An A/B test is a method to improving a product or process by running 2 versions of it simultaneously. This method is a great way to ensure you are getting the most possible value from your text and email campaign in Business Center. This guide will show you how to create and measure an effective A/B test to help yld bou learn more about the best way to reach your audience. 

This article will assume that you already know the basics of creating text and email announcements. If you need to get started with things like opting your clients in or learning how to send a campaign, our Learning Module for text and email campaigns is a better place to start.

Determine the goal for your test

An important part of an effective test is a clear goal. For best results, it is important to have a single focused goal to test for. Including too many variables or two drastically different versions of a campaign will make it difficult to interpret the results. Choose one variable to test for, and then make sure that is the only difference between the two campaigns.

In this example, here are two campaigns where the call to action is the variable. Campaign A has online booking as the call to action, while Campaign B has a click-to-call button. Also notice how the heading, image, and copy (except where changed to avoid confusion) is identical so that we can be sure the call to action is the variable we're testing. 

Wondering what variables would be valuable to test for? The possibilities are nearly endless, but here are a few ideas:

• Subject line
• Channel (text vs. email)
• Time of day, or day of week
• Image
• Heading
• Copy
• Call to Action

Set up your A/B test

Set up your Campaign

To get started, create the first version of your campaign as you normally would. Here is a guide again if needed.

Then, locate your campaign in your campaign list. Click the tri-dots, and then click on clone

Business Center will create an exact copy of your campaign. From here, change the variable for which you are testing, then save your campaign under a different name so they can be distinguished later.

Now you have your A and B version of your campaign ready. In the next step, we'll segment our audience to perform the test.

Set up your Audience

Next, you'll want to create an audience for both the A and B versions of your campaign. It's important that each client only receives one version and not the other, and that the size of each group is as equal as possible. 

In order to segment your audience, use tags in your CRM to set them apart. 

The easiest way to apply A and B tags to all of your clients at once is to export them to a spreadsheet or a Google Sheet

Then, add tags "A" and "B" (or any pair of terms that you'll remember) to each half of your audience. Then import your spreadsheet or re-sync your Google sheet. Once each half of your audience is tagged you are ready to send your campaign.

Measure Your Results

From here, Send each version of your campaign to each audience group. After giving some time for your audience to receive it, return to the campaign list and click on View Stats for each version of the campaign. 

From here, compare the performance of each version of the campaign. If you notice one or the other is higher in a certain metric like open rate, click rate, or engagement, you've learned that that technique is likely to be more valuable for you going forward!

From here, continue to iterate and constantly improve. Remember, no one knows your customer base like you do. As you continue to send more and more campaigns, you will learn more and more about the best ways to send email and text campaigns to get results.

Do you have any insights or expertise you want to share with your fellow business owners? Share your knowledge in our User Community!