A/B testing has been around for so long that it’s hard to remember what digital marketing looks like until we can test anything to find out which designs, messaging, offers, etc. produce the best results. When you do A/B testing, you compare two or more versions of an experience against each other to see which version works best. Often, one of the experiences acts as a "control" - a constant experience that allows you to see how well or poorly your test experience performed compared to making no changes at all. In the world of personalization, your controls are often a generic experience (remaining the same for everyone), while your test experience is personalized.
Therefore, testing is an essential element of any successful personalization strategy. Even if you can sometimes assume, without testing, you can't tell if a personalized experience is better than a generic experience. We often argue that individual A/B testing is an outdated approach. We believe it should almost always be combined with personalization industry mailing list help you find the experience that works best for each of your key segments (or even everyone), rather than the experience that brings the best results for the average person. But whether you're combining testing and personalization, or just testing, we have some tips to help you grow from an amateur tester to a professional tester.