An A/B testing program is the best way to proactively ensure that your e-commerce store generates consistent revenue year-over-year. Especially at a time when direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) brands depend on companies like Meta and Google to help them generate revenue, it’s important to make sure your website is converting shoppers into buyers no matter how they find you.

A/B testing allows you to make sure that every optimization you push on your website really does create a better, more profitable experience for your shoppers. But even more important, a consistent testing strategy will allow you to uncover new insights about your customers that will help you make better decisions for your brand.

Unfortunately, I still see many e-commerce brands making decisions based on gut feeling instead of statistically sound insights. If you’re curious about how to start an A/B testing program for your D-to-C or e-commerce brand, there are a few ways to get started.

1. Dedicate 10 percent of your budget to a program devoted to uncovering insights.

It’s easy to get bogged down by the day-to-day demands of e-commerce. Resources and budgets often get allocated to projects designed to keep the online shop afloat instead of investing in future growth. However, the best way to make sure your website will continue to grow year after year is to make sure you have resources dedicated to learning new insights about your shoppers.

An A/B testing program isn’t just about the wins; it’s about learning what works, what doesn’t, and what doesn’t really matter that much. If you have a team dedicated to building those insights this year, then next year you’ll know where to focus your efforts.

2. Test your next big idea.

Maybe you’re not ready to launch three (or four or five) tests every month. The budget and resources required to build a fully functioning multilaunch program can take time and dedication. However, there’s no reason you can’t start building momentum (and your list of actionable insights about your shopper) with a single test.

When my clients are interested in A/B testing but don’t feel like they can secure the budget to get started, I recommend they start with a single test. You can make this work for your organization by generating some excitement around your first launch. When the test is over, build an analytics-based story that can be shared companywide. It often takes just one A/B test to get stakeholders excited about testing their own ideas.

3. Make your case using ROI estimates.

The beautiful thing about A/B testing is that a well-developed, consistent strategy will most certainly turn into profit. In the beginning, it might take a few tests to see your first win. However, once you start gaining momentum and insights, all of your resource and budget investments will turn into profit.

A/B testing is built around sound analytics work, and so should your pitch if you’re trying to find the resources to get started. The best way to do this is to use your estimated conversion rate increase, traffic estimates and test win rate to develop a case that can be presented to your executive team. 

Whether you’ve done some testing or you’re still making e-commerce decisions based on competitive analysis and opinions, developing and growing your A/B testing program is the best way to understand what your shoppers want now and in the future. When done well, that’s something that will translate into profit for your company.