If your goal is to get visitors to your website to do something, then A/B testing is an essential tool to optimize your website to convince visitors to do that thing – it could be joining your mailing list, filling out an information request form, buying a product, etc.
In case you don’t know: A/B testing allows you to test two different versions of a page against each other to see which performs better.
When it comes to A/B testing on WordPress, Nelio A/B testing is the most popular solution. It integrates directly with WordPress and allows you to work with different types of content, from regular content to themes, widgets, menus, WooCommerce stores and more.
In our hands-on test on Nelio A/B testing, I show you what this plugin can do and explain how to use it to optimize your WordPress site.
Nelio A/B Test report: Summary list of functions
Nelio A/B Testing is a complete split testing solution for WordPress.
Nelio A/B Testing allows you to run many different tests on your website. Here’s what you can check/comparison:
- Message header – controls the header, exposure and/or image.
- Content Submission – Test each content in the content editor (or in your favorite page creation plugin’s editor).
- The subjects are a test on totally different topics.
- Widgets – test different widgets.
- Menus – view the different menus (which you have defined under Appearance → Menus).
- Models – Test different models.
- CSS – Testing of various custom CSS codes.
- WooCommerce Products – Summary of tested products.
Note – when I say post, I actually mean the content of a blog post, a page, or any other type of custom post.
For any tests you run, the plugin allows you to define your own custom goals, which can be any of the following
- Display a specific page
- Click on a specific internal or external link
- Completing an order in WooCommerce
- Your own event
The best part is that you don’t have to be a developer to set these goals. For example, if you want to click on a button, select the appropriate button in the visual representation of your website.
You can also create segments to control what types of visitors may be tested. You can divide yourself into segments:
- link URL
- Demand parameters
- Language
- Location
- The login status of the user (e.g. login to WordPress)
- Day of the week
- Duration
- Browser
- Device
- Operating system
- Window width
- Cookie
- IP address
And once you start the test, you get a detailed analysis area to see how all the options work. Nelio will also nominate a winner when it has collected enough data.
Hands on Nelio A/B testing
I’ll show you how the Nelio A/B test works and what experiments you can run.
Configuring the basic parameters
One of the things I really like about Nelio is that there aren’t many customization options. In fact, you can practically activate the plugin and start testing immediately.
If you still want more control over your tests, you can access the settings by going to Nelio A/B Testing → Settings.
These parameters mainly relate to the number of tests performed. For example, you can choose the percentage of visitors to your website that you want to test. If you have a high traffic website, you should only test a small percentage of your traffic.
You can also adjust certain statistical parameters to the desired sample size and confidence level. This allows you to control when Nelio recommends a winner to you:
Performing various types of tests
You are now ready to test!
To create a new test, go to Nelio A/B Testing → Test → Add test. A window opens where you can select the type of test you want to perform:
The process of setting up the tests is pretty much the same for everyone, but I will show you some examples.
Assessment pg.
Here’s what it looks like when you test a WordPress site (or a post type, or a custom post). You can:
- Select the content you want to test
- Name one option (or create multiple options).
- Choose your destination – browse the page, click on a link, place a WooCommerce order or create your own custom event.
- Add a segmentation to test only part of the target audience. For example, the test can only be run with authorized users or people viewing the site from a mobile device.
Below the option, you can click the Edit button to add the changes you want to test. When you test the content of a page or article, the normal WordPress editor opens. You will see a duplicate of your test page where you can make the desired changes. For example, I can change the text of the CTA button I’m testing for this demo:
It’s easy to define a click target – even if you’re not a technician. If you need help, you can click Check to open a live preview of your site. Then just click on the item you want to follow – in my test it’s the CTA button:
It’s really a smooth implementation, especially for non-technical people. Normally, setting up target tracking can be tricky, but it’s super easy.
It’s also easy to create segments – just navigate using a wizard :
Also note that you can create multiple goals and segments to test multiple scenarios.
When you are satisfied with the test case, simply click the Start button to begin.
Test of menu
The testing process is pretty much the same for all types of content, but I’ll show you a few more examples.
