A/B Testing Experimental Design

The following steps can be used to effectively create a framework for your A/B testing experiment:

Identify the Problem

The first step in any experimentation is to identify a problem. Before you can conduct A/B tests, you must try to identify whether your users are facing any problems and what these problems are. At this stage, you must evaluate the different problems faced by your business or by your users, and then try to find proof for these problems.

Find Solutions

Once you’ve validated the problem, you can begin finding different solutions. In this stage, you must brainstorm multiple potential solutions and then select two or three of them that you believe are likely to yield the best results. Once you’ve selected the two or three best solutions, you must find up to four versions, or variants, of each. 

Select the Metric that will Evaluate Outcome 

Before you begin your A/B tests, you must first decide the metric using which you will define the success of your variants. It is a good idea to determine the following three metrics before starting tests:

• Primary Decision-Making Metric: The goal metric that you aim to impact with your test.
• Secondary Decision-Making Metric: Two or three other metrics that are also impacted by the experiment and can help point you in the right direction.
• Monitoring Metric: A metric that is used to measure the health of the environment of the experiment rather than the success of the experiment.

Initiate the Test

Now that you know the solutions you want to test, as well as the metrics that will be used to measure their success, you can begin your A/B testing. Use the results of your testing to optimize decision-making or to improve your website effectively.