# Run an A/B test on a page or an audience

You'll build versions of a page or of one audience's changes in the campaign editor, check how long a verdict might take, then start the test and publish.

Available on the Pro plan.

Try two to four versions of a page, or of what one audience sees, and let the weekly checks tell you whether a version beats Control. You'll build the versions in the campaign editor, pick the goal that decides, check the time-to-verdict estimate, and start the test with your next publish.

For example, [WorkForge](https://workforge.rightmessage.com) could test a trust-first homepage headline against its usual one for everyone who isn't in an audience, and test two agency headlines inside its agency audience.

## Choose what to test

| If you'd like to test…                         | Test              | Control is                                                   |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| The page visitors see when no audience matches | The Original page | Your page as it is. You add up to three variants.            |
| What one audience sees                         | That audience     | The audience's own changes. You add up to three challengers. |

You can test the Original page and several audiences in one campaign. A visitor who matches an audience gets that audience's changes on the elements it changes, and the Original page test covers the rest of the page. Campaigns don't need audiences: a campaign with none is a plain page A/B test. Each version is a whole alternative, not a combination of separate element tests.

## 1. Add the test in the editor

1. Open the campaign and choose **Edit on page**.
2. In the left panel, open the actions menu for **Original page** and choose **A/B test the original page**, or open an audience's menu and choose **A/B test this audience**.
3. The row gets an **A/B test** badge, with its versions nested underneath. Choose **Add variant** from the same menu to add more, up to four versions including Control.

![Campaign editor audiences with an Original page A/B test, its Control and Variant A, and the Add variant, Review test and Remove test menu](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/editor-ab-test-menu.light.webp)

If a winner is deployed on the Original page, **A/B test the original page** is unavailable: "Undeploy first so a new test compares against your updated website." See [end a test and deploy the winner](https://rightmessage.com/help/end-a-test-and-deploy-the-winner).

## 2. Build each version

Choose a version under the row, then click the elements you want to change and write the new content, just as you [change page content](https://rightmessage.com/help/personalize-page-content). Control stays unedited on an Original page test. You can rename versions.

The Matrix shows each version as its own column, such as "Original page · Control" and "Original page · Variant A". Empty cells show the original, and inherited version cells follow A. See [edit copy in the Matrix](https://rightmessage.com/help/edit-copy-in-the-matrix).

![Matrix with Original page · Control and Original page · Variant A columns beside the audience columns, showing the tested headline](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/matrix-original-page-test.light.webp)

Check each version in **Preview**. Original page versions are under the **Original page test** group, and audience versions are nested under their audience.

![Preview as controls with the Original page test group set to Variant A and the tested headline on the page](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/preview-original-page-test.light.webp)

Ask yourself whether each version is different enough to matter. Small wording tweaks need a lot of traffic to show a difference.

## 3. Choose the goal

The campaign's goal decides the verdict. On the campaign's **Conversion Goals** tab, turn on **Tracking** for the goal you care about, and choose a **Primary goal** if you track several. A test can't start without a goal: "Choose a campaign goal before starting this test." See [goals and conversion tracking](https://rightmessage.com/help/goals-and-conversion-tracking).

## 4. Check the split and the estimate

Open the test with **Review test** in the editor, or on the campaign's **Testing** tab. The setup card shows:

- **Split**: each version's share. It starts even, and you can set any share from 1% to 99% per version.
- **Time to a verdict**: "About N weeks", if one version is about 20% better.
- **Smallest difference it can spot**: the smallest difference reliably spotted within 26 weeks.

![Original page test in setup with a 50/50 split and the estimate of the time to a verdict and the smallest difference it can spot](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/testing-estimate.light.webp)

Both come from the last 28 days of traffic. Low traffic never blocks a test: if a verdict would probably take more than 26 weeks, the estimate says "Probably over 26 weeks" and you can still run the test and choose a version yourself. See [read results and test with low traffic](https://rightmessage.com/help/read-ab-test-results-and-test-with-low-traffic).

## 5. Start the test

Starting or restarting a test needs **Pro**. Without it, the card says "Starting tests needs Pro. You can still set up, view and end them."

1. Choose **Start test**.
2. Read the dialog. It opens with "Starting is a draft change. Visitors keep seeing Control until you publish." It repeats the estimate and checks whether tested elements above the fold are protected with `rmcloak`.
3. Choose **Start test** to confirm. The card now reads **Starts on Publish**.

![Start A/B test dialog explaining that starting is a draft change, with the time-to-verdict estimate and the rmcloak reminder](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/testing-start-dialog.light.webp)

Start is disabled until the test has a goal, at least two versions, and no challenger that's identical to Control. Changed your mind? **Cancel start** puts the draft back.

To stop visitors seeing the original before their version, add the class `rmcloak` to tested elements on your website. See [prevent a flash of original content](https://rightmessage.com/help/how-to-prevent-flash-of-original-content-fooc-with-the-rmcloak-css-class).

## 6. Publish

[Review and publish](https://rightmessage.com/help/publishing-your-changes) the project. The test starts when the publish goes live. If the campaign has a holdback, starting a test also restarts the campaign's own measurement against your page as it is, and the publish dialog lists it under **Restarts measurement**.

If you publish a draft that starts a test without Pro, publishing fails with "Starting an A/B test needs the Pro plan. Remove the test or upgrade to Pro."

## Check that it's working

After publishing, the test card reads **Collecting evidence**, with the week of the test ("Week 3 of up to 26", for example) and the next check date. **Send to your analytics** lists each version's string and **Preview this version on your site**, which opens your site showing that version.

The earliest verdict comes at the week 2 check, about three weeks after the test starts, and many tests take longer. Next, learn [what the Testing tab shows](https://rightmessage.com/help/testing-tab-reference).