What Schools Stand to Learn from A/B Testing Their Marketing

By Maggie Twaroski, Truth Tree Contributor

Sometimes, the smallest change to a marketing asset can have the biggest impact. Refining a call to action, email subject, or landing page layout can be exactly what you need to resonate better with your audience and meet your marketing goals–whether it’s higher website traffic, more email opens, or more sign-ups. You might already have some thoughts on how you can improve your marketing materials, but how do you know these changes will actually work with your audience? To test the efficacy of your ideas before launching a full-scale change, consider running an A/B test. 

An A/B test is a simple, effective marketing strategy that involves distributing two versions of the same marketing element (a subject line, web page colors, email copy, etc.) to see which version performs best with your audience. A/B testing is so useful that it’s the second-most used technique in conversion optimization, second to analytics. Every industry, from e-commerce to hospitality to education, can benefit from A/B testing to further understand their audience and make informed, data-driven marketing decisions. 

How Schools can Conduct an A/B Test

Start by identifying which marketing material you want to test and which variable you will change. Then, create your sample size by splitting a percentage of your audience into two groups. For example, you might distribute two versions of a landing page–the first as it currently is and the second with a singular change, such as a new call to action (CTA). After keeping the test active for a set period of time, you’ll have enough data to determine which version performed better with your sample group. 

Benefits of Schools Performing A/B Testing

School marketers devote significant time to knowing their audience and the types of marketing elements that appeal to them. While these insights help influence many of their decisions, some marketing choices don’t always have a clear winner at the outset, particularly when it comes to smaller elements. Whether your audience will prefer the red CTA button or the blue one is anybody’s guess. Still, there’s no need for a coin toss–with A/B testing, you can eliminate much of the guesswork by determining what your prospects prefer and which option leads to more conversions. 

Lukas Vermeer, Director of Experimentation at Booking.com, stresses the importance of testing over guessing: “If we make changes based purely on assumptions, we risk making unnecessary adjustments to our products. It’s crucial to check whether our changes actually have the desired effect on peoples’ behavior. The worst thing we could do is constantly make all these updates to our products, potentially confusing users if the changes don’t actually work how we intended.”

Learn more about your audience

The more you know about your prospective families and students, the greater likelihood they’ll progress through the enrollment funnel. One way to gain detailed insights into the type of language, design, and communication your audience prefers is with A/B testing. It’s worth repeating that even a slight change to your messaging, page design, or email greeting can significantly affect the number of leads you convert. 

One of the most popular examples of this appeared during President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, when his marketing staff conducted a multivariate test (a more elaborate form of A/B testing involving multiple variables) on a landing page. They tested four CTA buttons and six photos. The calls to action were: “join us now,” “sign up now,” “sign up,” and “learn more.” 

The test revealed the “learn more” CTA, coupled with an Obama family photo generated 40.6% more signups, and 60 million dollars in donations. Aside from the obvious monetary benefit, the campaign also gained a deeper understanding into their audience, which preferred family-oriented media and an invitation CTA over a command. 

Know which elements drive results

If you launch a large-scale remodel to one of your marketing assets, it can be difficult to know which of those elements contributed to higher conversions. That’s why school marketers often choose A/B testing to determine the most effective changes.

Signs Your School Needs to A/B Test

If you have underperforming marketing materials, you might want to consider running an A/B test to see which elements can improve conversions. Maybe you have an email that didn’t generate good open or click-through rates. Perhaps your landing page isn’t bringing in as many sign-ups as you’d planned. Or maybe a large number of website visitors are abandoning one of your online forms. These are signs that you need to adjust some elements to make your materials more appealing to your visitors. 

What Schools can A/B Test

You can run an A/B test on nearly every marketing material you have–from emails to web pages. Most of your marketing tools will have built-in A/B testing software, while others require third-party integration. To run an A/B test in GA4 for example, you’ll need to integrate with a third-party testing tool, but you’ll still be able to track test results within GA4. 

Here’s a list of the elements you might consider testing:

• Calls to action: Placement, color, text, shape
• Online forms: Number of questions, layout
• Email subject lines: Tone, emojis, personalization
• Ad copy: Tone, length, color
• Media: Video vs. images, number of images, placement
• Landing pages: Layout, design, color, font size
• Social proof: Testimonial placement, font size, color
• Pop-ups: Placement, duration

Common A/B Test Mistakes 

To ensure reliable results, it’s important to adhere to certain guidelines in your A/B test. Some common mistakes that can skew results are:

Including external variables: Even though you may only be testing one marketing variable, make sure to consider any external variables that may be affecting your conversion metrics. For example, if the goal of your A/B test is to determine which version yields higher website traffic, you might want to avoid running the test during peak enrollment season, when traffic will naturally be up. 

Insufficient test length and sample size: Failing to run the test long enough, and not having a big enough sample size can lead to inaccurate results. Choosing the right test length and sample size depends on the specific test you’re running, as well as which metrics you’re tracking. Check here for a detailed guide on sample size and test timing.

Eliminate Guesswork in Your School’s Next Marketing Decision with A/B Testing

School marketers are constantly looking at analytics to make strategic decisions about future marketing plans. From the smallest adjustment in an email subject to a large-scale website remodel, every change ultimately circles back to what’s most effective with your audience. Next time you need to adjust one of your marketing materials, consider running an A/B test to learn which elements perform best and, most importantly–take out any unnecessary guesswork.