Why is AB Testing in Marketo important?
As Marketo likes to say, “we’re marketers, not mind readers.”
Emails and landing pages are key marketing components for any successful marketer to master. But how are we supposed to know which ones engage people the most? Nowadays, it’s also getting more and more difficult to grab and retain the attention of audiences. It’s vital, now more than ever, to be able to determine which versions of our marketing materials generate the best results. And A/B testing is a simple, inexpensive way to do just that.
Some Statistics Every Marketer Should Know
The number of active email accounts is expected to reach 5.6 billion in 2019 (Statista, 2019), while about 50% of businesses have started using email automation (Emailmonday, 2018), and 79% of B2B marketers crediting email as the most effective distribution channel for demand generation (Content Marketing Institute, 2018). What’s more, using videos and landing pages are also known to increase conversions by 86% (Wordstream, 2018).
Clearly, missing out on the opportunity to test and improve email and landing page performance could substantially cost us.
A/B Testing in Marketo
Marketo’s A/B testing capability serves as a powerful and essential tool in helping businesses to stand out from the crowd, publishing the most effective emails and landing pages, curating online experiences optimized for our business goals. Through this simple introductory guide, you can hit the ground running with all the fundamental things you need to know about A/B testing in Marketo.
Before anything, here’s what needs to happen:
1. Clearly define your company’s measurable objectives. This can be the number of page views, purchases, visitors, or leads generated. Revisit your organizational purpose, and build up your SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Based) goals around that foundation.
2. Establish where to test. Choose websites and email databases that will give you high traffic and high impact.
3. Choose what to test. The devil’s in the details! Is it going to be a header, subject line, an entire layout? Develop a hypothesis about what you think can be improved and tested.
How to set up A/B testing in Marketo
1. Create a new program with the channel being “Email Blast”.
2. Within the program, create a “New Local Asset”: “Email Program” (Channel: Email Send).
3. Create and approve a new email within the program.
4. Click on the Email Program (see no. 2) and make sure you’re on the first tab. Here, you will find four sections: Audience, Email, Schedule, and Approval.
5. Place your newly created and approved email under the “Email” section (see no. 4) and click “Add A/B” test in the bottom right corner of the section.
6. Once you’ve been redirected to the A/B testing page, you will find four sections/steps: Test Settings, Winner Criteria, Schedule, and Finish.
6a. Test Settings: Choose your test type (e.g. subject line, whole email), establish the test samples, and assign the sample size (e.g. 10%). For example, if you decide to test four subject lines for 20% of your audience, then subject lines will be assigned to 5% each.
6b. Winner Criteria: You can define what determines a “winner” (e.g. opens, clicks), as well as whether you would like winners to be established manually or automatically.
6c. Schedule: Set when you want to send the tests (e.g. to the 20%), and when you want to send the winner (e.g. the winning email to be sent to the remaining 80%). You may also configure sending notifications to a specific email, such as your own or a sales representative.
6d. Finish: Review all the details and settings you’ve determined, and finish up!
All that’s left to do from here is to save your edits and configure your Smart List according to your needs.
That is all everyone! Hopefully, this will help you to dive into the AB testing world, taking your Marketing Automation to the next level.
Let us know if you need any help.
Thanks!
