‘There’s nothing wrong with A/B testing‘. This statement is both true and not useful; better is, ‘there’s nothing wrong with A/B testing if you’re A/B testing the right bits‘.
But how do you know what are ‘the right bits’? Applied psychology is your answer.
Often we’ll speak with clients about their attempts to create change – an uplift in clicks, more of X behaviour, less of Y actions – and how their results are better but not much better.
The problem is clear; fighting to improve something that’s fundamentally poor. Or, as the famous joke about asking for directions from a local when lost in the countryside goes, “I wouldn’t start from here”.
Tom Goodwin (@tomfgoodwin) describes it well:
The culture of A-B testing and/or “test and learn” just seems like a way for people to value ideas less, believe in them less & fight for them less.
A billion A-B tests leads to the entire UI of Amazon – it’s absolutely terrible. No vision or strategy or delight.
— Tom Goodwin (@tomfgoodwin) November 21, 2018
Common challenges we see are:
- Tweaking clicks on a particular page in the user flow, when the user flow itself is burdening the user’s cognitive capacity, so the messaging kept on each page of the journey needs to change
- Improving the wording on a gain-frame message (‘Improve your…’), when even a poorly constructed loss-frame message (‘Underperforming stops here…’) would be way better
- Service descriptions that use narrative structure rather than a schematic structure ( Example of Insurance product here)
These challenges can feel quite tactical, but really they underpin both a communication strategy (a single, coherent narrative) and marketing strategy (specific executable plans for a product/service mix) – of which we work on
Challenge or opportunity, 84% of CMOs are concerned about their customer engagement strategy being outdated. #ciwapac2018 #innovation #BehavioralEconomics @kuppingercole pic.twitter.com/7uSpuBItLe
— Christian Goy (@GOY909) November 21, 2018
So it’s no surprise the A/B testing ‘discomfort’ permeates the whole marketing community, as Christian Goy (@GOY909) describes above.
It is clear that A/B testing is good when you deploy it in fertile spaces. Don’t spend time trying to find the tallest jockey – at least try and find the shortest basketball player. Or, to mangle the joke, using applied psychology means “I wouldn’t start from here” turns into “Let’s start from over there”.
If you find yourself ‘starting from here’, then come see us and start ‘over there’.
___
Related: 5 Things You Should Never Say (or Do) to a Little Person
For more on this speak with us, or have a look at our capabilities
Also, as co-founders and supporters of the London Behavioural Economics Network, join the Meetup group and Facebook group for more details and events
Related Posts
August 13, 2023
Money (but not called that, and how it changes behaviour).
Advertising agencies make a lot of…
August 1, 2023
Reading ease is not as easy as all that – comprehension shows the way
It's easy to make text readable, right?…
July 20, 2023
The ‘Hollywood hello’ – and the importance of context when communicating
When communicating we all like to be as…