What is A/B Testing?

A common mistake new Facebook advertisers make is only selecting one audience and ad to advertise. They don’t consider all avenues for revenue and different messaging options.

A/B testing, also know as split testing, is a method for determining the best promotional and marketing strategies. The test simultaneously runs multiple variants of a campaign, gathering data to determine the most effective characteristics.

A/B testing is something you should be doing for all of your campaigns.

Here’s why: At the start of your campaign, you don’t know what works and what doesn’t. An ad with a strange video may be just the attention-grabber your campaign needs to stand out. An audience you didn’t expect to drive sales could start producing your best ROI.

Spend on Multiple Audiences

Serving your ads to distinct audiences will help you hone in on the group most likely to purchase. By using multiple target audiences (i.e., different segments of people) in your campaign, you can find more qualified buyers.

With Facebook's targeting options, there's a lot you can test. Once you determine your high-performing audiences, begin reallocating your budget toward those audiences to scale up the success.

Develop Your Creative

An advertiser can deliver a powerful message by testing multiple ads. Test different creatives (i.e., different pictures, videos or text), to determine what messaging most appeals to your consumers.

Use attention-grabbing photos or videos and avoid images with text (Facebook penalizes images with heavy text). Try different headlines and post text, too. Then, analyze the results and see what messaging has the greatest impact on your potential customers.

Key Takeaways

  • A/B testing is the process of running multiple variants of a campaign and gathering data to determine the most effective characteristics

  • Use multiple target audiences (i.e., different segments of people) in your campaign to find more qualified buyers

  • Test different creatives (i.e., different pictures, videos or text) to determine what messaging most appeals to your consumers

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