What is Amazon A/B Testing: Advanced Guide with Tips
For those navigating the competitive waters of Amazon selling, it’s clear that a universal approach simply doesn’t exist. You might share a product line with your competitor, yet their distinct pricing strategies, captivating imagery, or compelling A+ content could be the reasons they’re capturing both profits and your audience’s attention.
Imagine achieving just a 2-4% boost in your click-through or conversion rate; this seemingly small change can propel your product higher in organic rankings, making your product stand well above competition. While many sellers might find their listings are already 95% optimized, it’s the final push to 99% that can make all the difference. A/B testing offers the insights needed to make these critical refinements, enabling you to fine-tune your approach and secure a significant advantage over your competitors.
In this A/B testing guide, learn how to run A/B tests using Amazon Seller Central and learn which elements to prioritize when doing so. We will gladly share our insights on what strategies work best when it comes to making changes to your product listing.
What is Amazon A/B Testing?
Amazon A/B split testing is a powerful method used by sellers to enhance their product listings by experimenting with its various elements. This process involves creating different versions of a listing and testing them over a set period to see which one performs best in terms of impressions, clicks, conversion rates, and ultimately, sales.
What Types of A/B Testing Can you do?
The “Manage Your Experiments” tool enables you to conduct split tests on the following elements of a product listing.
- Product Title
- Bullet Points
- Product Descriptions
- Images
- A+ Content
- Brand Story (new)
So, the idea of split testing is to compare two or more versions of a particular element to determine which one performs better in terms of key metrics. Depending on how your test went, Amazon can apply the best-performing variation automatically or you can implement the changes manually.
How to Get a Precise Result Using Amazon A/B Split Testing?
A key principle in A/B testing is to test only ONE element at a time. This approach ensures that the results are clear and precise, as testing multiple variables simultaneously can lead to ambiguous data.
Say, you’re running a test on different product images for your Amazon listing. You decide to compare two variations: one with your current main image and another featuring a new, more vibrant photo showcasing your product in action. By focusing solely on the image as an element, you can precisely track how each version affects your key metrics. If you had simultaneously altered the product title or pricing along with the image, it would be challenging to pinpoint which change contributed to any increase or decrease in performance. So, by isolating the image as the only variable, you ensure that any improvement is a direct result of that specific change, providing clear and actionable insights into your listing’s effectiveness.
In What Order Should you Test your Listing’s Elements?
If we were to rank the elements in a hierarchy of what to test first and last, it would look like this:
1. Product Images
A product listing’s image looks the most important to us, as it’s the first thing that customers see and evaluate before they even click on your listing. Whether you’re running an ad using Amazon PPC or the product is discovered through an organic search, the image will always be the primary element that captures attention.
2. Product Title
Again, this is something customers will see along with the product image before they decide whether to visit your product page or not. Some might argue that images and titles are equally important elements, and yet it is only natural to initially evaluate things visually before diving into detail.
However, a compelling product title plays a crucial role by adding context to the image, as well as sharing important details concerning the product’s features. This is particularly important for devices, where the functionality and internal parts matter more than the visual design.
3. Bullet Points / A+ Content
It’s hard to say which of these elements stands above the other, suggesting the answer to this question lies in the nature of your product.
Bullet points have the advantage of being immediately visible to users, while A+ content requires users to scroll to access it. To effectively utilize this difference, it’s essential to know your product and understand what aspects customers focus on when purchasing. For products packed with technical details, bullet points can be more effective. Conversely, when the product’s appearance is crucial, A+ content is ideal for showcasing it from every angle, allowing users to appreciate its aesthetic appeal.
4. Brand Story
Although Amazon Brand Story a new element available for split testing, it’s no less important. Even though its direct impact on individual listings may be challenging to measure, the overall boost in brand perception and customer trust can lead to increased sales across all your products.
5. Product Description
Let’s be honest here, not as many sellers utilize this element today in its “primal” form, which is pure text. Additionally, if your listing has A+ Content, that usually means the product page lacks a text description. After all, sellers implement A+ not only for the looks, but also to give customers a better understanding of their product. But, if you want to make a balance between aesthetics and informativity, you can experiment with this element nonetheless.
Try out different ways to organize and highlight the features in your product descriptions or add a short brand story to see if it boosts conversions. While some shoppers may not read this section, optimizing your description is key for appearing in search results.
Who is Eligible for Amazon A/B testing?
To be eligible for split testing, you must fall under the following criteria:
1. Brand Ownership
To conduct experiments on Amazon, you must be the owner of a brand, meaning you’re directly involved in selling that brand within the Amazon store.
2. ASIN Traffic
An ASIN qualifies for experimentation if it is part of your brand and has garnered sufficient traffic in recent weeks. When choosing an ASIN for experimentation, the MYE platform will show the eligibility status of most potential ASINs; however, those with very low traffic might not be listed.
3. A+ Content and Brand Story
For A+ Content and Brand Story experiments, these elements must already be published to be eligible.
