The three things you should do before you run an online test

A/​B testing is a powerful way to improve your online marketing.

But more important than any improvement you might get from testing is what you learn from your testing that you can apply in the future. That means the process behind your test is critical.

You should take these three basic steps before running any test:

1. Choose what element of your program you want to improve

For example, you might want to strengthen your e-mail newsletter or your donation page.

2. Identify how you measure success

You don’t run a test just to see what happens. You’re trying to improve something. What is that something?

So if you’re optimizing your newsletter, what’s the goal of the newsletter? To drive someone to your website, perhaps? Or what’s the goal of your donation form? To capture the most gifts or to capture the most revenue?

You will then measure your test results based on this goal.

3. Develop a hypothesis about how you will improve that measure

This step is critical. With a clear hypothesis—“more links in my newsletter will drive more traffic to the site,” for example, or “less clutter on the donation page will lead to more gifts”—you have a testable proposition. Your test will either confirm or reject your hypothesis, and you can apply that lesson in the future.