Building a solid foundation for digital marketing is never easy. Despite the fact that in today’s world there are many solutions for reaching audiences, virtually every one of them has plenty of competitors seeking to do the same. Whether focused on paid or organic marketing strategies, you can be sure that there are others targeting the exact audiences you wish to target with similar products, services and/or pitches.

To get the most from any organic or paid marketing strategy, custom-tailored campaigns must be at the forefront of every strategy. One of the simplest methods for achieving the best results long-term is to utilize the concept of A/B testing in any marketing campaign. But what is A/B testing and how can you get the most from each campaign? We’ll examine the dynamics that make A/B testing most effective and deliver the best results.

What Constitutes A/B Testing?

The simple premise of A/B testing is to uncover which variations of headlines, multimedia and overall copy generate the best return on investment in your marketing campaigns. Whether it be paid or organic, deploying multiple variations of the same ad or promotion can quickly help you uncover specific strengths and weaknesses in your marketing efforts as it pertains to your audience.

General Rules of Thumb

There are some dynamics to consider when deploying any A/B marketing effort. First of all, it is necessary to deploy multiple variations of the same ad or content promotion in an apples-to-apples comparison; deploying different variations on different days or times may not produce accurate results because of changes in who sees the content at a given time, for instance.

Ultimately, you generally want to be pinging users with ad variations that are different enough to be seen as two separate forms of content, while still keeping the gist of your marketing campaign the same. This can be anything from using different photos in your social media ads to changing the headlines and copy in equally captivating ways.

Channels Where A/B Testing Can Be Effective

Whether it be through organic or paid marketing means, A/B testing is quite versatile and can provide a variety of opportunities across different channels and platforms.

One of the most common formats in which A/B testing is used is via email marketing. By randomizing and/or splitting your mailing lists into multiple segments, you can send out multiple variations of the same campaign and compare conversion and engagement rates for each specific email.

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is enough great example. Whether running ads on search engines or via social media, setting up multiple configurations of each ad set can be done quite easily. Many of these platforms in particular even offer integrated tools specifically designed to assist with A/B testing.

While it’s easier and simpler to simply start pinging users with uniform ad campaigns and marketing efforts in general, it may not be maximizing your reach or effectiveness. A/B testing helps brands and businesses explore different options in a relatively controlled environment, helping them to determine which aspects of marketing generate the best results. With that information in hand, building future marketing efforts that are superior becomes easy!