of implementing pure stats in webpage analysis.
Like you said, I am more concerned on backlinking, glad I have learned an additional way of making money to my blog. I will try this out and watch the tutorial. Need to look for ways to improve my money generating strategy.
Yes, it is always better to go for hit and trial process to make the best of your blogging efforts which of course can range from enticing visitors for simple subscription to make them purchase product online.
Yes, blogging is not an easy task, dedication and Testing is required. However, we should not lose hope. We should continue on improving bit by bit..
Knowledge increases with the sharing of ideas. This post is full of latest ideas and information. Thanks for such a nice and valuable post.
Feeling good to hear about the A/B and Multivariate testing. It will help in the Internet Business Development in faster way. Even though A/B testing is considered as the most easiest method but many of the blogger or website owners doesn’t use this technique. Multivariate testing helps the webmaster to improve their customer’s rate of conversation. When there is decline or increment in the rate conversation it directly affects on Company’s Business.
This article is a very practical guide for performing ab and multivariate testing. Testing your market is very important for your website or business.
Since both give good yield result but multivariate testing help to webmaster to more understand which signify website design, infrastructure, link building and create potential client to business arena.
Multivariate and A/B testing is new to me but it sounds interesting with this, this is such a great concept to test the perception of each bloggers. You made it great! Thanks!
Bloggers leads to better community that contribute participation regarding on sites that is useful and contain facts that is specific to human. Thus, it can affect the economic stability of being an unequal respond to blogs.
Split testing is hugely important in the world of making money online, but perhaps a bit less in blogging than other methods.
As a site gains more traffic, the importance of split testing increases.
When you’re brand new, getting just a few visitors in a day, then you should focus on content creation and traffic generation.
As your traffic goes up, the need for split testing also increases. For a well established blog getting thousands of visitors, I would say split testing becomes nearly as important as traffic. I would say 60/40.
If your blog reaches the top echelons of traffic numbers, then split testing can become equally important, 50/50.
It’s also important to remember, though, to not split test too much. A consistent user experience is also important to retaining visitors.
Sometimes when we get confuse whether we should add social media icons or any widgets which increase the load time of the website, observing users behavior with A/B testing can get you clear guideline on need of specific element or its placement related confusion.