Marketers are always optimizing their campaigns, and this includes running A/B tests. A/B tests enable marketers to determine which iteration of an email, ad copy, landing pages, etc. are performing best. This allows for the fine tuning of each touchpoint in order to drive the most conversions and sales possible. However, if you’re not able to accurately measure the results of your A/B testing, you may not be choosing the best version. Most marketers have the ability to capture online actions, such as email opens or form fills, that signal which version in your A/B test performs better, but when those actions occur offline, like placing a call to your business, they disappear into a black hole.
You’re Missing a Huge Portion of Your Conversions
When testing your email campaigns, for example, success can be measured using metrics such as opens, clicks, or even downloads of the asset you were promoting. For paid search ads, winners are typically chosen based on the amount of clicks they drive or form fills on their landing pages. The problem is, many marketers capture only these online conversions and this misrepresents your A/B testing results.
Why? Many of the conversions driven by marketing occur offline, making them more difficult to measure. Often times, instead of converting online through something like a demo request form, a lead may choose to call you instead. This skews your data unless you have the ability to capture that call conversion. By integrating call attribution technology with your web measurement and marketing automation tools you can capture both online and offline conversions, enabling you to pick the true winner of your A/B tests.
Smartphones Are Driving More Calls to Businesses than Ever Before
The explosive adoption of smartphones has been tricky for marketers to navigate. It has created a black hole in the attribution data marketers rely on to prove their value and optimize their campaigns. The reason this black hole exists? Smartphone users prefer to call. According to analyst firm BIA/Kelsey, mobile search, social, and display advertising drove 76 billion calls last year and will drive 162 billion by 2019. Clicking a “call” button on your search ad or landing page is much easier than filling out a contact form on a small keyboard. If you are A/B testing your emails, landing pages, and search ads, they are almost guaranteed to be viewed on mobile devices making it imperative that you be able to capture calls. Otherwise, your results will be skewed towards a version that may be producing the highest number of online conversions such as form fills or email opens, but not overall conversions.
With inbound calls to businesses on the rise, marketers running A/B tests must measure call conversions. A recent DialogTech Insights study found that call conversions make up 49% of total landing page conversion rates. If you’re A/B tests are missing 49% of conversions, can you truly feel confident picking a winner? If you’re interested in learning more about the importance of call conversions to your A/B testing and marketing strategy, download our research report: The 49% ROI Mistake Marketers Don’t Know They’re Making.
