How To Do A Successful A/B Testing For E-Commerce

Whether you’re a big-box store such as Amazon, or a small business looking to get traction in the online space, a/b testing can have an important influence on the success of your site.

Your site’s design and usability influence sales enormously, and a/b testing allows you to test elements of your e-commerce site such as pricing to product categories and ratings to maximize the user experience.

The investment will be well worth your time in directly effecting sales. How is this achieved? I’ll cover the basics of a/b testing for e-commerce in this article.

Call to Action Button

The call to action button is a big player in effectiveness of any online marketing venture, and especially for e-commerce sites. You want the visitor to take that desired action, and the right combination of color, size, and text will ensure your call to action stands a cut above the rest.

Imagine having so much traffic on your website and everyone is interested in your product but for whatever reason they can’t find that BUY NOW button? Or something like the color of the call to action button is hidden within the background color which makes it completely invisible? That would be a lot of potential income you’re potentially missing out on.

Size

When it comes to size, make sure it’s noticeable. Aim at a size of around 230px wide and 45px tall if necessary. Size does matter! The size of images on articles help artistic readers get further entertained by the articles you write, but it’s also the matter of making sure your eyes aren’t being distracted by the complete contrast between different sizes of pictures.

Even what’s bolded in articles makes all the different. (I.E. This article)

Placement

Does your button placement follow the flow of your eye? It’s good practice to have the call to action situated above the fold, as this is where the bulk of a user’s time is spent. The placement is probably one of the most important parts to get in mind.

You don’t want to put a BUY NOW button all over the landing page. Readers might be able to see right through you like someone that is just after their case instead of being someone that is offering a solution to their problem. So having the call to action button being above the fold would be the best place to place the call to action button.

Text

Inspire visitors to take action by having strong call to action text on your button. Test out a few phrases and decide which one works best.

For instance text that conveys a limited time offer is said to work most effectively as the visitor sees that time is limited to take action. Bold text with exclamation marks sometimes highlighted with a different color as the rest of the text in the landing page maybe one of the most effective way to set your text up. Contrast is a very powerful thing, so while you’re proving great information about your product online, it would be a great idea to contrast the message  from the rest of the article to have an engaging way to interact with the call to action button.

Pricing Strategies

Pricing is another area you want to run through a/b testing for maximum effectiveness. Visitors want to feel compelled psychologically to purchase your items, so run some a/b tests in determining which strategy will work best for you.

Will ending the price of some items to .99 increase sales?

Read this psychological test to see how it can be applied to your website. Don’t overwhelm the visitor by displaying too much or too little text. Conduct a/b tests in determining where to place pricing info in relation to other elements such as images and text. Also consider testing the policies you display on your pages.

Search Results and Product Displays

Useful information, such as that from the Maxymiser A/B Testing Guide, can answer your questions you might have in terms of what products to display on your homepage and the quantity of them. For maximum results, test the amount of search results as well as the order of them.

These tests will help you answer questions such as: Which view should you show by default?

Conclusion

A/B testing can play a pivotal role in the success of your e-commerce website. Small changes over time can aide in your overall bottom-line and success of your online endeavor. Remember to regularly test these elements to product tangible results for your business. Remember you may have the large traffic on your website or land pages, but won’t mean you’ll have the income you deserve unless your landing page or website are properly optimized.

Ruben Corbo is a freelance writer that writes about many different topics which include internet marketing, gaming, technology, art and music. For more information about the topic of A/B testing and other related methods of website or landing page optimization go to Maxymiser