How Google Can Help You with AB Testing

Posted by: Chris Aylott

Monday, June 11th, 2012

Google has struck again. AB Testing has been one of the most arcane and powerful ways to improve response to a website, but it’s now available to event and association professionals as Content Experiments, a free part of Google Analytics.

"Simple" AB tests used to look like this.

Content experiments are built around a simple idea. Instead of guessing which version of a web page works better, why not try several at once? You can create an “A” version and a “B” version of a new page, then expose a few of your visitors to each page. By tracking their behavior — who stays longer? who clicks the link to register for the seminar? — you learn which page is more effective. When the experiment ends, you show the better page to all your visitors.

AB testing has been the secret of successful companies like Google and Zynga, which ruthlessly test search pages and game items to see what appeals the most to their users. But it can be difficult to set up the experiment and track the results. With Content Experiments now available in Google Analytics, a few clicks can accomplish what some companies require several professionals to do.

Event and association professionals can use AB testing in all sorts of ways, including:

• Learning which speakers or seminars to highlight at an event.
• Testing out different formats for an online newsletter.
• Reorganizing a site’s home page.

Check out the video below for a closer look at how the feature works!