A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a powerful tool that will improve your digital presence and optimize your marketing strategy. This type of testing provides data-driven insight into what your target audience connects with and information on how to improve your digital presence. 

Your mental health treatment center’s audience is unique. With A/B testing, you compare how leads react to two different versions of digital content or design. The purpose is  to learn how to more effectively engage with your target audience. You might compare two different color schemes on your website or test ads using two sets of keywords to see which one is more effective.

Today, we’ll discuss what A/B testing can do for your mental health marketing strategy and how to get started.

How to Use A/B Testing to Improve Your Digital Presence

There’s a lot of useful information out there to guide your mental health center’s digital marketing strategy. But there’s no substitute for real-world data directly from your target audience. A/B testing gives you a first-hand look at your audience’s preferences. Comparing different aspects of your pay-per-click (PPC) ads and web pages leads to more engaging digital content and increased conversions. 

1. Test PPC Ads to Find Cost-Effective Settings

PPC ads are one of the easiest and most useful elements to improve with A/B testing. Google and other search engines allow you to set up different versions of the same ad and run them together automatically. Remember, best practices for A/B testing are to vary only one element of an ad at a time. 

For example, you could change your keywords, or you could change the location the ads are targeted to, the time of day at which they appear, or the language of the ad itself. Start by choosing one element, test it, and then analyze the results. From this analysis, make informed decisions and apply those results to the next test. 

As you compare variations of your ads, you’ll generate the real-world data you need to create the most impactful, and cost-effective, ads possible.¹

2. Create Multiple Versions of Your Website to See Which is Best

You can also perform A/B tests with elements on your site’s pages. This is especially useful if your site is not driving as many conversions as you expected. A/B tests for web pages randomly send users to different versions of a page. Again, change only one element at a time, such as the color scheme, call-to-action, keywords, or linking structure. 

Since these elements vary in many, many different ways, you’ll need to create more than two versions of your mental health center’s site to test. You could have three versions of the site—each with a different color scheme—or four different versions of a call to action. Tests that compare more than two versions are known as “multivariate” tests.²

3. A/B Test to Unlock the Potential of AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful tool with a variety of current—and theoretical—applications for healthcare digital marketers. As AI technology continues to grow and evolve, the practical uses shouldn’t be ignored. But the usefulness of many AI marketing tools is limited by the data you have to work with. This means data collection and testing are essential for a successful strategy.

Once you have A/B test data, AI tools can use it to create powerful PPC ad campaigns and make your content more compelling for your target audience.³ Don’t forget, though, human touch is needed to thoughtfully set up A/B tests that yield actionable results. 

A/B testing gathers data you need to optimize your digital marketing strategy. But setting up the right tests can be tricky. Our digital marketing strategists can help you learn more about A/B testing for your mental health treatment center. Call us at 888.307.7304 to schedule a discovery session.

 

 

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