A/B Testing Facebook Ads
by Rianna Neal | Rianna@PancakeDigitalSolutions.com
A/B testing is not a new term, nor is it first started by nor exclusively for Facebook ads. The term started sometime in the beginning of website development days and is now in the tool belt of every advertiser, marketer, designer, and UX professional. You have probably A/B tested something before and didn’t even realize it. So what is it? Let’s explore!
The Coca-Cola Test
Remember when you would walk into a store and there would be two different types of soda in two cups? You would try both and let the people know which you like better and they would make marks? Then later there was coke that tasted just like coke zero? This is sort of A/B testing. People will have you try the two types of cokes and find out which type more people like.
What is A/B Testing?
A/B Testing a variable with two options option A and Options B. For example…
- Landing page A vs Landing page B
- Image A vs Image B
- Audience A vs Audience B
This could be testing the same ad in a newspaper with 2 different images, or the same Billboard in two different locations.
Why is A/B Testing Important?
Testing a variable with two options is the best way to find out what will work best. Can’t decide which color font to use? Do a test with everything the same, but one has one color and the other is the other color. Based on how people respond, you will figure out which works better.
A/B Testing Facebook Ads
With Facebook Ads, A/B testing is essential to having successful ads that you can continue to improve on. How do you figure out what your who your audience is? Test the same content with two different audiences and see which gets you better responses. Can’t decide between two images, or an image and a video? Run them both in the same audience and see which received better results. Perhaps one gets better engagement, but another gets more clicks to a website. This is good to know depending on your advertising objective. A/B testing Facebook ads has shown up as a new test feature recently, to guide you through this process.
One Variable
The most important rule to remember with A/B testing is that you are testing one variable at a time. Either test 2 different photos, a photo, and a video, or two different audiences. If you test two different images with two different audiences, it will be hard to say which factor made one perform better than the other. Stick to one variable and compare apples to apples in the data.
On The Table
With A/B testing, you can test just about anything. You have probably already done this before with something without realizing it was a powerful toolbelt item for many marketers. A/B testing with Facebook Ads is a key feature to being successful with your Facebook ads
Happy Advertising!
Ready to learn more about Facebook ads? Learn more here!