LiveBall A/B Testing

Code- and Script-Free A/B/n Testing and Automatic Conversion Optimization of User Experiences

One of the most surprising things about LiveBall is the way that it handles URLs and testing. LiveBall separates links from pages, so what is shown to users is independent from the link they clicked on. That means a single URL can be used over and over again for multiple waves of testing — making it easier for you to distribute URLs once and test over time. LiveBall does this in a smart, search engine-friendly way that avoids cloaking and other less than scrupulous techniques. (To underscore the validity of the approach, LiveBall landing pages typically increase search engine quality score over what it was previously.)

Real-World Example of Sub-Domain, URLs and Testing

LiveBall pages are typically shown on a sub-domain of your website’s root domain. For example, ion’s root domain name is ioninteractive.com and our landing pages live in LiveBall at paths.ioninteractive.com. LiveBall generates specific, trackable URLs that you then place in your ads or emails. In ion’s case, we have thousands of specific LiveBall traffic source URLs out in the wild — for example: http://paths.ioninteractive.com/LandingPageSoftware. You place those traffic source URLs once and then test multiple landing pages, microsites and conversion paths behind each one. You can run as many test waves as you want — all using the same URL.

A/B Testing & Optimization

• Test as Many Alternatives as You Like
  A/B is a misnomer. LiveBall lets you test as many alternative user experiences as you like. Simple slider controls let you include alternatives and optionally vary the percentage of traffic that is randomly sent to any alternative. Once a user is assigned to an alternative, LiveBall writes a cookie so that the user will see the same alternative on repeat visits.
• Traffic Distribution Control
  By default, LiveBall will evenly and randomly distribute your traffic to whatever user experiences you have chosen to include. You can override LiveBall’s even distribution by sending more or less traffic to particular experiences — giving you the freedom to manage how much of your traffic you send to riskier challengers in later-stage test waves.
• Automatic and Manual Test Optimization
  Over the course of a test, LiveBall can automatically optimize your flow of traffic based on conversion-rate performance. Automatic optimization uses your configurable statistical confidence setting — between 80-99%. When confidence is reached, LiveBall will automatically remove the underperforming experience from a test. For any traffic source URL, you may choose to manually optimize the flow of traffic. LiveBall will still weight the traffic per your instructions, but you will need to manually make changes over the course of your test to remove underperformers.
• A/B Testing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  Split testing can wreak havoc on SEO efforts by creating what search engines may interpret as duplicate content. LiveBall includes SEO-focused features including explicit SEO user experience flagging and canonical URLs for pointing the engines to the authoritative version of the content.