Difference Between A/B Testing and Multi- Variate Testing

Difference Between A/B Testing and Multivariate Testing While most of the professionals are busy in applying various techniques to enhance their conversion rates, many of them seem to get confused with the web testing terms.

A/B testing, Split Testing, and Multivariate testing are three names in web testing which has shown an immense impact on conversion rates optimization techniques.

A/B testing and split testing are the synonymous terms, but Multivariate testing is an entirely different phenomenon. Though they seem to have some similar methodologies, their differences are considerable too.

A/B testing 1.

What’s the phenomena

a.

In A/B testing, we split the traffic on two variations of a page, either equally or in unequal proportions.

b.

Single variations are considered at one time slot of the testing. Thus making the test results unambiguous.

c.

We can change some texts and images or even the entire layout of the web page in A/B testing.

d. The original version of the page is called the control page while the changed version is called variation or treatment page.

2. Traffic considerations- Since only two versions are tested simultaneously at a time.

Therefore, comparatively, a less traffic is required to carry the test.

3. When to use- A/B testing is applied in the case when we want to design a whole new web page or website by changing its entire structure.

Examples- Say, I want to redesign my login page so as to get maximum sign ups on my website. I will create two variations of the login page by alternating the theme, fonts, background, form layout, and CTA buttons.

Multivariate testingWhat’s the phenomena-

a.

In Multivariate testing, we identify a few areas or elements of the web page and create the variations of those identified elements only.

b.

In Multivariate testing, you can simultaneously test the multiple variations.

Say, your heading, as well as the slider, can be tested in the same time slot.

c.

We create different combinations of the variations and do the testing of each combination by simply splitting the traffic among them.

2.Traffic considerations- Due to multiple elements being tested at a time, comparatively a huge traffic is needed to generate an unambiguous result.

3.When to use a Multivariate test- We deploy a Multivariate test, whenever we want to do some minor changes in the website without alternating the complete layout.

Examples- Just consider to change a few elements from the sign-up page. Say, I will change the text of CTA button from "Sign Up" to "Submit" and also the heading layout.

A/B testing or Multivariate testing?

A/B testing is a wonderful testing method for testing in a short time. It is an unambiguous approach as the changes in the pages are very clearly distinguishable and could be easily compared with each other. It is easy to say that which variation performed better. Here, you don't have to care about huge traffic as it requires a lesser traffic as compared to Multivariate testing. This also means that if your site does not get much of the traffic then you can test your site, page, or elements by applying A/B testing which will work fine with lesser traffic.

If you want to make subtle but multiple changes to your website then multivariate testing could be a great option for you. Apply this mode of testing only when you already have a huge traffic generation on your site. By applying Multivariate testing on your existing traffic, you can check that how the minor changes are going to affect the conversion rates of your site.