A/B Testing Best Practices

Talkback with PayPal and Live Nation

Does your business A/B test? What do you use it for? Have you thought about A/B testing your payment methods and presentment? Join Hitee Jha, Lead Product Manager at Live Nation, and Dr. Tiffany Raymond, Head of Global Customer Advocacy and Experience at PayPal, to unlock best practices for A/B testing – including what to test and how to shift your mindset to embrace learning over pre-defined success.

Many business leaders don’t consider A/B testing their payment methods and payment presentment. But one of the most important things to test in the current economic climate is buy now, pay later (BNPL). Today’s customers use BNPL to upgrade their purchase and get the version they aspire to: They want the better seats at the Live Nation concert. They want the bigger TV. They want the refrigerator with the ice machine. And they consider how to pay for these purchases early in the buying process. Through A/B testing, we’ve found that messaging PayPal Pay Later earlier in the process can empower your customers to buy what they really want.

Many of our merchants have also A/B tested PayPal Checkout. Subscription businesses have found it particularly useful: When consumers use PayPal for their subscriptions, they only need to update their information in one place, and it then updates across all their subscriptions.

Starting small is key: Take smaller steps before building an entire A/B testing roadmap. Make sure you isolate the variables, so you can say exactly what’s moving the needle – and what’s not. This lets you find early wins that can build enthusiasm for your A/B testing program. From there, you need to take a longer-term view and focus on the entire customer journey. Analyze each cohort over time to see if your payment options have an impact on loyalty, churn, and total customer value.

Implementing an A/B testing program isn’t always easy. Many businesses find it requires a change in mindset to embrace learning over success and outcomes over outputs. Not all parts of an A/B testing program are supposed to succeed. In fact, most of them don’t. You may find that the majority of your tests are flat, or even fail outright. That means you’re doing it right.

The parts of your A/B tests that fail are even more valuable than the parts that succeed, because they provide you with learning opportunities. Testing begets testing. It begets hypothesizing about why it didn’t work: Presentation, placement, value prop? Above all, A/B testing requires curiosity. A mindset of experimentation. And an acceptance that what you don’t know may surprise you.

Watch the webinar for even more tips on getting started with A/B testing, creating a roadmap, and shifting your organization’s mindset so that you’re set up for success – with payment methods and beyond.

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