I ♥ Split Testing

We get bored (and frustrated) if we think it has been long since we last stretched the limits of A/B testing. So, in order to kill boredom and fell happy, we added a new feature to Visual Website Optimizer. The new feature, called Browse Mode, allows you to browse your website inside the visual designer and design tests spanning multiple pages. It even allows you to interact with login or other forms, so that you can create tests for the locked in parts of your application.

Have a look at the following 2 minute screencast which demonstrates how to create an A/B test inside (Wordpress) application:

Other uses of browse mode:

• If you are creating a site-wide test, you can browse to different pages to preview how the variations look across the site.
• You can create a funnel test where the same test runs on different pages of the funnel with different sections being tested. For example, if your registration funnel is of 3 pages, you can test generic elements such as styling and theming of those 3 pages (using CSS) and you can test any functionality that is specific to respective pages
• You can create tests on the Checkout page of your eCommerce site after simulating a purchase
• You can create test on post-signup page for your users by simulating a signup
• You can create tests on membership tests, web apps, forums or any website that requires login

Technical details on how we did it:

Handling login forms and sessions inside the designer actually proved to be little tricky because cookies were involved. Every time you login into an application, the server sends back a few text files (known as cookies) which your browser is required to send back to the server with each subsequent request. Browsers handle this seamlessly for you however since Visual Website Optimizer’s test designer acts as a proxy between your browser and your server, we cannot simply pass on that job to the browser. So, we ended up implementing the cookie storage functionality of browser inside the VWO itself. It was fun and quite satisfying when we finally made it work. Though there are some edge cases that we haven’t handled so in rare cases, the login functionality may not work for all websites and apps.

Feedback

Try out the new feature and let us know if you like it. We worked hard on this one!

Related posts:

1. How to create an A/B test on WordPress or Drupal site without adding a single line of code
2. How to create an A/B split test in 2 minutes [video]
3. Host Visual Website Optimizer (JavaScript files) on your server
4. A dead-simple trick to create site-wide A/B split tests
5. Architecture update: leaner, meaner and faster A/B tests

Tags: ab testing, browse mode, login, Multivariate Testing, News, split testing
Posted in A/B Split Testing, Multivariate Testing, News on April 7th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

1 Comment »

1. Greate stuff! This was one of things that I hoped you guys would get round to in the next few weeks but looks like you’ve done it already, thanks!!

   Comment by Stefan Fountain — April 8, 2010 @ 8:47 pm

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