A/B testing in mobile app development is an ideal solution that helps in understanding how to develop and optimize the app to acquire, retain and monetize the users with no guessing game.
It signals the critical tool can turn a good app into an excellent app. But, sometimes, when a couple of things are overlooked, the situation becomes worse and you will keep reinventing the wheel in A/B testing that yields little to no benefit. In short, there are some app testing fundamentals that should be kept in mind when you are A/B testing the app.
Here are 7 simple, yet effective testing essentials that help everyone from beginners to the experts to master the mobile app A/B testing:
Build the plan
Even for a moderate app developed,there is a huge universe of things to test to examine their impact. Without mapping out the test funnel, you will be lost in the app’s features maze and some important features perhaps will be left untested.
It’s necessary to create a list of variables that you would like to test and then run the tests one by one to get the insights about what’s bringing more conversion. Also, you must be clear about the baseline result which you expect to get in order to find out the difference in your expectations, and the testing results you get, to better fix the issues.
Test the water before swimming in it
Starting with simple and then advancing later is the best approach to launch the app in the market, instead of releasing the full-fledged solution at first to avoid the release risk.
Initially, it’s best to release the first version of the app with minimal viable product (MVP) approach, then test the app to see what’s working on it and what’s not. Afterwards, make the changes and again test the app for a few weeks.
For instance: when you want to develop the app for both Android and iOS platform, it’s better to create the MVP of Android app, upload it to the Google Play Store and then analyze the traffic. After testing the app user behavior, if it works, then launch the iOS version of the app.
Also, in the rush of upgrading the app with a range of new functionalities, if you push the buggy update, then resolving the same take weeks. In the meantime, the users may uninstall the app out of frustration and leave negative reviews. The scenario can be resolved with A/B testing wherein just roll out the one feature, test it and then enhance the app subsequently.
Add variations to the testing process
Trying just one MVP and analyzing its performance with A/B testing and then again publishing it to see how the changes are working, is a time-consuming process. Instead, you can create different MVPs for the same app, and test them against different testing methodologies to get the job done in the minimum time.
It’s an efficient process because with different MVPs you can easily find out which feature in a particular MVP is driving high traffic and increased number of downloads so that you can include all the right set of features in the final version. Simultaneously, launching the app’s multiple variations would bring fruitful results.
Test the landing page at first
When your mobile app has separate landing pages, it is necessary to check whether there exists a room for Google optimization or not. You can check the web page efficiency by testing the header, title, meta description, icons, images and pricing of the app displayed on the search engine.
Also, conducting the A/B testing on the website determine which content is alluring the visitors and fueling up the conversion rate. Keep testing after regular intervals to let the websites stay synced with the latest trends and offer a consistent experience to the users.
Using testing polls can be better
None other than end-users are the best testers of your mobile app, then why you should not ask them directly. With A/B testing polls, you can make the users a part of the A/B testing and get their feedback for the app’s usability, design, functionality, and performance. Also, you can try it out when you wanted to implement some changes like- changing the icon or to know the reason for users leaving the app half-way.
The survey helps in documenting all the pain points and improvements, which help in making data-driven decisions and lets you provide the users what they are looking for.
Test for constellation of devices
When you are developing the cross-platform app, it’s implausible to provide the native-like experience to the users on every device. The reason being: the designs won’t get fit into the plethora of device layout, so testing the apps for every device becomes imperative.
The problem grows by many folds as iOS have fewer devices, but Android support a wide range of devices of distinct sizes and specifications. You cannot afford to neglect any device and run the test.
Alas! There is no solution other than you have to run the test on every device to ensure the mobile app has all the elements in the right place and create a desirable experience.
Test the apps for the long-term
Present users’ reaction to the updates made in the app is not guaranteed as it gets changed with time, and sometimes user takes hours to weeks to the months to adjust in the new app environment. When a big update is rolled out in your app, it will definitely be followed by big positive or negative spike, but after a period of time, it will stabilize.
Test the app updates and analyze the app usage stats, if it’s not converting right away. Hold on! It may become a winning variation in the coming time. When the update starts receiving a positive response, it’s time to run another test on the same update to make it amazing.
Epilogue:
Testing is an important aspect of app development to ensure the authenticity of the app developed. A/B testing of mobile apps not just ensures the authenticity of an app that’s efficiently build but also provides important decision making inputs for its appropriate marketing efforts as well to make better informed decisions.