Google Website Optimizer v 1.0 The Techie Guide - Manual (Page 18)

18 Experiments with Dynamic Content
Experiments with Dynamic Content
Background
It’s a common question: “How do I deal with experiments where the section I want to test includes dynamic
content?”
Suppose you want to test three sections on a product detail page:
• Product name (testing a short name vs. long name)
• Product image (testing large vs. small)
• Call-to-action button (testing “Add to Cart” vs. “Buy Now”)
At first glance, this seems to be a prime candidate for a MVT experiment. But when setting up the
experiment you realize to your horror that there’s no way to enter dynamic data into any of the sections.
What’s the solution?
There are actually two ways to tackle this:
Option 1 - Use a MVT experiment and custom JavaScript
Pros:
• This is a true MVT experiment.
• Does not require a redirect
• Works well if you’re comfortable with advanced JavaScript.
Cons:
• Requires an additional layer of JavaScript to display the content, which could potentially get very
complex and difficult to debug.
• Requires additional code to support users who have JavaScript disabled.
Option 2: Use an A/B experiment
Set up the experiment as an A/B experiment, regardless of what you’re testing. Since the GWO server does
not return dynamic content any dynamic content has to come from the your own web server.
There are two ways to implement this using an A/B experiment, which we’ll cover in a moment, but the
underlying idea is the same.
Pros:
• Simple to implement
• Works for everyone (even if they have JavaScript off).
• Works well if you’re not a JavaScript guru.
Cons:
• You’ll need to manually create a separate version of the page for each combination.
• Requires a redirect.