What Is A/B Testing in Digital Advertising

The content and design of a digital ad have much to do with its performance. If it’s not relevant, high-quality and engaging, the ad will see few results. Since digital advertising allows for experimentation to see what works, A/B testing is crucial to understanding campaign results.

In this post, we’ll define what A/B testing is and why it matters, and we’ll provide examples.

What Is A/B Testing in Digital Advertising?

A/B testing is comparing two versions of an ad to determine which one performs better. Other names for it include split testing and bucket testing.

When you execute A/B testing, you’re doing an experiment to see which creative component makes people more likely to click or engage.

This type of testing works for programmatic ads, email marketing, social media ads, OTT/CTV and streaming audio.

In setting up creative to evaluate areas, you should only make the variation on one component, such as:

The CTA (call to action)
Subject line
Imagery
Header
Colors
Button shape/size

It’s crucial to test only one thing to know whether that was the difference maker.

In choosing what to test, consider the advertiser’s goals.

What to Test by Advertiser Goal

Here are some examples of what to assess by goal:

Launching a new product, service or location: Header content, email subject line, imagery or colors
Promoting sales or events: Imagery, CTA or button
Driving traffic to a physical location: CTA
Getting more website visits: Header, CTA or button
Brand awareness: Colors, imagery or header content

How Does A/B Testing Work in Digital Advertising?

In the case of digital ads, you’d set up an A/B test by uploading two versions of the ad with the variation. You’d need to review this with an advertiser as you’re collecting the creative assets. Mention to them that you recommend this to evaluate messaging or imagery.

In the reporting for the ad campaign, you’ll see the metrics for each creative to determine which ones were the most effective.

Why Is A/B Testing Important?

It’s one more way for advertisers to better understand their audience. Based on responses to an ad, they can dig into the details to see what resonates. It’s also a great strategy for launching something new, like a product, location or service. They can use it as a testing ground to learn how audiences respond.

Another benefit is using the concept to see what drives action around promotions and sales. They may find that specific terms or designs drive the most traffic to their website and physical stores.

Any time a company can gain more insights into what its target market wants and likes, it can improve the performance of future ad campaigns.

A/B Testing Examples

If you want to talk to advertisers about testing variations, here are some scenarios that may be useful.

Local Plant Nursery’s Seasonal Sale

If you’re working with this advertiser, they can use many tactics to promote their seasonal sale. They’ll be targeting based on geography, demographics and interests related to gardening. When they design their creative, suggest they A/B test these things:

The imagery: They could use different types of plants to see which ones are the most appealing.
CTA: Suggest using two CTAs with strong verbs, such as “Get Your Discount” or “Save up to 25%.”
Button type: They could vary in size, shape or color.

Accounting Firm Seeks More Website Visits and Form Fills

An accounting firm aims to drive more people to a landing page on their website with a form fill. To them, a form fill equals a lead. First, you’d discuss targeting — businesses, individuals, household income, geography, or interests like self-employment.

Then, based on the intended audience for the ad, you can recommend testing:

CTA: It could be very specific or slightly vague: “Schedule a Consultation” or “Learn More.”
Header content: The header could again be related to pain points or the audience’s needs with variations around word choices.
Email subject lines: If running an email campaign, playing around with the subject line would be a good option. One could be longer and the other very short.

Manufacturer Needs More Applicants to Fill Open Roles

In this example, the type of ad is recruitment. The company wants to launch digital ads to attract people to apply online. Here are some A/B testing options:

Imagery: The creative can have variations of people performing the job.
CTA: CTAs are always a good test component. For hiring ads, they could try “Get Hired Today” or “Complete an Application in 5 Minutes.”
Colors: They should stick with their brand palette, but this may be a way to explore making some secondary colors more prominent.

What Can You and Your Advertises Learn from A/B Tests?

The learnings from A/B tests come from the metrics. You can identify which ads received the most clicks, engagement, actions and video completions. One version will outperform the other. When you know which one that is, take the time to review it with your customer.

If it’s the plant nursery, and their ad with perennials did better than the one with small trees, you can infer that plant shoppers prefer those. You’ll still be hypothesizing, but you do have data to inform it.

The more tests they run, the more they’ll gain in understanding what their audience responds to the best.