What Is A/B Testing?

In marketing, an A/B test entails displaying two different messages or creative concepts to equally sized portions of an audience, and monitoring which performs best. Some common examples include writing two different email subject lines and measuring open rates, or two different variations of a display ad and measuring conversions or click-through rates

An effective A/B test will include:

  • A control: An aspect that is the same between each test subject.
  • A variable: An aspect that is different between each test subject.

For example, an online ad may include the same copy, but test two different colors. Or, an email might promote the same offer, but include two different versions of phrasing, or different call to action copy.