Management Center: Creating Web activity experiments

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Creating Web activity experiments

Web activity experiments display different marketing activities, including content, targeting different customer segments, in the same e-Marketing Spot to determine which Web activity is more effective at driving sales.

Before you begin
If the Web activity that to experiment with does not exist, create it. Depending on the type of experiment that you are creating, you might also need the following business objects:

Customer segments

Content

Procedure

Open the Marketing tool.

Open the Web activity for which to test the effectiveness of a subsection of a Web activity.

Drag an Experiment element onto the flow connector immediately to the left of the customer filter that begins the section of the activity that to test. You can alternatively right-click the customer filter element; then click Add to experiment. A branch is created, leading to a second path through the experiment. This is the experiment path. You can move additional elements on to the experiment path as necessary to test the complete Web activity.

Click the Experiment element.

Enter the experiment properties:

Option Description
Name Enter a meaningful name in the field. This name identifies the experiment.
Branch type Select one of the following options:

Random

This type creates weighted random paths. Each path is subsequently assigned a relative weighting, which represents the percentage of customers that will follow each path. For example, 30% of the customers may follow Path A, while 70% follow Path B.

First path for which the customer qualifies

For this type, the customer can follow only one path, which is the first path that starts with a customer filter for which the customer qualifies. The paths are evaluated from top to bottom as represented in the Web activity builder.

The First path for which the customer qualifies branch type is recommended for Web activity experiments. This ensures that customers see only one Web activity for the duration of the experiment.
Frequency of element changes for each shopper Select one of the following options:

No change - Customer always sees the same content

This option specifies that customers always see the same content during the life of the experiment.

Session - Customer sees the same content within a session

This option specifies that customers see the same content during the current session. They may see different content during the next session, if they qualify for a different path.

Request - Customer might see different content on each view

This option specifies that customers are not restricted to seeing set content for any length of time. They may see different content as of the next site request, if they qualify for a different path.

Maximum number of customers This option specifies the number of customers that will participate in the experiment. If you do not specify the maximum number of customers, specify an end date.
If the maximum number of customers is reached when a customer reaches the experiment they continue along the control path. If the maximum number of customers has not been reached, then they will be assigned to a path according to the branch type. Once the maximum number of customers is reached, those customers already participating in the experiment will continue along their assigned path. New customers will not be allowed to participate in the experiment.
Start Date Define a start date and time for the experiment. You can either enter a date in the field, or select a date using the calendar tool. Similarly, you can enter a time directly into the field, or you can select one using the clock tool. If you do not specify a start date, the experiment will run as soon as the Web activity is activated.
The date and time are based on the current system time for the machine where WebSphere Commerce Server is installed.
End Date Define an end date and time for the experiment. You can either enter a date in the field, or select a date using the calendar tool. Similarly, you can enter a time directly into the field, or you can select one using the clock tool. If you do not specify an end date, specify the maximum number of customers.
The date and time are based on the current system time for the machine where WebSphere Commerce Server is installed.
Session length
The amount of time from when a customer was displayed something in an e-Marketing Spot to the time of their order to say the display influenced their purchase. If the Frequency of element changes for each shopper is set to Session, the session length is also the amount of time during which the customer sees the same test element. After the session time expires, the customer may be assigned a different test element in the experiment.
Status Select the status of the experiment. You can select either Running or Suspended.

Click the Paths tab, and enter each path's properties:

Option Description
Name Enter a meaningful name in the field. This name identifies the path in both this and the Statistics tab.
Percentage Enter the percentage weighting for each path. This represents the frequency that a particular path will display. For example, if a path is defined at 50%, it will display half of the times that a customer sees this activity.
Sequence This column displays the path's position relative to the other paths in the experiment. This column is hidden by default; to display it, see Use table views.
Unique ID This column displays the internal database ID for this object; this ID is used for troubleshooting purposes. This column is hidden by default; to display it, see Use table views.

Optional: If necessary, you can add additional paths to the experiment by clicking New. Conversely, you can delete any paths by selecting the path, and then clicking Delete.

Click the customer filter element in the experiment path. The properties for the element display.

Specify the differences that make the elements on the experimental path different from the control path.

Click Save to save the activity, or click Save and Close to close the Activity Builder and return to the previous page.

Example
The following image illustrates how to use the Web activity builder to create a Web activity experiment that tests the effectiveness of running activity X (if shopping cart value is greater than $50, then display hardware discount ad) compared to running activity Y (if shopping cart value is less than $50, then display hardware discount ad) in the shopping cart e-Marketing Spot.

Related concepts

Marketing experiments

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Option	Description
Name	Enter a meaningful name in the field. This name identifies the experiment.
Branch type	Select one of the following options: Random This type creates weighted random paths. Each path is subsequently assigned a relative weighting, which represents the percentage of customers that will follow each path. For example, 30% of the customers may follow Path A, while 70% follow Path B. First path for which the customer qualifies For this type, the customer can follow only one path, which is the first path that starts with a customer filter for which the customer qualifies. The paths are evaluated from top to bottom as represented in the Web activity builder. The First path for which the customer qualifies branch type is recommended for Web activity experiments. This ensures that customers see only one Web activity for the duration of the experiment.
Frequency of element changes for each shopper	Select one of the following options: No change - Customer always sees the same content This option specifies that customers always see the same content during the life of the experiment. Session - Customer sees the same content within a session This option specifies that customers see the same content during the current session. They may see different content during the next session, if they qualify for a different path. Request - Customer might see different content on each view This option specifies that customers are not restricted to seeing set content for any length of time. They may see different content as of the next site request, if they qualify for a different path.
Maximum number of customers	This option specifies the number of customers that will participate in the experiment. If you do not specify the maximum number of customers, specify an end date. If the maximum number of customers is reached when a customer reaches the experiment they continue along the control path. If the maximum number of customers has not been reached, then they will be assigned to a path according to the branch type. Once the maximum number of customers is reached, those customers already participating in the experiment will continue along their assigned path. New customers will not be allowed to participate in the experiment.
Start Date	Define a start date and time for the experiment. You can either enter a date in the field, or select a date using the calendar tool. Similarly, you can enter a time directly into the field, or you can select one using the clock tool. If you do not specify a start date, the experiment will run as soon as the Web activity is activated. The date and time are based on the current system time for the machine where WebSphere Commerce Server is installed.
End Date	Define an end date and time for the experiment. You can either enter a date in the field, or select a date using the calendar tool. Similarly, you can enter a time directly into the field, or you can select one using the clock tool. If you do not specify an end date, specify the maximum number of customers. The date and time are based on the current system time for the machine where WebSphere Commerce Server is installed.
Session length	The amount of time from when a customer was displayed something in an e-Marketing Spot to the time of their order to say the display influenced their purchase. If the Frequency of element changes for each shopper is set to Session, the session length is also the amount of time during which the customer sees the same test element. After the session time expires, the customer may be assigned a different test element in the experiment.
Status	Select the status of the experiment. You can select either Running or Suspended.

Option	Description
Name	Enter a meaningful name in the field. This name identifies the path in both this and the Statistics tab.
Percentage	Enter the percentage weighting for each path. This represents the frequency that a particular path will display. For example, if a path is defined at 50%, it will display half of the times that a customer sees this activity.
Sequence	This column displays the path's position relative to the other paths in the experiment. This column is hidden by default; to display it, see Use table views.
Unique ID	This column displays the internal database ID for this object; this ID is used for troubleshooting purposes. This column is hidden by default; to display it, see Use table views.