A/B testing can be a great idea. You can compare different versions of the same page element or paid ad to find the one that performs best. It's a great way to improve content and user engagement as well as increase conversion rates. What's not great about this?
A/B testing is also clear. The results speak for themselves. If you run two versions of a newsletter test, the results will show which one “works” best.
What can you do to find out which version performed better? How can you get deeper insights into the performance of your campaigns?
Secondary goals are a great way to help you. Let me tell you why secondary objectives are important in A/B testing and how you can apply them to your marketing development.
Primary vs. Secondary Goals Primary and Secondary Goals in A/B testing
Before we begin, let's clarify what “primary” and “secondary” goals are in A/B testing.
Your primary goal is simply your main objective. It is the primary goal of your campaign, or the goal that you hope to achieve in an A/B test.
Let's say, for example, that you are a personal trainer. A notice is placed on your landing page encouraging people to sign-up for a free taster or sample week. It might look something like this from My Soul Sanctuary.
You might set your primary goal to determine how many people click through to fill out this form. This is to increase your sign up numbers.
The secondary goals give you greater insight into user behavior and how they interact with your site. These secondary goals help you achieve your primary goal and provide detailed insights into your A/B testing results.
Personal trainers might want to see how many people have shared their content via social media or signed up for their newsletter on their website.
These questions provide additional information beyond tracking submission forms sign-ups.
You must track both primary and secondary goals if you want to improve conversions, grow your company, and increase your ROI. You will not have enough data to effectively market your business if you don't track primary and secondary goals.
7 Secondary Goals to Follow in GA for A/B Test
Are you ready to track secondary goals? Here are seven metrics that I recommend you use in your A/B testing.
1. 1.
You can track the “add to cart” metric to determine how many customers add items to their carts and which pages are most popular. You can divide your audience into two groups by knowing how often the “add to cart” action has been triggered.
- People who add items to their shopping cart and then remove them.
- People who visit a product page, but do not add the item to cart
To track cart actions, you can use Google Tag Manager. GA provides detailed instructions on how to do so. After you have everything set up, you can do different A/B testing. You might, for example, test whether more people checkout if the product has a discount.
2. Interaction with Site Features
Although it sounds obvious, it is useful to track the number of people who interact with certain features on your website. It's difficult to determine if your website provides the user experience visitors want.
You might use A/B testing to track features like how often users click CTA buttons and how many users engage in your live chat.
Depending on your business goals, the exact features that you track will vary. Betterment, an investment website, offers many features such as investment calculators and quizzes that are worth tracking.
You might want to see if the calculator performs well if it is placed higher up on the page or if different colors indicate more clicks.
3. Rage clicking on Page Features
Rage clicking is when someone clicks repeatedly on a page element and nothing happens. It's usually because a page element appears clickable, even though it is not, or because a link on your site isn't working.
Google Analytics allows you to track, for instance, which pages are generating the most rage clicks. You can also see which page elements generate the most rage clicks, such as a button, line or image.
Rage clicking can frustrate your customers to the point that they leave your website. You can also track rage clicks using Google Tag Manager. Simply insert the appropriate tags to the HTML you wish to track.
4. Highlighting Page Text
Why is it important for people to highlight text on your pages? There are two main reasons.
They might first be highlighting the text to take action. If your number is copied and highlighted by many people, it might be necessary to create a hyperlink.
People may also highlight text and copy it into Google to search for similar content. If this happens, it's possible that your website doesn't provide the answers people are looking for. This is obviously a bad marketing situation.
How can you track secondary goals like this? In the first scenario, you could run an A/B testing to see if people call you more if you hyperlink your number. To see if the hyperlink is worth keeping, compare the GA results.
5. Sign up for the newsletter
Newsletters can be a great way for you to reach new people and provide high-quality, informative content directly to your subscribers' mailboxes. You first need to get people to sign up. This is not always an easy task.
There are several variables that you can use during A/B testing to determine if you have a low number of newsletter subscribers. You might monitor whether people opt for your newsletter more during checkout, or if your landing page has a more vibrant banner that draws more subscribers.
