Select an A/B testing tool
Select an A/B testing tool
1. Consider the skill level of your team, including your team's programming knowledge, front-end development skills, statistical analysis skills, and technical resources.
Discuss your plans to conduct A/B split tests with your IT department, development team, design team, and marketing team. There is typically a trade-off between the features and tools that an A/B testing platform offers, and the ease of integration and implementation. You may want to look for a simple, no-coding-needed A/B testing platform if your team is: Short on technical or human resources. Lacking in-depth knowledge of coding and programming. Unable to, or uninterested in, conducting statistical analyses. However, if your team is comfortable with all of the above, an A/B testing tool that offers a broad suite of features may give you more testing tools over the long term.
2. Choose the type of A/B testing you plan to do, especially if you're wanting to go beyond testing buttons, headlines, and other basic split-tests.
Most A/B testing tools offer similar capabilities when it comes to testing most popular website changes and testing scenarios, including: Headlines and sub-headlines. Body copy, such as formatting like paragraphs versus bullet lists, and writing style like voice and tone of the text. Design and layout, such as displaying an image at the top versus in the middle of a page. Navigation and menus. Calls to action. Your average A/B testing tool can do all of the above, often with little to no coding required.
3. Do more research on a specific split-testing platform's capabilities if your test is complex.
Examples include: Multivariate testing (MVT), where you’re testing multiple page variables simultaneously, such as variations to a hero image, headline and final call-to-action button text on multiple landing pages. Split URL testing, where users are sent to more than one distinct website address. This is ideal if you’re needing to test non-UI changes, such as complete changes in web page workflows, or testing whether a back-end database change is improving page load times or not. Multipage testing: As its name implies, this is when you’re wanting to test changes across multiple pages. For example, perhaps you’re trying to test changes to multiple steps of your marketing funnel.
4. Check whether your team's skill levels and work capacity are in alignment with each A/B testing tools' features, and adjust your expectations or your team accordingly.
When designing your A/B test, different split-testing platforms take different approaches. Some may allow you to simply add a short line of code or install a plugin, then design a test in a drag-and-drop interface. The A/B testing tool then does the rest for you. Other tools require more advanced coding skills, especially when you’re trying to test more complex features on your site. Depending on your team’s skills and the tools’ features, you may need to adjust your expectations, hire new personnel, or lower your testing requirements until your team and the A/B testing tool are in alignment.
5. Verify how the A/B testing tool presents the final data and results.
Most basic split-testing platforms will mark a clear winner in your user dashboard for you. If you’re doing more advanced tests, such as multivariate testing, review how different platforms present the data. Ensure that you and your team are comfortable interpreting how you’re provided any final analytics and results. An A/B testing tool is only as good as your team’s ability to take the results and make effective, productive changes.
6. Review the type of customer support provided by different A/B testing platforms and ensure the available customer support suits your team's needs.
Different A/B testing providers offer different levels of customer support and guidance: Live support, either via phone, via chat, or both. Email support, whether via a direct email or through a ticket-based support desk. Automated support with pre-recorded messages or an AI that guides you. Self-service support through documentation, knowledge bases, and video tutorials. Some may also provide in-house testing experts, who can help you design effective split tests, properly select testing variables, and analyze the resulting data. The best type of support you need goes back to your chosen A/B testing goals and your team’s skills and testing abilities.
7. Read reviews from others in your industry, and verify your potential choices with the in-house buy-in from your own developers or marketing team.
Top-rated A/B testing tools include: VWO: Ideal for enterprise brands or those who need more complex testing capabilities, including multivariate tests. Optimizely: A top choice for engineering teams and product marketing teams, with the ability to experiment with back-end variables like cookie settings, browser versions, and devices. Omniconvert: Ideal for conversion rate testing. Crazy Egg: Offers features for teams that have little to no coding experience, letting you build and run tests using just a snippet of code. Keep in mind that with the rise in split-testing popularity, you’ll come across many free or budget-friendly A/B testing tools. Be willing to pay if you want a tool that: Tracks data correctly. Runs tests without slowing down your website’s performance. Presents analytics in a way that’s easy to understand and use.