In digital marketing, competition keeps getting tougher each year and media buyers are constantly looking for ways to make their advertising campaigns on Google Ads as efficient as possible while minimizing risks and costs. One important strategy they use to achieve this is split testing, also known as A/B testing. In this article, the team at YeezyPay, a service that provides access to Google Ads agency accounts, will explain the main steps of a split test and how this method of marketing research can help you avoid wasting your budget on untargeted traffic.
Split test and marketing funnel variables
When it comes to split testing and marketing funnels, advertisers use this method to compare different versions of their advertising components and see which ones perform best for their target audience. These components can include things like headlines, call-to-action buttons, and more. The goal is to improve important metrics like click-through rates (CTR) and conversions without spending more money on advertising.
To successfully conduct A/B testing in Google Ads, you need to focus on the following elements in your advertising campaign:
- Advertisements: Test different options for headlines, descriptions, call-to-action buttons, and so on.
- Bidding strategies: Determine the most effective strategies for setting your bids.
- Landing pages: Experiment with different layouts for buttons, products, and visual designs.
- Banners: Try out different visual content, colors, text, and other elements in your banners.
- Video: Test various video materials to find the right length and content that resonates with your audience.
- Additional links: Add links to different sections of your website or landing page and analyze how they affect click-through rates.
How to conduct A/B testing in Google Ads?
Now let’s look at the optimal sequence of actions for effective A/B testing.
Campaign selection
Before you start testing, decide which campaign you want to test. It can be an existing campaign or a new one created specifically for testing. Focus on the campaign where you expect the most significant changes or where there is the potential for improving results.
Hypothesis formation
Every test needs a clear hypothesis. For instance, let's say an affiliate wants to change the title of an online casino ad. The hypothesis could be something like this: "Changing the title from 'Play now!' 🎰 to '🔔 First deposit bonus! 55 FS 🎰' will increase the click-through rate (CTR) by 20%." A hypothesis helps you focus on a specific goal and measure your results after completing the test.
Now, when it comes to working with offers related to grayhat verticals (questionable or potentially unethical practices), it's important to note that accounts are often blocked during the testing phase. Even if you have a well-established ad account in a campaign that includes grayhat elements, Google may, at best, reject the ad. To address this issue, Google Ads agency accounts can be helpful. These accounts have a higher level of trust from the advertising platform, which helps with moderation and extends the lifespan of the account. You can get access to these accounts from the YeezyPay service.
Creating test cases
Based on your hypothesis, create different versions of ads to test. If your hypothesis is about the headline, create multiple variations of headlines to compare. Testing multiple elements at the same time makes it difficult to determine which specific change influenced the results. For example, if you change both the title and description of an ad in the same test, you won't know which change improved the CTR.
Running the test
Once you have your test cases ready, you can launch the test. Show all the test cases to the same audience, at the same time, and on the same days of the week. This ensures that external factors like timing don't affect the test results. It's recommended to run the ads for at least three days to gather enough data for analysis.
It's also possible to set specific criteria to end the test, such as after receiving 1,000 clicks, but in practice, to get representative data, it's not recommended to run ads for less than three days.
Analysis of results
After the test is complete, compare the performance of the test ads, pre-landing, or landing pages with the control group. It's crucial to have a sufficient number of clicks or views to draw accurate conclusions. Determine in advance the amount of data you need and wait until you reach that threshold before analyzing the results.
Evaluate key indicators such as CTR, conversion cost, CR, ROI, and other relevant metrics. This will help you understand which option performs better and whether the proposed changes are worth implementing in your main campaign.
How to create A/B tests in Google Ads that will help you avoid losing money
To start running A/B tests in your Google Ads account, click on the "+" icon and go to the "Campaigns -> Experiments" tab.
Then choose the type of advertising campaign you want to test.
Give your experiment a unique name that doesn't match any other campaigns or tests. Then, select the campaigns you want to test.
However, make sure that the test's name is unique and it doesn't match the names of any other campaigns or tests.
After that, simply save the project and adjust the test settings to ensure that all the conditions required for the hypothesis you want to test are met. Click on "Run an experiment", specify the percentage of traffic to allocate for the test, set the time frame, and save the changes.
Now, all you have to do is wait for enough data to accumulate for the analysis and to come up with the final conclusion.
Finally, here are some tips for conducting tests in Google Ads, based on common questions from users of YeezyPay, a service that provides trusted agency advertising accounts for Google Ads:
- Test only one aspect at a time to get accurate results.
- Avoid running tests during seasons when the demand for your product or service varies a lot.
- Make sure each ad gets at least 100 clicks for reliable data.
- Remember that the results only apply to a specific offer within a specific time period.
- Run tests for the same days of the week and times to get consistent results.
Conclusion
Split testing is an important strategy for media buyers, affiliate marketers, and advertisers who work with Google Ads. It helps them understand how their target audience behaves and lets them try out different advertising approaches. This way, they can avoid wasting money on ineffective ads and improve their return on investment (ROI) and conversion rates (CR). It also helps make their ads more appealing and effective, which ultimately saves them money.
But even the best strategies need proper budgeting and cost optimization. One way to save costs when working with Google Ads is by using agency accounts that have a higher level of trust from the advertising platform. These accounts make it easier to manage advertising campaigns and optimize costs.
