How can you make sure that your online campaigns are achieving their highest potential when there are so many factors responsible for their success or failure?

And with U.S. digital ad spending reaching $72.09 billion in 2016 according to e-marketers, why waste money on campaigns that are under performing?

Split Testing Provides Results You Are Likely Missing Now

Split testing, or A/B testing, is a method of experimentation that places two variables against each other to measure success rates.

The basic premise of split testing involves keeping one variable constant, while changing the second variable to see if it makes the campaign perform better. As a result, marketers are left with the best way to use each variable in a campaign.

With a variety of different online marketing campaigns, from email to social media, there are a number of approaches to split testing and the variables you can test to optimize performance.

Check out these suggestions for just a few of the main online campaigns.

Split Testing Content Marketing Campaigns

As split testing is working with variables, remember that only one variable should be changed at a time. Otherwise you won’t be able to tell the cause of performance changes.

As with other online marketing campaigns, content marketing involves a number of steps to consider:

• style and subject of article
• type of writer
• length of article
• image use or not
• what publisher will post the article
• position on the webpage
• will be a call to action and what specifically

Each of these can be considered a variable during split testing, and will need to be tested individually to see what works best for you.

Here’s a great post on ways to Split Test further (from StyleFactoryProductions)

For example, as a beauty brand you might test different publishers by placing the same article on a fashion website and an online travel magazine.

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From there, you can test the variable by keeping track of the number of comments, page views, how many times it’s been shared and whether the viewer scrolled to the bottom of the page to find out which publisher results in more audience engagement.

Split Testing Email Marketing Campaigns

As emails are sent directly to each individual customer, it is important to approach it in a manner that is both relatable and applicable to your target market.

Otherwise, audiences can often feel annoyed or like their privacy has been invaded. A great approach to split testing is to see what has worked in the past.

If you’ve noticed anything that definitely did not work, make sure to look into that particular variable.

Variables may include:

• subject headings
• in-text banners
• the type of call to action

…all of these can be tracked and can have an impact on open and click-through rates.

It may be a good idea to use tools to manage the success of each variable.

InboxGuru used in tandem with Infor CRM is a great tool for implementing, managing and enhancing email campaigns.

This method, alongside split testing, can be an efficient way to maximize performance.

Split Testing Social Media Marketing Campaigns

A great social media post often means targeting a specific audience with the right image and the right copy, posted at the perfect time.

Here are important considerations for social media post testing for performance:

• Images and videos use
• Style and tone of copy
• Subject of the post
• Time of day when posted
• Frequency of distribution
• Networks

These are just some of the variables that should be considered in your split testing process. In order to really get the best outcome from split testing, it is important to keep an open mind and maintain an all-encompassing approach so that you get the best combination of features in your campaign.

For example, try looking at your outdoor campaigns for social campaign inspiration.

Maybe a billboard you did performed well and the same image could be used on a social post?

Try being creative and don’t be afraid to test out different things.

Making a few adjustments to your online campaigns can ensure that your time, effort and money pay off.

Try split testing your online marketing campaigns in order to figure out what works best for your brand, and to ensure it’s performing the best that it can.

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