Have you ever sat through a long presentation about a (re)design for a website, slowly lulled to sleep only to be jolted awake when A/B testing results are shown? There's nothing like an A/B test to end a discussion about design decision. It is survival of the fittest. A battle for the most effective design & catchy copy. If you like A/B testing as much as we do 'Anne Holland's 'Which Test Won site should keep you interested for a few hours.
Competition
Anne has published 74 A/B test results so far, and keeps adding cases on a weekly basis. You are asked to vote what your gut tells you about the 2 design options. For example;
• Which design got 73.15% more visitors to download the free toolbar?
• Which Email Newsletter Opt-In Form Boosted Sign-Ups by 52.8%?
Having to vote a 'winner' before seeing the real results is what makes this site addictive and adds to the competitive feeling of A/B testing.
Unexpected results
In reading through the different test results a few interesting ones pop out. For example an A/B test where one version of the design worked better in the mornings and the other version better in the afternoons. All test results are accompanied by a short interpretation of the results and a lively discussion of visitors.
Testing works
After reading these A/B test results the main takeaways are:
• You can’t trust your gut instinct, or that of the ‘crowd’. Sometimes the majority of visitors voted for the wrong version
• Although general design principles apply, every situation is different. Different audiences & markets require different approaches
• Testing pays off! Even small changes sometimes cause a big difference in conversion rates