You already know that bank customers are not big fans of changes. And it makes sense, as a financial institution you’re managing their hard-earned money and sensitive information. You want and need their loyalty. To earn their trust, you have to lock in the banking experience. Or in other words, providing all the security and safety and making relevant and personalized recommendations. Now you must think to yourself – “How can I do that, but at the same time not have the customers reacting negatively to the sudden changes?” Not to worry! That’s where A/B testing comes in.
What Is A/B Testing You Wonder?
Let’s take a moment to give a school-like, textbook definition.
A/B testing (also known as split testing) compares two or more versions of a web page against each other to determine which one performs best.
How Does A/B Testing Work?
Basically, you choose a web page and modify it to create other versions of the same page. This change can be whatever you want, from a simple headline or button change to a complete redesign. After you create the changes you show the original version of the page to one group of visitors and you show the other versions to other groups of visitors. Based on the data you gather then you can analyze how each page performs in your website analytics tool such as Google Analytics. The goal is to measure and collect user engagement so you can determine whether changing the experience had a positive, negative, or had no effect on your customers’ behavior.
Why Is It Important to Do The A/B Test?
Understanding how to create successful A/B tests suited for the banking needs will ensure that your customers get the best possible website experience.
A/B gives you the chance to make gradual changes while collecting data on your customers’ website behavior. When you run an A/B test, it is very important that you change only one part of the website or webpage at a time. Narrowing your A/B experiments will make it easier to learn from the results. If you make too many changes at once, you will not be able to interpret the results with certainty.
A/B Testing Process
The following steps explain the process of A/B testing.
Collect data
Your analytics will provide insight into where you should start testing. For example, look for pages with low conversion rates or high drop-off rates that can be improved.
Identify goals
Goals can be anything from clicking a button, playing a video, etc. You should use conversion goals to determine whether or not any of the variations are more successful than the original version.
Create Variations
Make the changes to your website. This might be changing the color of a button, the order of the elements on your webpage, basically anything you want.
Run Experiment
Start your experiment using one of the numerous tools available such as Google Optimize and wait for visitors to engage. Visitors will be randomly shown either the original version or one of the modified ones. Their interaction is measured and compared to determine how each variation performs.
Analyze Results
When the experiment is over, the results will show how each test version performed against the original one. This will help you decide how to proceed with the website changes.
A/B testing is a well-built method to gather information and improve the bank website experience while avoiding unjustified and sudden changes. The information you collect should be used to build stronger relationships with customers over time. If you need help with your bank’s website or A/B testing contact us.
