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 you want 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:
Procedure
- Open the Marketing tool.
- Open the web activity for which you want 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 you want 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 branch is the experiment path. You can move more
elements on to the experiment path as necessary to test the complete
web activity.
- Click the
Experiment element.
- Enter the experiment properties:
| Property | 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 assigned
a relative weighting, which represents the percentage of customers
that follow each path. For example, 30% of the customers can 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 property nsures
that customers see only one web activity during 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 can 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 can 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 participate
in the experiment. If you do not specify the maximum number of customers,
you must 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 is not reached,
then they are assigned to a path according to the branch type. Once
the maximum number of customers is reached, those customers already
participating in the experiment continue along their assigned path.
New customers do not 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 by 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 starts when the web activity is scheduled to
start. 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 by 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, you must 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 maximum duration of time to consider that the contents
of a customer's order were influenced by a marketing experiment. The
timing begins when the customer views an e-Marketing Spot that is
used in the experiment. The timing ends when the customer submits
an order. If the duration of time is less than the session length,
then the marketing services check whether the order contains SKUs
associated with the experiment recommendations. If so, revenue numbers
are included in the experiment statistics. 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 can 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:
| Property | Description |
|---|
| Name |
Enter a meaningful name in the field. This name identifies
the path in both the Paths tab and the Statistics tab. |
| Percentage |
Enter the percentage weighting for each path. This percentage
represents the frequency that a particular path displays. For example,
if a path is defined at 50%, it displays 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 Using 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 Using table views. |
- Optional: If necessary, you can add more 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 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 e-Marketing Spot in the catalog
banner.
Creating web activity experiments