Content Testing and Creating Content Test in Sitecore

Content Testing

This type of test helps to identify how different content influences the site visitors. For example, you have a page that promotes the users to download a demo product and you can test how different slogan text can influence the number of downloads. This is where you can use the Content Test. To be able to implement the content test, the content to be tested should be stored in the item field and not as a data source item of a component.

A content test works by testing changes to the content, between versions. So to have the content test set up, ensure that the Workflow has been set up correctly.

Creating Content Test in Sitecore

Let us say, you need to market a new product on the website, so create two different slogans for the same product and select the slogan which is more likely to have the visitors interested more in the product. You select two different slogans to be tested for a product as:

  1. COOKIE CRISP – CHOCOLATEY CHIPS…LITTLE PIECES…BIG TASTE…
  2. COOKIE CRISP – THEY’RE MAGICALLY DELICIOUS

Step 1: Navigate to the new product page in the Sitecore and enter the slogan in the applicable field as “COOKIE CRISP – CHOCOLATEY CHIPS…LITTLE PIECES…BIG TASTE…”

New Product page

Step 2: Save, Submit, Approve without test and Publish.

Step 3: Open the new product page in Experience Editor. Lock and Edit the page. Experience Editor will now create the second version of the page. Now you add the new slogan as “COOKIE CRISP – THEY’RE MAGICALLY DELICIOUS”. The second item version inherits all the fields values, except the changed fields. The changed fields are fields that will take part in the test. Save and Submit.

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Step 4: Click on Approve with test.

Step 5: You can now preview and start the test. Preview and start test dialog contains pre-generated screenshots and settings for the test (min/max test duration, traffic allocation, test objective etc.). Select the expected effect of changes and click on Start test button.

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Step 6: Open the new product page in a new browser session, you will see two different variants of the slogans reflecting upon refreshing the new product page.

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Please note that a Content Test can only be started for 2 item versions. It’s impossible to run a Content Test on more than 2 item version but it’s possible with Page Level Test which is covered in my next blog. Click here to read the blog