By Owen Fay . Posted on December 30, 2021Creating a logo for your new initiative or business is one of the most exciting parts of a new venture.
By now, you have probably created a couple of designs using sites like 99designs.com or Fiverr.com or even a custom logo designer.
You’ve even narrowed down your choices to 2 logos. You secretly have a favorite and have even asked some friends and family.
Now what?
If you just choose the one you like, you could suffer from individual bias. And it could come back to bite you later – where your customers give you negative feedback about your logo.
Even worse: Your logo could spark a future controversy.
But what if you could tap into the “wisdom of the crowds” – before you go live.
Usability A/B testing is a great way to make this decision and get valuable customer feedback.
It’s an effective method to reduce risk and save time – which gives you the confidence that you have made the right choice.
But before you start usability testing, you need to understand how it works.
I’ll explain how you can use this strategy to decide between multiple logos and reduce your risk of choosing the wrong one.
Just imagine: You have two logos given by the designer (or the design contest) and you chose the wrong one due to your own bias. This can cause months of pain and re-work.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could test the designs – before going live?
Let’s start with the basics.
How Usability A/B testing works
Usability A/B testing isn’t difficult to understand. You start with two logos and then these two logos (A and B) get presented to a panel of users who choose the one they prefer.
Usually, when we have two logos, we ask a couple of friends for their opinion. That method is tiresome and does not yield significant results.
But what if you could ask a panel of hundreds or thousands of users?
A usability A/B test survey gives us just this capability. Your logos are presented to a panel of (say) 100 users who vote on your two logos.
Not only do they vote – but they also provide you with a detailed explanation. This gives you excellent customer feedback – even before you go live.
Here’s a visual representation to give you a better understanding of what I’m talking about:
Once the responses are in, you go with the logo that won the test. You now have full confidence that a large audience agreed with your choice.
And you were able to do this in a few minutes – not days or months like traditional usability testing.
Let’s begin.
Set a clear goal for your logo test
Your logo is your brand’s biggest digital asset. It is by far the most visible part of your website.
You probably created your logo using a logo contest or a site like 99designs.com or fiverr.com. This would have given you tens of choices for the company logo.
The problem is: How do you select the best one for your company?
The key here is to narrow down the various choices to 2 finalists. You can do this using your own judgment (which could be biased!) or ask a couple of friends.
The 2 finalists then compete in the usability test.
Select a platform to run your Usability test
Okay.
You’ve got two logos and want to make a final choice.
But how do you implement this test – before going live?
Not everyone who operates a website is a computer engineer or programmer.
Fortunately, you don’t need to be either to run a usability A/B test.
There are plenty of tools and resources that can help you do that.
Here are some places to start.
Poll the People does usability A/B testing. It’s quick to set up (less than 5 mins) and your test can be done in less than 60 mins.
If you are short on time (and money), I think it’s a great place for you to start. Most tests finish in less than 60 mins.
Poll the People gives you detailed reports from your test and valuable consumer feedback.
You can easily analyze this information to make a choice and also refine your brand messaging.
It’s also free to signup, which is always an added bonus.
Usertesting.com and WevoConversion.com are other options to try (but these are much more expensive and require sales contracts)
Setting Up The Test
The next step is to set up the logo test. We’re going to use Poll the People as our testing platform but this will vary depending on what platform you use.
Don’t worry: The whole setup process is less than 5 mins.
First, we’re going to log in to pollthepeople.app and click “Logo Design” to get started.
Next, we’re going to set the test question. And upload our two logos.
Keep it simple: Like “Which logo do you prefer for an electronics store?” or simply “Which logo do you prefer?”
Next, we’re going to set the number of panel respondents. For most logo tests, about 100 responses is a good number. This should give you sufficient confidence and get enough consumer feedback. Also, the test should cost less than $50 and complete quickly within about 60 mins.
If you need more confidence and less margin of error, you can increase the number of responses.
That’s it. You are done. That was quick. Just checkout and your test will launch instantly.
Understand the data
Your usability A/B test will help you choose between two logos (A and B).
The people have voted and you now have the results.
How do you interpret them?
I’ll give you a quick refresher so you can effectively interpret and analyze the results.
The first thing to look at is: Who won? And by what margin?
The greater the margin, the greater your confidence in your choice.
Then look at the feedback from the responses. Each respondent has to provide a clear explanation as to why they made that choice.
This gives you key insights into the minds of your consumers.
Conclusion
Usability testing is one of the best ways to confidently choose a logo for your new venture.
It lets you run with the final logo with full confidence. By reducing the risk of a wrong choice, you save yourself pain and re-work down the line. You now also have data-backed validation of your logo choice – in case you need to convince a boss or investors.
Now that you know all about usability A/B testing your logo, you are ready to start.
If you haven’t started yet, you should consider running your first test in the next few minutes (most tests are completed in less than 30 mins).
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