4. Limitations to a Number of Experiments
You can only conduct one experiment per ASIN at a time, but multiple variants can be tested simultaneously using the “Multi-attribute” experiment type.
How to Do A/B testing using Amazon Seller Central?
1. To begin split testing, navigate to ASC menu and choose “Manage Experiments” from the list.
2. On a newly opened page you will be greeted with a list of ASINs and their status, mentioning whether they’re eligible or not. On the right, you can see a “Create a New Experiment” button, after clicking on it you can further choose what type of content you’d like to test: A+, Bullet Points, Images, Description, Title or Brand Story.
3. Once you choose the element, you can select a product ASIN which you’d like to run a test on.
4. After selecting an ASIN, you can specify your experiment details by toggling the “View Settings” on.
Experiment Name: make a descriptive title to give you context when reviewing the results later.
Hypothesis: Make sure it’s specific and built on a clear assumption. This will help in interpreting the results after the test concludes. It should look something like this: ““Incorporating a lifestyle image of the product will drive higher sales.”
Duration: Consider selecting the “to significance” option, as it collects data until one version clearly outperforms the other, at which point the test concludes. If that’s not what you’re aiming for, you can set a precise duration as your second option.
If applicable, activate the “Start my experiment sooner if possible” feature, unless you’re planning to test a product that’s not yet published — in that case, schedule the experiment for a later time. Additionally, you can opt to “Automatically publish the winning version” to have the listing update automatically based on the results, although we recommend to toggle this off and analyze the results manually before applying any changes.
5. Scrolling down, you will see your selected ASINs – A and B, where you can change the selected element (ex. Product Title). Learn How to Write a Winning product Title →
6. If approved, your ASIN will appear in the experiment list and you’ll be able to click on “View Details” to see a report outlining the results of split testing.
The results for the A and B versions will include:
- Sample size (as close to 50/50 ratio as possible)
- Conversion
- Units sold
- Sales
On the right, there will also be a graph with projected 1-year lift in sales from the a/b test.
An experiment might end without a definitive winner, showing either inconclusive results or low confidence in one version outperforming the other. Despite this, the findings can still offer valuable insights.
Here are some reasons why results may be inconclusive:
1. The modification to your content was too subtle to noticeably influence customer behavior.
2. There wasn’t enough traffic to confidently identify which version was more successful.
3. Both content versions performed similarly in terms of sales effectiveness.
4. The alteration made to your content didn’t significantly affect factors that customers consider when purchasing.
What are the Other Methods of Conducting A/B Testing?
One method for conducting split tests is to engage your audience through polls, allowing them to express their preferences by selecting from a set of choices. This can be accomplished on various social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or even through email.
The advantage of utilizing social media polls is the likelihood of receiving straightforward feedback. Or, better to say, receiving any feedback at all: running split tests on Amazon will only allow you to collect so much data, as the report doesn’t indicate what change and why contributed to the purchase.
If it so happens that your brand doesn’t use social media or have a large enough audience to survey, you can opt to use a variety of tools available out there to help you conduct a split test and receive results promptly. Here are some we can recommend:
What are the Best A/B Practices?
Here’s a list of advice concerning how you should run your experiment, including points suggested by Amazon itself:
A/B Testing Tips:
1. Ensure your experimental content is distinctly different from what is currently in place. Similar content is unlikely to change customer behavior significantly, making it difficult to declare a winner confidently.
2. Allow your experiment to run its full course; early promising results can be deceptive. Ending an experiment prematurely might lead to overestimating its effects or choosing the incorrect version.
3. For A+ Content and Brand Story experiments, ensure both versions are applied to the same set of ASINs using the A+ Content Manager; otherwise, you will not be able to set up your experiment.
Amazon Split Testing Ideas:
1. Shorten product titles to under 100 characters to minimize noise and attract more visitors to your detail page.
2. Update product titles to include your brand name.
3. Enhance product titles to highlight attributes that interest your customers.
4. Introduce creative imagery to distinguish your product from competitors.
5. Experiment with only lifestyle imagery or traditional product photos.
6. Compare different sets of features to highlight.
7. Introduce new A+ Content modules on your detail pages.
8. Use a comparison chart in A+ Content for clearer insights.
9. Test various background images and module configurations.
10. Use different color schemes (dark/light) in A+ Content.
Final Thoughts
Mastering A/B testing on Amazon is an essential strategy for any seller aiming to fine-tune their product listings. Using Amazon Seller Central’s tools allows you to experiment with various elements of your listings—from text to images —and make data-driven decisions that align with your customer preferences. The insights gained from these tests not only reveal which variations perform best but also help you understand the motivations driving consumer choices.
As you embark on this journey, remember that the key to effective A/B testing is patience and precision. Test one element at a time to ensure clarity in the results and be open to feedback from your audience, whether through social media polls or other means. If you need any questions left or need help setting up an A/B test for your listing, Contact Us!
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