Whoosh! You’ve been magically teleported back to the time of the Roman Empire, and you’re the Emperor.
But there’s a problem. Gladiator fight attendance is at an all-time low. If you don’t pack the arena for the next few games, the real rulers of the Roman Empire — the Dutch — will come for you.
Your plan is to write ads on the walls all over the empire.
Now, you’ve got these two great headlines but you can’t decide which one is the best:
“Fight of the Century — 100 Midgets vs. 9 Lions. Don’t miss it.”
or
“Can this young man kill all three big tigers? Come and see.”
You come up with a brilliant idea. You will test both headlines to see what will bring more people back to the arena.
You try one headline in one part of the city and second one in another part to see what works better.
And boom, you’ve invented the A/B split test. Good job emperor.
Back To The Present - How To Test Like Roman Emperors
The core of marketing today isn’t much different than it was 2000 years ago - Resonate with the audience and test different things.
If you’ve ever run an ad, you know these problems:.
Should I use this image or the other one?
Hmm, maybe I should go with a video actually.
Now I can’t choose between these two headlines.
We’ve all been there. You want to make a perfect ad, but in the process all you make is a perfect waste of time.
Fortunately, you solved this exact problem 2000 years ago so you know what to do.
Test things.
What is A/B Split Test And How To Use It
It’s the most effective way to figure out what kind of ad your audience responds most to. You run two ads with different headlines to see which one performs better.
But you should never test more than two things at once.
This means we test simple things.
For example:
Let’s say you have an ad with a headline, some copy, and an image.
If you test it against a completely different ad that’s a video, what does it really tell you if the second ad performs better?
Not much, except that the second ad works better overall.
But you won’t know why it’s better. Was it the headline? The copy? The fact that it’s a video?
The right way to test is to run the same ad with just the headline changed. Then see what happens.
After that, test another element, like the image or the copy.
This way, you’ll know exactly what works and what doesn’t. It won’t just help you with this ad, but also with future ads.
Because all marketing works the same way — we’re always selling to humans.
Talk soon.
P.S. Wondering how I would use A/B split tests with your ads and increase your sales?
Get in touch with my agency today. If we’re a good fit I will personally take a look at your company and your marketing, come up with a strategy of what I’d do differently and discuss it with you in depth on a call.
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