Thanks to Susan, Nancy, and Toby for their excellent responses to a question I posted to this list last week: **************************************** Hi - can anyone on the Chi-web list suggest innovative usability test design approaches for A/B testing? Both A and B will be presented on the same screen and the user needs to peruse each and choose the one they prefer. I am looking for ideas on the best UIs to present text and pictures most effectively for this type of purpose and was wondering if folks on the list have suggestions. Please send your ideas to me and I will collect, summarize, and send out to the list. Kay Kay Corry Aubrey, user-centered research and design Usability Resources Inc | www.UsabilityResources.net | [log in to unmask] Phone: 781-275-3020 | Fax: 1-781-998-0325 ************************************************ -----Original Message----- From: Susan Price [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 10:18 AM To: Kay Corry Aubrey Cc: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Usability test design approaches for A/B testing Kay, Your proposed test is not what I think of as A/B testing. Our A/B testing is showing one or the other variant to the same user segment (usually in the live production environment) and watching which performs better. Presenting on the same screen side by side is an attempt to not lead the participants? This seems to invite careful perusal of the differences, and that's usually not what we're going for. What we seek in the usability lab are the untutored, knee-jerk reactions that we can't anticipate. Inviting careful perusal invites participants to play "designer." Our team doesn't suffer from a lack of such opinions - what we seek are the revelations that we weren't able to anticipate. There will be unavoidable left-right bias I believe, and the test experience doesn't compare to the "one solution per screen" actual experience. Seems like it might be better to show each variant (and perhaps some dummies) several times and have the participant rank each with a numerical scale, with duplications of each to weed out the biases. -Susan -----Original Message----- From: Nancy Frishberg [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 12:46 PM To: Kay Corry Aubrey Subject: Re: Usability test design approaches for A/B testing I agree with Susan Price's comment: What you propose is not A/B testing. A/B testing is a method which relies on behavioral data, not attitudes or preferences. It uses large numbers of responses in place of richer data from a few participants (as is found in usability studies). And it measures which of the 2 (or more designs, where you might actually be testing A/B/C/D) achieves a better business outcome (typically conversions to the next step in a purchase sequence). You need not present the 2 design to an equal number of participants, but sufficient to be able to say with confidence that design A converted N % and design B converted M%, and N>M (or the reverse). Doing several usability sessions with one design and several more sessions with the other is unlikely to get the statistically valid results that a true A/B test can provide. However, you might consider having 2 very similar tasks that use one design for one task and the other for the other task, and watching timing as well as other reactions for which design performs better. Of course you still need sufficient participants so that you can vary which one is presented first, to separate out issues of learning/familiarity from better performing design. -- Nancy -----Original Message----- From: ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion) [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Toby Biddle Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 7:34 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Usability test design approaches for A/B testing Hi Kay, Our tool, Loop11 (www.Loop11.com) can and has been used for A/B testing by many of our customers before. We've also written a case study (http://bit.ly/dzmm93) that outlines how a project was set up by one of our customers. I also agree with Susan's response in which she suggests that inviting careful perusal of the differences doesn't encourage natural behaviour. Creating task-based scenarios to see which design performs the best is the better way to run A/B testing. If you haven't already signed up to Loop11 feel free to do so. Your first project is free, so you can use it to see whether A/B testing will work for you. I hope this helps. Regards, Toby Biddle Director t: (03) 9684 3470 m: 0402 113 104 f: (03) 9684 3434 e: [log in to unmask] skype: toby.biddle 119 Ferrars Street, South Melbourne, Victoria, 3205 On Sep 29, 2010, at 7:54 AM, Kay Corry Aubrey wrote: > Hi - can anyone on the Chi-web list suggest innovative usability test > design approaches for A/B testing? Both A and B will be presented on the > same screen and the user needs to peruse each and choose the one they > prefer. I am looking for ideas on the best UIs to present text and pictures > most effectively for this type of purpose and was wondering if folks on the > list have suggestions. > > Please send your ideas to me and I will collect, summarize, and send out to > the list. > > Thanks! > > Kay > > Kay Corry Aubrey, user-centered research and design > Usability Resources Inc | www.UsabilityResources.net | > [log in to unmask] > Phone: 781-275-3020 | Fax: 1-781-998-0325 > > -------------------------------------------------------------- > Tip of the Day: Suspend your subscription if using auto replies > CHI-WEB: www.sigchi.org/resources/web/faq.html > MODERATOR: mailto:[log in to unmask] > -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- Tip of the Day: Forward out-of-office replies to mailto:[log in to unmask] CHI-WEB: www.sigchi.org/resources/web/faq.html MODERATOR: mailto:[log in to unmask] --------------------------------------------------------------