Mobile apps have been a part of our lives for a few years now, and it's true that most of the tasks seem impossible without them.

For example, killing time! Just kidding, things, like booking a cab, ordering food, banking, and a lot more is something which needed a lot of physical effort and also time. but what we do now is simply open an app and get things done without having to physically move from your place.

Life seems to be hard without mobile apps, isn’t it?

So what goes into making apps?

First of all the concept and idea behind the app is what makes an app what it is, then the development, marketing, release etc.

But we are here to learn about the most important part of mobile app development, no not coding, it’s the testing part of the development.

Yes, testing is an integral part of development, it’s the stage where developers test or checks if the app is performing as determined or if any changes have to be made to match what’s
expected from the mobile app.

Since user experience is the most important aspect of a mobile app, whether it is an Android app or an iOS app, it is important to fetch the glitches and minor hiccups an app has because it is really important that your user has a super smooth functioning app. I don’t have to tell you the disadvantages of having an app which crashes or hangs.

So how does testing help you in improving your app?

There is something called as an A/B testing which helps you develop what works in your app and what doesn’t.

In a nutshell, A/B testing is creating two versions of your app or one of your app page and going with the one which works better for you. Works better in terms of performance or conversions of your business or improving downloads etc.

Testing your app with different versions is really important because it is critical at this point to come up with something new and stand out from the crowd. It’s important to create a brand name that people can talk about. One of the most important things on this list is customer retention, which means gaining back the customer whom you’ve lost.

You can know more about your customers by being in your customer’s shoes and try to find out the reason why your app isn’t as popular as you would like.
This will surely help you find some great ideas to improve your app. And A/B testing is the most powerful tool you could use.

So, to make your app a better one, there are some tools and rules for Mobile app A/B testing.

There are no textbook rules or anything, these are the rules, which we follow when we work on a mobile app development project, and these are the rules followed by our mobile app developers.

We have 5 important rules which made us what we are as a web app development company.

Proper Planning

Okay, this is quite obvious but bear with me, planning plays the most important part in any project. I have to say this because some of you out there believe in going with the flow, this isn’t your life mate! Its an app and planning is everything.

Once you have made up your mind about A/B testing, decide what you want to test first. This could be a series of variables that you would like to test, such as the text, color, or button sizes, which help in conversions.

It is really important to make sure that you have a clear idea about what results you are looking for.

There could be a chance that you wanted to make something better in your app, when its already better but you just want to make it better. Before you want to experiment on this better part you need to know if the change is better than the original version.

It is important to make sure that you have a clear idea about what results you are looking for. You also need to be aware of your baseline results, the results which you are currently getting. Only then you will be able to understand the difference A/B testing has created for your mobile app.

Start Simple

With mobile interfaces, even small changes can make significant differences. I recommend you start with small tweaks, talking one variable at a time, targeting the most simple and important elements like the headline, navigation and color schemes.

The reason you need to start simply is just that you will forget about smaller things which matter and these are the things which matter most for user experience.
Things like buttons and color schemes might be something you might think of doing it later, but you will see their importance once you’ve started your project.

So starting simple is really important and it helps.

Always aim for long-term Goal or maybe not

Every time you opt for a change, you might tend to overlook the holistic result. What you need to do rather, is to focus more on short-term results than long-term results.

It is obvious that you want to increase the conversion rate for your app immediately, but you may not be able to achieve this in the first test that you run.

Sometimes, it could take more attempts to get the result you wanted. So, it is important that you keep up the good work as there is always a room for improvement when testing a mobile app.

Know your Customers and their needs

If you don’t know who your customers are, you won’t know your next step. Understanding customer needs is one of the most important elements of A/B testing. Have you ever thought what makes Amazon or any other big e-commerce apps work? They have specific customers who know, before visiting their apps of websites, what they are looking for and know they will get the consistent experience.

Let me make it simple, if you need coffee you go to a coffee shop and if you need a beer you visit a bar, as simple as that.

In the same manner, know exactly what you are serving your customers. If you want to become a master of something, define your target audience, understand their needs, and keep serving them religiously. It does not make any sense to be the jack-of-all-trades and master of none.

How do you know your customers? Analytics is your answer.

Keep your customers Engaged with your app

You need to understand your customers to do that first, understanding your customer’s needs and designing your app around them will obviously keep the customers engaged.

But hey, even after all your hard work there will be a number of customers that will try your mobile app and leave without a conversion, you don’t have to worry about them.

But you must also understand what made them leave half way through is essential because it helps explain the customer churn.

You need to get to the roots of why are you failing to make the conversion to those set of customers, the best way you could do this is to publish an exit survey and ask them why they are leaving, yep ask them for a feedback.

This will surely help you document the difficulties that customer’s face that can ultimately make them leave. You can use this data to improve your app.

Now that you know the rules you need to follow, here are the tools you could use for A/B testing.

1. Amazon A/B testing

Amazon has been running A/B tests and conversion optimization campaigns for decades now ( Or more than just one TBH) anyways, they have always come up with new and groundbreaking ideas and tests to get better results.

This non-stop testing required them to develop their own tools which functionality they openly share with the community.

