Do You Know The Six Characteristics Of A Successful A/B Testing Program?

For those looking to start a testing program or for new programs struggling to gain footing, there are a number of hurdles to getting tests out the door. And just as every program must clear those hurdles, strong testing and optimization programs share certain qualities, too.

Understanding the maturity of your testing program is essential—but it’s not a simple task. At Brooks Bell, for example, we do a holistic maturity assessment to understand the status of testing programs for our clients. Though the assessment is complex—and we feel the level of detail is essential for properly growing a program—the questions fall roughly within the following broad categories:

First and foremost, an established testing culture and buy-in within an organization are both critical to building a robust program.

This requires support from high-level decision makers who support and believe in the value of testing. But to get to this point, a young testing program typically has to prove itself through wins and conversion lift.

Increasing velocity—the speed at which a test goes from ideation to launch—is another essential element.

From strategy to live test, there are lots of steps including decision-maker approvals, creative concepting, development, setting up the campaign in your testing tool, and quality assurance. Of course, after the test runs, analysis must be done, insights documented and presented, and learnings assessed. All of these things can potentially slow velocity, which is why establishing an efficient process is critical for successful testing programs.

Consistent momentum is also important.

Tests should be an iterative and long-term practice. You can’t get discouraged when tests don’t get big wins right away. Instead, you must learn from tests—and keep testing. This is where a culture of testing and data-driven decision-making will really help.

Finally, strong testing programs are characterized by increasing wins and insights.

The ultimate goal of testing should be to better understand your customers and use the learnings to create a better experience for the right people at the right time. If you can manage this—and testing, of course, is the best way to accomplish it—you will begin to increase the bottom line of your business.

It takes a lot of resources, thinking, and organizational support to run a successful optimization program. Identifying these characteristics—which we have seen in clients and talented optimization experts—help guide your program’s development and establish goals for growth and performance.

Brooks Bell helps consumer brands profit through conversion rate optimization, A/B testing, analytics and personalization.

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