Introduction

Within this article, our web designers talk about what “A/B testing” is all about, which is also sometimes referred to as split testing. We will talk about why leading brands, and many companies use split testing, to help improve the company’s web design.

For example, a team of PHP web developers might for example, redesign the mobile version of the website, they might make the main menu easier to use, redesign the code, so that the homepage has a new design, they might change the colour scheme, from say one shade of orange, to another, this is to see if the HTML, PHP or let’s say the Javascript alterations help improve the company’s web design or not.

·        What does split testing mean?

·        Why is split testing used?

·        Why a web developer is needed

·        Why sometimes seo agencies and web designers work together

·        How it can help to improve CRO, that’s conversion rate optimisation

·        Why web design now means that a lot companies, don’t just have a new website built, and then leave the design the same, it now means a lot of companies, in Wales, now use split testing, to improve the web design on an on-going basis.

 

So let’s say that your web design company has asked you into their offices for a meeting, and they are showing you the final draft of your company website.

You are pleased with the design, it’s exactly what you wanted, and then the designers turned you ask will you need split testing in the future?

Now, you might have never heard of split testing, you might be scratching your head thinking well what is that why will my business need it?

This article is dedicated to explaining what split testing is, the benefits if the web design agency does it right, and why it’s worth thinking about even after you’ve had your website designed.

So, what exactly is split testing?

So, let’s think of your website as you would a car, rarely does a car manufacture ever make of vehicle, and then think that that design is so perfect that it can never be improved upon.

Now turn this concept to your own website, it’s likely that even if you have paid a lot for your website, that’s the say you gone to a top web design company, it’s still rare that it cannot be improved upon.

And when we say improved upon, what most companies mean is improve it so that it improves the bottom line.

So, for example, let’s say that you sell electric mountain bikes, let’s say that the web developers change the homepage, they for example make it easier to go to each section of the company website, which sells different brands of electric mountain bikes.

After the change is implemented, you notice that it’s people are going straight to the brand mountain bike that they want, and that your sales increase, now you might not want to make this change, without checking that it is improving sales, so what some web designers do, is use split testing, and split testing is used to compare your design with the new design to see if this helps to improve sales.

 

Is A/B testing the same thing?

Your web developer, might refer to split testing, as a B testing, sometimes these terms are used interchangeably.

Why is split testing so important?

Split testing is so important, because it’s improving the design, for example you might have a website designed, think it looks brilliant, it’s just when you use split testing, your agency might tell you that when they voted say the design of the main menu, the your sales increased by on average 7%, and obviously as a business, you want to do everything you can to help improve the design.

It’s kind of like owning a shop, and you are rearranging your stock in the best way that you know how to increase sales.

So, let’s say for example that you sell shirts suits and ties, and you notice that when you put your ties at the front of the store you sell more of these, as people pass to the store to purchase shirts, so this is exactly the same concept with your company website, you might want to have an ongoing relationship with your web designers, so that they can constantly improve the design, to hopefully help increase sales.

What does conversion rate optimisation mean?

When you visit your local SEO company, you might hear the SEO consultant talk about conversion rate optimisation, now they might talk often about backlinks, on-site SEO, but it might not talk about conversion rate optimisation that much, so it might be a term that you’re unfamiliar with?

However, the same concept is used here, it’s about altering the SEO and the design to help improve sales, so for example let’s say that you have a company website designed using WordPress, and the WordPress web developers then redesign the homepage, and they do that by adding items which are the most popular in terms of sales to the homepage.

Let’s say for example you are an electrical retailer, and you specialise in retailing kitchen items such as cookers, fridge freezers, washing machines and toasters.

You notice that when you put your bestselling washing machines on the home page, this increases sales, so this is the web developers, making a design improvement and this is what conversion rate optimisation is about., That’s making changes to help improve sales.

Why is it, now for web designers to work with a SEO agency?

A lot of businesses, still think that once you’ve got your website built, say using WordPress, then that’s it it’s built and it doesn’t need to be improved, however this is not the case, a lot of businesses still have their website improved on a regular basis.

So, where you might have contacted web design agencies, got a quote, got the website designed, and some businesses might have left design the same for a long period of time, however now it’s more Common is the businesses to have a website designed, then to have it constantly improved using split testing for example.

Let’s give you an example, let’s say that you run an e-commerce business and you sell flowers online, and the flowers then delivered to people’s homes.

You might find that working with a digital marketing agency, they are able to improve the design, so that it makes it easier for customers to find the flowers that they want, that they purchased the items quicker, therefore the web designers are using split testing to improve the design, and this means that they might be making design alterations on a regular basis.

So, as you can see, a lot of businesses now don’t just have a website designed, and then leave it the same for a long period, instead they often use a marketing agency which offers split testing

So, are what you saying is that a website needs its design constantly tweaked?

Some businesses do use split testing, and some businesses therefore change the design on a regular basis, however some businesses just keep their website the same

What are the benefits of split testing?

 

If done correctly, by a respected web design company, then it’s possible that split testing, can be used to improve the design

What’s features of the website are sometimes changed?

It could be anything, from the main menu, and to the homepage, through to the colours that are used

Will this mean altering the code, for example the PHP?

Often it does mean altering the code, so for example a PHP web developer might be needed

How our web design company can help

We run our web design company within the city of Cardiff, we therefore have many clients within Cardiff, yet we also work with companies that are located all over the UK