Content testing overview

Current version: 8.1

Content tests let you test alternative variants of your website's content to find out which pages, components, or combinations of components are the most effective with visitors. The content or components that you are comparing in a test should be designed to achieve the same goal. You can quickly evaluate the test results and gain insight into the content that functions best with your audience. This can help you create more successful campaigns with higher goal-conversion rates.

You can use the following tests for testing content in Sitecore:

You can let the tests run for a suggested amount of time to generate statistically significant data and then access the test results for a page on the Optimization tab of the Experience Editor. When you have finished testing, you can compare conversion rates and select the page or component that you would like to use on your site.

Basic content tests

When you edit a page in the Experience Editor, Sitecore creates a new version of the page.

Note

Users with admin rights do not need to lock a page to edit it. Therefore, users with admin rights must create a new version manually.

After you save and submit the page, Sitecore proposes a test to compare the effect of the old and new versions of the page. You can preview the test, edit the test parameters, and start the test if you want.

You can create basic content tests in both the Content Editor and the Experience Editor. The Experience Editor is the more convenient and flexible tool to use because it lets you use existing content and create new content without leaving your website.

Component tests

You can create variants of components with different content, design, and personalization rules. Creating component variants lets you create complex tests with which you can:

  • Test more than two variants of a single component against each other.

  • Test multiple components at the same time, and each version of a component can be tested in combination with each version of the other components.

You can create variants of components in both the Content Editor and the Experience Editor, but the Experience Editor is the more convenient and flexible tool to use because it lets you use existing content and create new content without leaving your website.

You define alternative website components either by creating new content or by cloning and altering existing content. If you assign personalization rules to components, the personalized components are included in a component test as variants of the original components.

When you submit your changes, Sitecore proposes a test to compare the effect of the original and the new variants. You can preview the test, edit the test parameters, and start the test if you want.

Page tests

A page test tests a complete page against another page. The pages in the test can be different versions of the same page, or they can be completely different pages. This form of testing is useful for, for example, landing pages.

You can create and run page tests in Experience Optimization.

Do you have some feedback for us?

If you have suggestions for improving this article,