Is A/B Testing Necessary For PPC?
The short answer to that question is actually no.
You can run PPC adverts and campaigns without doing any split testing. However, if you want to get the most out of your business’ PPC budget, it’s vital that A/B testing is done for all your campaigns. It’s one of the best ways to ensure that each campaign is optimized for your target audience and your advertising goals. The digital marketing company you’ve partnered with can also use those results and learning to ensure that future campaigns are stronger and more targeted.
What Is A/B Testing?
A/B testing is also known as split testing. It’s the process of changing up one element of your campaign and running a test on a small percentage of your audience or budget to see which version of the campaign is more effective. Split testing can be run on a variety of elements:
· The call to action
· The use of colour in your advert
· The keywords you bid on
· The wording in the advert
· The URL that gets shown
· The advert headline
· The landing page
The key is to pick one element and run your tests on varieties of that element. If you change up too many things in one test, you won’t know which element is most effective. However, you can continually run tests – picking one element at a time, making a change based on the results and then moving onto the next element.
The Benefits Of Split Testing Your PPC Campaigns
A/B split testing can be a big deal, taking up a lot of time as you run tests on each element in your advert and campaign and make tweaks based on the results. However, what you can gain from these tests is huge and can ensure that your budget goes a lot further. Benefits from A/B testing include:
1. A Higher Conversion Rate
A well-optimized campaign that is based on results of what your target audience actually responds well to will immediately improve the effectiveness of your campaign. You’ll not only get more people clicking on your adverts but more of these people will do what you want them to do on your landing page – sign up to your newsletter, fill in the contact form, purchase the product, book an appointment, etc.
2. A Lower Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is how many people and how quickly people leave your landing page or website without converting. A high bounce rate can mean a few things – for example, your adverts aren’t being served up to the right target audience, or your landing page is not well optimized for conversions. This can also impact how the ad network views your campaign, lowering the likelihood of your content winning the bid for the keyword and being displayed.
3. A Better Understanding Of Your Audience
As you do more testing on your campaigns, you can get a far greater understanding of your target audience. You’ll learn which colours they prefer, the kinds of calls to action that work for them, how they respond to different types of graphics or media. All of this can be used on future campaigns, and this knowledge can even be deployed at the planning and strategy phases.
4. An Improved Long-Term Performance In PPC
The better your optimization on your campaigns, the better your overall performance will be for your PPC adverts. You’ll end up with higher views and impressions on your adverts, which means more people clicking through to your landing page and a higher number of people available to convert. All of this leads to a lower cost per click, improving the use of your budget.