Newsletters, and similar content such as e-books and free guides, can help build brand trust. It should be at the top of every marketer's priority list.
6. 6.
Pageviews of both category and subcategories are equally important.
Visitors will find it easier to find what they are looking for on your category page.
You can create subcategory pages that branch off of category pages to give customers a more structured web experience.
What should you track on these pages? You might monitor how many people click on subcategory pages, bounce rates for different pages, and whether there are subcategories with low engagement.
You can then optimize the pages' names, change the order of the category, or make the subcategories more concise and clearer. GA lets you track both subcategory and category events so make the most of it.
7. Social Media Sharing Buttons
It's amazing when people share your content. It means you are resonating well with your target audience and it also means that they introduce others to your brand. Social media shares are considered free marketing. This is always a plus.
You might be interested in A/B testing your content by tracking how many people share it and which platforms are outperforming others. You might not get many people sharing your blogs but you find that your videos are shared more often than others, or that your content is being shared on Instagram.
GA can be helpful here, but it would be worthwhile checking out the analytics tools available on your social media platforms as well.
How To Measure Secondary Goals For A/B Testing
Okay, now you have some goals. You now need a way to measure these goals in order to determine if you are actually reaching your goals.
You must first establish baseline measurements. To set a suitable goal, you need to understand how your website and its features perform right now.
You can track your progress by collating baseline measurements if you don't have them.
Do you have a baseline? That's great. Let's now consider how Google Optimize can help us measure these secondary goals.
Google Optimize (GA extension) is available. You can run experiments and track the outcomes. The results can also be analyzed via Google Analytics. You can create a Google Optimize account by visiting optimize.google.com. Click the “Get Started” button.
Once you have created your profile, connect it to your GA account. Google provides detailed instructions to help you do this.
After you have everything set up, go to the “Experiments Page” and click the “Create Experiment” option.
Your variables can be added, you can set your objectives and the experiment will run. After the experiment is completed, you can track your results by clicking on the “Reporting” tab. If you wish to test new versions, repeat the process.
You don't have to use Google Optimize. To get a complete understanding of secondary goals performance, you can use data from GA and Facebook Analytics.
Commonly Asked Questions about Secondary Goals for A/B Test
It can be daunting to do A/B tests. Here's a quick overview of the key points that I covered to emphasize the importance of secondary goals in your A/B test strategy.
What is A/B Testing?
Split testing or A/B testing allows marketers to test different versions of the same variable (e.g. paid ads or page elements) to determine which one performs best. It is possible to simultaneously run both versions to determine which version has the greatest impact.
What is the difference between primary and second goals in A/B testing
The primary goals of A/B testing are related to the performance and effectiveness of each variable. This means that primary goals can be used to monitor how visitors behave when a variable is tweaked.
Secondary goals or metrics give you additional insight into your visitors' behavior while they are visiting your site. Because secondary goals are important, they can help improve your website's user experience, which in turn will increase your conversions.
What secondary goals should A/B testing be focused on?
Depending on your goals, the secondary goals that you should track will vary. You should pay attention to newsletter signups and add-to-cart action, as well as interactions with other pages or sites. Depending on your primary goal, you might also track conversions rates.
What are secondary goals for A/B testing and how do you measure them?
To start, measure your current performance to establish a benchmark against which you can compare. Next, measure each goal using analytics tools like Google Optimize. Take your findings and compile them to create a strategy.
Secondary Goals – Conclusion
Don't just track primary metrics and goals when you do A/B testing. To gain valuable insight into the performance of your website and whether it is providing a great user experience, you should also be measuring secondary goals.
The best thing? Secondary metrics don't require complicated tools. To get a better picture of your performance, you can simply track your analytics data using GA.
Are you tracking your secondary A/B goals? What measurement tool is most effective for you?
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By: Neil Patel
Title: Secondary Goals: Track These GA Events If You’re Doing A/B Testing
Sourced From: neilpatel.com/blog/secondary-goals/
Published Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2021 18:00:00 +0000
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