Improving Physical Space Activation with A/B Testing
If your goal is to get more people in the door or into your space, you need to run some experiments to figure out what works to do just that.
Similar to A/B testing common in digital marketing where landing pages, emails, interfaces, and more are rapidly launched alongside a slightly altered version to determine which draws more engagement, physical spaces can be A/B tested for engagement as well.
The only caveats - an analytics system to track performance of your space and a commitment to iterating, testing, and analysis. Still, with an investment in these systems, you can improve the performance of your space drastically, regardless if you’re a restaurant or clinic.
Here are the steps to creating a testing environment for activating your physical space.
Before making changes, determine what you want to track and improve. Establishing these metrics will help drive the decisions you make in terms of changes, how long you’ll run those changes, and the analysis you’ll be able to do to determine what worked. Some examples of metrics you can track in your physical space are -
Entries or total visitors
Passers-by
Engagements or dwells
Conversions - Sales, contacts, sign-ups
Not every metric will be applicable in your application. You likely won’t be tracking sales at a trade show booth or business cards at your retail location (check out more about developing a reporting threshold here). Also, depending on the technology you’re using for your tracking, some metrics may be out of your reach. Find what works for you or invest in resources to track even more.
Next, how long will your experiment last? Determine the time horizon of your changes - when it will start, how long each iteration will last, and how long you’ll need to prepare for those changes and analyze the results. Some tests can be quick, while others will require a longer commitment.
Now, determine what you want to change or test. Is it a new marketing initiative? A change in the design of your space to see how it affects visitors and conversion rates? Additional or less staffing and how its affect on conversion and your bottom-line? A new display at your trade show booth? Again, the degree to which you make a change will depend on your goals and risk tolerance, so it’s up to you to use your judgement as what you’ll change and if it will have an effect on foot traffic in your space.
Lastly, commit to tracking your results and taking the time to explore their effect on your foot traffic and bottom-line. With the help of some technology, you can easily track foot traffic, draw comparatives to how your visitors move around your space, or tie it to things like conversions at your cash register or business cards you receive at a trade show.
Ultimately as we said prior, the success of your testing environment for your physical space will be determined by your commitment. Invest in the tools and systems to accurately track your traffic, make the changes you want to test, and set a cadence to tracking results and analyzing what works for your space.