If you test the menu, you will see the same interface, but with some modifications.
First, you can use the Test Scope option to test different menus on all pages or only on specific pages/groups of pages:
Secondly, when you change your menu option, go to the usual WordPress menu interface to create your option, which is very convenient :
Test point
It’s the same idea to test the theme. Only now, when you add an option, you can select another theme to use (from any theme installed on your site). You can also use the test area alone to test different topics on specific pages:
GSC overview
This is the last one I’ll show you – you can also set up a custom CSS test, where the variant you create is just your own custom CSS:
Display of test results
Once you start testing, Nelio A/B Testing will immediately start testing traffic and collecting analytics data. I opened some Incognito tabs and it showed me both versions.
In the analysis interface, you will see :
- Traffic for each option
- Conversion rate for each option (depending on the destination chosen)
You can also see a historical chart showing how these statistics have evolved:
When Nelio has enough data, it will even recommend a winning option.
You can also check the heat map analysis for each option. This allows you to see exactly where people are clicking and scrolling through each option, which helps you further analyze your changes:
Note – You can also create stand-alone thermal mapping tests without A/B testing, so you can use Nelio A/B Testing as a regular thermal mapping plugin.
If you are running multiple tests, you can also view a summary of all your tests by visiting the Nelio A/B Testing website → :
Nelio A/BTrial price
The Nelio A/B Testing plugin itself is available for free on WordPress.org, but it only allows you to test a limited number of sites – you can only test WordPress sites in the free version. You also have access to the heat indicator function.
To unlock all A/B testing options and other features, subscribe to Nelio’s paid A/B testing service.
There are three different paid plans. The entry level offers the most testing features, but does not have some advanced testing features, such as B. Test Planning, Participation Control, and other advanced features. The other two levels offer all possibilities.
Apart from minor differences in functionality, the only limitation is the number of test pages viewed per month. Please note – this is not a general overview of your website page. This number only applies to page views where an active test is performed.
Here are three plans:
- Basic – $29 per month or $299 per year for 5,000 pages tested and most website functionality.
- Professional – $89 per month or $899 per year for 35,000 tested page views and full functionality for five websites.
- Enterprise – $259 per month or $2,599 per year for 200,000 pages tested and full functionality for ten websites.
With all plans, you can also pay $10 for an additional 5,000 page views, which is a good thing because it means you don’t have to go to the next level just because you exceed your limit of a few thousand tested page views.
For more information on pricing, visit our detailed plan comparison page.
Final Nelio A/BTest Ideas
If you want to use a native WordPress plugin to run A/B tests, Nelio A/B Testing is by far the best and most detailed solution I’ve found.
There are popular third party tools like Google Optimize or SaaS. These tools work with WordPress. However, since it is not a native WordPress plugin, it is not as useful as Nelio A/B testing. Moreover, although they correspond to some of the functionalities of Nelio A/B Testing, they cannot cover all the functionalities.
This means that while Google Optimize gives you the ability to test a different text or button color on the same page, it doesn’t give you the advanced testing capabilities that Nelio A/B Testing does. B. Miscellaneous tests :
- Stencils
- WordPress Themes
- Widgets
- Menu
- Et cetera.
These other tools also take a lot more time to perform even basic tests, such as comparing sideheads.
They also don’t offer you WordPress-specific goals and test segments. For example, you can’t just segment the test between registered visitors and anonymous WordPress visitors.
For these reasons, I think Nelio A/B testing is a much better solution if you really want to do A/B testing on WordPress.
To see if you like how it works, you can install the free version and play with a few test pages. However, to take full advantage of the plugin’s flexibility, be sure to consider the premium version as it includes the most advanced testing features.
Go to Nelio A/B Testing Download the plugin on WordPress.org
Do you have questions about our Nelio A/B test report? Ask us in the comments section!
Related Tags:
isitwp, gtmetrix, wp-optimize, how to increase wordpress website speed without plugin, wordpress speed optimization plugin, wordpress server optimization, wordpress optimization service, wordpress speed test