Amazon’s mobile app A/B testing tool is targeting mainly mobile apps with lots of users but there is no reason why a small team couldn’t use them as well.

The UI you can use it’s not rich but its functional. If you don’t mind the plain UI, this tool might be something you would have to go for.

Amazon A/B testing currently supports iOS, Android and Amazon apps.

2. Apptimize

Apptimize allows you to make changes in real-time without the need to submit your apps again in the app store.

It's more than just an A/B testing tool. Apptimize allows you to roll out new features for certain users.

That way you can test them before, to make them available for everyone.

But this tool has its drawbacks, you would need to be able to code to test changes. So that’s why it's not very suitable for marketers and product managers with zero development skills.

3. Taplytics

Taplytics is an A/B testing tool that allows you to make live changes on the go. This is something every developer would want, who are searching for fast iterations.

Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to use and you’d need some time to get used to it. That really isn’t much of a trouble. However, it’s easy to install with just a copy and paste of one line of code.

But the tool is only available for iOS, it may be available for Android in the near future.

When deciding this tool to use think about the functionality that you need and the resources that you have. Do you need something more basic that doesn’t require developers to use? Do you need something more advanced in functionality?

4. Adobe Target

Adobe target is a tool that offers personalization. It claims to help you pick the best content by conducting various simple to run tests, the results of which will help you deliver the right experience to the right customer.

Adobe target provides a guided testing and targeting workflow and framework, with no coding or setup hassles.

Target is available on both iOS and Android platforms.

5. Clutch

Clutch has all the basic features of an A/B testing tool. With it, you’d be able to track, measure goals, and create data-driven tests.

The best thing about this tool is that its an open source, so you’d be able to customize it according to your needs. Of course, this is only handy if you have a development team available for you.

Clutch is currently available for iOS and Android platforms.

6. Optimimo

Optimimo is rich in features A/B testing tool. It has heat maps, navigation flow tools, usability surveys, advanced filtering features, real-time metrics, etc.

The real-time metrics are something really important for developing an app, it helps the app developers to make quick improvements in conversations and sales.

This tool is currently available only on Android.

7. Kii

Kii is a mobile app development suite and not just an A/B testing tool. It has features like mobile app backend, geolocation tools, and mobile app analytics.

This tool has all the typical A/B testing features you might need plus a one-click feature that lets you push out the optimal version of your app instantly.

If you need more than just an A/B testing tool, Kii might be the best choice for you. This tool is available for iOS, Android, and Unity apps.

8. Maxymiser

Maxymiser is a tool developed by Oracle. It's not just another A/B testing tool that seeks to optimize the customer experience with the effective use of testing, insights, and personalization.

It offers services as per the requirement of different business types. Form self-service to customer plans, they have a plan for everything and everyone.

It is available on both iOS and Android.

9. Switchboard

Switchboard is one of the few open source A/B testing tools out there. It allows you to segment users based on UDID and you can use it even when users are offline.

The offline feature is quite handy when you want users to see updates even when they don’t have a network connection.

The only disadvantage of this tool is, that it doesn’t get frequent updates, unlike other tools. But it still has basic overall features you might want to use and its great for small projects.

And you know what the best part is, its an opensource tool which means it can be used for free
and you can use it to build your own solution according to your current needs.

10. Leanplum

Leanplum is rich in features A/B testing tool. It has filters, segments and a nice dashboard full of every analytics you would every need.

It has a nice interface which makes it easier to use than most of the tools out there. Leanplum is perfect for product managers and marketers who would want to make changes in less time, run tests and see results without the need of developers.

The best thing about this tool is that it currently supports all platforms like iOS, Android, Unity, HTML5, and it also has a REST API.

So yes, these are the 10 best tools which are available out there for your mobile app development testing, there are others which also are great in some areas, well may be more about them next time.

Also here are some advantages of going for Mobile app A/B testing.

Fresh looks

It may be that your users are not so interested in your app anymore because of the same old look, so yep giving your app fresh looks with colors that attract eyes is something you should look forward to.

Although functionality is something which is given a lot of preference, having fresh looks surely brings a lot of customers.

Reduced Bounce rates

Once you have sorted out what’s missing or to be improved in your app, your bouncing rates will drastically decrease.

A decrease of at least 70% has been noticed in some of the projects we have undertaken. That number is really impressive, you could do that too.

Increased Conversion Rates

Well that’s what we start A/B testing in the first place, yes the conversion rate surely improve but it all depends upon your research and the areas you have improved and the areas you have not.
Conversion rates will surely increase with the right efforts you have put in, in finding out the weak areas of your mobile app and making it stronger.

Increase Sales

Well, it doesn’t mean that the conversion you had before made sales in your app, but when you implement A/B testing your sales will go rocketing up.

That’s because of the new user experience you have implemented in your app, the user experience is something which helps you in making a sale and not the product most of the time.

Conclusion

All the rules and tools for mobile app A/B testing is for making your app better any day, Using A/B testing to tweak your mobile app with different kinds of variables gives it a chance to perform, resulting in excellent conversions and gains your customer base.

When your app is doing good, it breeds brand value and customer base, increases conversions and so does the trust among your customer base.