A/B testing content variants
Generating variants, choosing winners, and the statistical confidence model.
Last updated May 12, 2026
What you can test
A/B testing is available on:
- Article hero copy (H1 + first paragraph).
- CTA buttons on service / location pages.
- Email subject lines (when email is connected).
- LinkedIn post hooks (Domination only).
You cannot A/B test entire articles. The tooling exists, but the traffic-to-conclusion math doesn't work for most workspaces at article volume.
Starting a test
From any eligible piece of content, click Test variants. The engine:
- Generates 2–4 variants of the testable element.
- Lets you review and discard any you don't like.
- Assigns traffic in equal proportions (or your chosen split).
- Begins counting events.
Tests target a primary metric (clicks, time on page, conversion) and you choose it at setup. Pick one — multi-metric optimisation produces ambiguous winners.
Variant generation strategy
The engine produces variants that differ on a single axis when possible:
- Length — short vs. long.
- Frame — benefit-first vs. problem-first.
- Specificity — concrete vs. abstract.
- Tone — confident vs. curious.
Knowing the axis helps you reason about the winner. "Variant B won because it leads with the problem" is actionable; "variant B won, who knows why" isn't.
The confidence model
We use a Bayesian model. Two reasons:
- Continuous monitoring. Bayesian results are valid at any time, unlike frequentist tests where peeking early invalidates the p-value.
- Decision-friendly output. "Variant B has an 87% chance of being better, with an expected lift of 4.1%" is more actionable than "p=0.043."
A test is flagged conclusive when one variant exceeds 95% posterior probability of being best AND the expected lift exceeds the minimum meaningful effect you set in setup.
Sample-size guidance
Pre-test, the setup view tells you roughly how many events you'll need to reach 95% confidence at the lift you specified. If your traffic doesn't support that volume, the engine suggests:
- Increase the minimum meaningful effect (only care if it's a big difference).
- Reduce the number of variants (2-way tests need fewer events than 4-way).
- Use the test on a higher-traffic page.
Promoting a winner
When a test concludes:
- The conclusive variant is highlighted.
- Promote swaps it in as the canonical version. Losing variants are archived (recoverable for 90 days).
- The test record stays in your history with the final probabilities and event counts.
You can also manually promote a variant that hasn't reached statistical confidence — the engine warns you, but the choice is yours.
Auto-promote
For LinkedIn hook tests (Domination only), you can enable auto-promote: when a variant reaches 95% confidence, the winner ships automatically. Useful for high-cadence accounts where the operator doesn't want to babysit individual tests.
Common pitfalls
- Test running too long. If a test is inconclusive after 4 weeks, the effect is probably real but too small to detect at your traffic. Conclude and move on.
- Multi-variable changes. Testing two changes at once (new headline AND new CTA) means a winner doesn't tell you which change mattered.
- Seasonality. Tests that span a holiday week or a market shock are suspect. Re-run.
- Selection bias. Generated variants are biased by your voice profile. If all four candidates "feel the same," widen the voice settings before re-generating.
Audit log
Every test creation, variant edit, promotion, and auto-promote logs to your audit log. Filter by abtest.* to see your testing history.
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