A/B Testing with CallRail Call Analytics

There was a time when marketers relied on expensive focus groups, outdated data, and intuition to develop campaigns. Today, we understand that real-time, accurate data is necessary for high-performing marketing campaigns. One of the best ways to find this data is A/B testing. A/B testing, also known as split testing or bucket testing, is an effective tool that marketers use to help optimize marketing campaigns. While A/B testing on its own is an excellent method for optimizing your marketing campaigns, adding CallRail into the mix takes the data to the next level. In fact, digital agency Scube Marketing reduced their cost per lead by 21% by using A/B testing to determine which ads generated to more calls.

So how can I run an A/B test?

Before beginning your A/B test, you’ll need to make a couple decisions. First, you’ll want to ensure that you have at least two clear variations of the asset or campaign that you’d like to test. This is the foundation of A/B testing. The time frame for your A/B test is also an important factor to consider. Your test should last long enough for a useful sample of visitors to experience it. This will vary depending on factors like existing conversion rates, web traffic, and how large of a difference in performance you’ll want to see. Keep in mind that A/B testing should be done regularly; it is not a “one and done” process. You may determine that your test should only run for 3 weeks, but it’s best to try additional tests with different variations over the next 6 months to see the best results.

A/B Testing Tools

There is an abundance of tools that make A/B testing a smooth and easy process.

• Optimizely helps organizations test and optimize websites and mobile apps. Optimizely’s A/B testing tool is both robust and easy to use, enabling developers and marketers to test variations of web pages, landing pages and mobile app interfaces. This tool is perfect for marketers that are interested in running A/B tests on many types of campaigns and assets.
• Visual Website Optimizer, or VWO, makes configuring and analyzing A/B tests easy for users of any technical ability. With VWO, you can produce in-depth reports that are easy to understand.
• Unbounce is a landing page builder for small business owners and marketers who want to build and publish landing pages quickly without help from web developers. With Unbounce, you can easily run A/B tests on these landing pages as well. Unbounce is a great option for those who want to get their A/B tests up and running quickly.

Powerful A/B Testing with Call Analytics

You’ve created your variations. You’ve done your research and chosen the tools that you’re going to use for A/B testing. You know how to keep track of which variation is more successful with online behaviors, but what about what happens after that? Enter CallRail. When you use CallRail in conjunction with your A/B testing tools, you’ll gain insight into which variations lead to phone calls, or offline conversions.

When you integrate CallRail with Optimizely, for example, CallRail will report which variations are converting over the phone or SMS back to Optimizely as conversions. If you choose to use CallRail with VWO, CallRail will send your calls and text messages to VWO and you’ll see VWO data in Lead Center as well. Our integration with Unbounce also tracks calls and texts that are received by tracking numbers on Unbounce landing page variants and sends them to Unbounce  as conversions.

A/B testing can have amazing benefits, but you’ll miss out on important insights if you don’t implement call tracking in conjunction with your tests. You’re already spending the time and money on A/B tests, so why not get the most bang for your buck? To learn more about using CallRail and A/B testing to optimize your marketing campaigns, you can contact us at sales@callrail.com.