Dechra Veterinary Pharmaceuticals
Why It’s Worth Making Time for A/B Testing
Dechra is a veterinary pharmaceutical company, and Vetradent is a flagship brand in their dental line. This project demonstrates how A/B testing can significantly enhance conversions in both the short and long term.
My Role
Designer + Developer
Task
Conduct an A/B test for an email campaign
Tools
HTML, CSS, Photoshop, Illustrator
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What's the Goal?
Audience & Messaging
The email announced Vetradent’s newly granted VOHC (Veterinary Oral Health Council) seal of acceptance. It was sent to veterinarians and clinic staff to both share the news and draw attention to Dechra’s dental portfolio, as the brand is typically associated with other health categories.
What is A/B Testing
For this campaign, the focus was high-level awareness. However, the Marketing Manager provided a long, technical paragraph that was highly educational. I recommended shortening the copy to make it more to the point, but they believed all the content was relevant and were strongly in favor of keeping it as is.
Enter A/B Testing...
A/B testing compares two versions of content to see which appeals more to users. It tests a control version (A) against a variant (B) to determine which performs better.
I suggested A/B testing as a way to evaluate our competing theories. Two versions of the email were sent to 25% of the audience, split evenly between them, for three hours. After that, the email with the most clicks was sent to the remaining 75%.
My Hypothesis:
Shorter, more concise content would lead to more clicks, as the messaging and call-to-action were more direct. (A)
Designs!
A
B
Results & Reflection
A
14 Clicks
B
29 Clicks
WINNER: 107% more clicks
Results
The longer, more educational email blew the shorter, more to-the-point email out of the water!
Long term impacts of A/B Testing
After this successful test, we continued experimenting with content length and tone. We discovered that Dechra’s audience responds best to technical, educational content and least to short, promotional messaging.
A/B testing is always better than guessing or relying on opinion since it gives you clear, data-driven answers. Sometimes your audience defies conventional design wisdom, and we never would have known that without testing.
