A/B testing on Amazon is a fantastic way to optimise your listings and make sure you’re getting the best out of your seller account. You can perform tests on a lot of your content, including images, A+ content and product titles, to name a few. So, what is actually possible with A/B testing? And how do you do it? Let’s take a look.
What is A/B testing on Amazon?
A/B testing, also known as split testing, involves creating two versions of something to determine which one performs better. Each version is shown randomly to users over a selected duration to measure which one gets the most clicks, conversions or engagement based on the parameters set by you. Businesses can then use the data to make informed decisions about their content, so it’s always at its most effective.
Why do you need to A/B test?
There are many benefits to A/B testing on Amazon. It can:
- Improve your Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
- Lead to more conversions
- Increase listing visibility, as Amazon’s algorithm prioritises listings that perform well
- Help you understand your customer’s preferences and what resonates with them
- Enhance your listing against the competition
What can you A/B test on?
On Amazon, you can perform A/B testing on your product title, A+ Content, bullet points, image set and the Brand Story. Here are some suggestions for what you could alter in each one.
1. Product Title
You could experiment with different title lengths, keywords, brand name inclusion, dimensions or even just the layout of your title. Reordering the information could have different outcomes, and data may differ based on which device customers use.
2. Images
Why not test out the use of product shots vs lifestyle imagery? You could add infographics to see if that makes a difference, or test using minimalist images compared to busier ones. This is particularly useful to try with your main image, as that is the window to your listing. The first thing customers see. For example, if you sell items in bulk, you could try a main image that shows a single product, vs an image that shows a group shot of the product.
3. Bullet Points
As these are the first part customers see following your images, the bullet points are good to test with different bits of information about your product. You could try varying the lengths of each point, seeing if shorter sentences work in comparison to longer descriptions, or try sharing different information to see what resonates and leads to more conversions. You could also alter the keywords or the order of bullet points.
4. A+ Content
A+ content and Premium A+ content can improve your sales by up to 20%. Try different layouts for the content to see which is most engaging. Maybe see if being image-heavy or text-heavy works best. Add in video content, enhanced images or product comparisons.
5. Brand Story
Having a personality as a brand is just as important as your products. People like to know they’re buying from actual humans. So why not vary the content of your Brand Story? You could change the tone of voice, the story that you tell, the length or how personal you make it. Include different images – is it better to have pictures of the products, lifestyle images, or a picture of the business owner?
How to A/B test on Amazon?
The first step is to define your goals. Try not to do too much at once and focus on testing one small part at a time. If you try to test multiple changes at the same time, your data won’t give you a clear idea of which element has the greatest impact. Establish which metric you want to improve; is it the click-through-rate, impressions or conversions? Then you can set your variations. Make sure your variations are significantly different to gain the most insight into their impact.
Next, you can decide which tool to use for your A/B testing. Amazon has a Manage Your Experiments tool that’s available to any Amazon seller who has a professional selling account enrolled in the Brand Registry. This is a really handy tool that we’ve used multiple times for A/B testing. After it randomly shares your variations with customers and collects enough data to share statistically significant results, it will show you metrics for each version and establish a winner. This will include things like units sold, conversion rate, CTR, sample size, as well as a one-year projection for how your winning variation will impact your sales. It will give you recommendations and automatically publish your winning variant.
To create an experiment, head into Seller Central and select ‘Manage Your Experiments‘. Create a new experiment, choose the type you want to perform and select the primary product you want to test. Next, add your experiment details. The duration and publishing options are pre-selected to get you the fastest results, but you can alter them if you want to. Finally, enter the alternate version of the content you want to test and select ‘Schedule Experiment.’ It’s as easy as that.
It’s important to let your experiment run for the full duration, as sometimes early results can be unreliable. You can check the results and analyse them at any time by heading back into ‘Manage Your Experiments’.
What if I don’t want to test using Amazon tools?
You can use 3rd party platforms to conduct your A/B testing. These will need to be factored into your budget, but they will provide results quickly.
Websites such as PickFU allow you to create polls to get feedback from your target market on images, copy or any of those items mentioned above. You can also perform click tests if you’re looking for simple data-driven conclusions. It’s a straightforward tool that can give you same-day results, not only giving you insights, but also written feedback, which can be very useful for improving your sales strategy. They have an Amazon-specific area on their website that you can see here.
We currently use Intellivy, which offers a range of polls in addition to A/B content tests, including marketplace polls, purchase barrier polls, and more.
When can I start A/B testing?
Start today! Even if you’re relatively new to Amazon, don’t delay your A/B testing. It can help improve your business by encouraging you to try different things, helping you stand out from the competition, and ultimately increasing your CTR, conversions and organic ranking, bringing you the sales that you want.
If you’d like some extra guidance on managing your Amazon account and getting the best out of your content, get in touch with us today.