The best plugins and tools for A/B testing on WordPress

When your website is your main source of income, you have two main options for boosting your earnings. Either pay to send more traffic to your site or make changes to your site to ensure that more of your existing visitors convert.

But how are you supposed to know what changes to make? How do you know if it’s the layout or the copywriting that is turning people away? How do you know what copy best connects with your crowd?

One way to test this and more is with A/B testing.

A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a method for trying out different pages on your audience to see what works best. If your website is built on the WordPress platform, you’ll be pleased to learn there are plenty of A/B testing plugins and tools at your disposal.

In this post, we’ll share some of the best split testing tools that will help you to get the answers you need…

Thrive Optimize

Perhaps the most well known A/B testing platform available, Thrive Optimize works with all Thrive themes. The set up is incredibly simple. All you do is clone the page you’d like to test, make your changes and then choose your goal. Then you sit back and collect your data. You can also set it to automatically start using the winning variant after a set period of time, so this is a great option if you are planning to deploy lots of testing. Membership will set you back $19 per month billed annually.

Google Optimize

While not necessarily a WordPress plugin, this handy tool from Google will work with any of your WordPress content. It works through Google Analytics and only requires a short code snippet to get started. You can then start your A/B testing by simply pasting the URLs you would like to test into the “experiment”. As a free option, this is ideal for those who just want to dip their toes into split testing.

Unbounce

Unbounce allows you to create landing pages, pop up forms and sticky menus on your WordPress website. It also offers really easy to implement A/B testing on most elements. If you’re looking for a drag and drop builder that takes the stress out of split testing, this is a great value option. It costs $99 per month for the essential plan.

Sumo

If your primary goal is to boost newsletter sign-ups, Sumo is a powerful and easy-to-navigate option. There is a free version available, but this will come with limited functionality. A/B testing is only available on upgraded accounts, which will set you back $49 per month. After creating your first sign up form, you can then create a test. To make life easier, Sumo even came up with this list of elements you can test, all presented on one neat little table.

Whatever A/B testing platform you use, it’s important that you approach split testing with a hypothesis. Only test one element at a time and be sure to set a goal for each test. You don’t want to fall into the trap of failing to see the bigger picture. At the end of the day, your CPA should be at the forefront of all marketing experiments, so don’t lose sight of this vital statistic.