What is A/B testing definition?

A/B testing is a process used to measure the impact of a variable change in regards of a goal achievement (click, validation, web form completion, etc).

Strictly speaking, an A/B testing allows the test of two variable versions, an A/B/C test has 3 versions, etc.

A/B testing is used in digital marketing to test emails, web pages, web forms, ads, landing pages, product pages, etc

For instance, an A/B test can be used to test two subject lines for the same email by observing open and click rates.

A/B test can be used to compare two initial options with equal shares or a challenger option versus the original option. Many types of variables can be tested in digital marketing using A/B testing :

• colors of background
• texts for a validation button
• offers
• images
• trust seals

Web analytics solutions, paid search platforms and email service providers usually offer integrated A/B testing functions. There are also many paid or free specialized online tools and solutions.

A/B tests are relatively easy to implement, but the marketer has to make sure the observed difference is statically significant and the experiment has been led “all things being equal”.

Here’s a video of the A/B testing function embedded in Google Analytics.

Source: Digital Marketing Glossary