Split Testing

Want to maximize your online marketing and advertising dollars? Want to increase your sales and spend less doing it? If you are business owner, chances are you do. Split testing is one of the most powerful tools used by professional advertising and marketing companies, and it has been around for a very long time. Now, you can do your own split testing, and reap the rewards without having to pay high-priced ad execs to do it for you.

Split testing is also known as A/B testing in some circles. In very simple terms, split testing is when you test two different ad campaigns to see which one does better in terms of your goals for that campaign.

While the above definition is simply stated, there are some nuances to split testing that you need to keep in mind. Here are some of the more important ones.

In order for split testing to work efficiently, the two ads you test must have the same campaign goal. Goals can be a sale, an opt-in, a request for more information, a phone call, etc. Whatever the goal is for the overall ad message, it must be the same for each ad you test. By having the same goal, you will be able to review the results and have a good idea of which ad is pulling better. If you mix up the goals, you will only confuse the process.

Split testing does not always mean you have to design two totally different ads. In some cases, you may wish to change a single word or two. If you are using keywords, you may want one ad to use the singular keyword and the other to use the plural of that same keyword. If you are doing a PPC campaign, using the three line format, you may want to reverse the first and second lines to see which layout work best. The point here is to not automatically assume that you have to redesign your ads totally. In some cases, that is the best option, in other cases, it is not.

If you are doing banner ads or graphic ads, you can split test using different colors and fonts as well as different wording.

It is imperative that you only change one variable at a time when you do your split testing. For instance, if you want to split test a banner ad, change only the font and then do your test. Later, if you wish, change the text and do a test. If you change more than one variable (in any A/B test) you will not be able to determine which variable caused the change.

One of the most important tasks you have to do when you begin a split test falls under the category of organization. You should always keep notes on what changes you made, when you made them, and the results of that particular test. It is very easy to forget what changes were made in the past.

Perry marshall is the original expert on split testing