A/B split testing on PHP built website

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Fad=A5?=]

Hello guys,

I want to do kinda of an A/B split testing on a website I run. I just
created a new version but I need to keep both version running and see
which one will perform better. First, I'm not sure if I'm in the right
group.
How can I randomly let a user enter from the index.php page and keep
the same URL. So the splitting is being done in the backend, I don't
want the users to see for example in the url /new/index.php and /
index.php.

Thank you.

[Geoff Berrow]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

Message-ID:
<21f49151-796b-4e87-aae3-081058595bc7@k3 0g2000hse.googl egroups.comfrom
Fad¥ contained the following:

>How can I randomly let a user enter from the index.php page and keep
>the same URL. So the splitting is being done in the backend, I don't
>want the users to see for example in the url /new/index.php and /
>index.php.

Use include() to randomly include either A or B
--
Geoff Berrow 011000100110110 0010000000110
001101101011011 001000110111101 100111001011
100110001101101 111001011100111 010101101011
http://slipperyhill.co.uk - http://4theweb.co.uk

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Fad=A5?=]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

On Sep 27, 12:54 pm, Geoff Berrow <blthe...@ckdog .co.ukwrote:

Message-ID:
<21f49151-796b-4e87-aae3-081058595...@k3 0g2000hse.googl egroups.comfrom
Fad¥ contained the following:
>

How can I randomly let a user enter from the index.php page and keep
the same URL. So the splitting is being done in the backend, I don't
want the users to see for example in the url /new/index.php and /
index.php.

>
Use include() to randomly include either A or B
--
Geoff Berrow  011000100110110 0010000000110
001101101011011 001000110111101 100111001011
100110001101101 111001011100111 010101101011htt p://slipperyhill.co .uk-http://4theweb.co.uk

Aha I see what you mean. But let's say each of the versions are in a
folder (new and old folders). I created index.php that would randomly
give access the index.php in the new and old folders?

Thanks for the help

[Jerry Stuckle]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

Fad¥ wrote:

On Sep 27, 12:54 pm, Geoff Berrow <blthe...@ckdog .co.ukwrote:

>Message-ID:
><21f49151-796b-4e87-aae3-081058595...@k3 0g2000hse.googl egroups.comfrom
>Fad¥ contained the following:
>>

>>How can I randomly let a user enter from the index.php page and keep
>>the same URL. So the splitting is being done in the backend, I don't
>>want the users to see for example in the url /new/index.php and /
>>index.php.

>Use include() to randomly include either A or B
>--
>Geoff Berrow 011000100110110 0010000000110
>00110110101101 100100011011110 1100111001011
>10011000110110 111100101110011 1010101101011ht tp://slipperyhill.co .uk-http://4theweb.co.uk

>
Aha I see what you mean. But let's say each of the versions are in a
folder (new and old folders). I created index.php that would randomly
give access the index.php in the new and old folders?
>
Thanks for the help
>

You can't do that from PHP - it's handled by the server before PHP ever
gets involved.

Geoff's suggestion is the best from the PHP end. Otherwise you're
looking at the server.

But the real question here is - why do you need this? Is there a
problem with the current site?

And beware - if you're on a shared host, any measurements will be
subject to the load the other sites are also placing on the server, as
well as network traffic, etc.


--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[Geoff Berrow]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

Message-ID:
<7d4a2c89-d9ad-44c8-a168-9a9d71e44dac@e3 9g2000hsf.googl egroups.comfrom
Fad¥ contained the following:

>Use include() to randomly include either A or B

>Aha I see what you mean. But let's say each of the versions are in a
>folder (new and old folders). I created index.php that would randomly
>give access the index.php in the new and old folders?

Yes. You'll need to use the <basetag if you are using folders.
--
Geoff Berrow 011000100110110 0010000000110
001101101011011 001000110111101 100111001011
100110001101101 111001011100111 010101101011
http://slipperyhill.co.uk - http://4theweb.co.uk

[Jerry Stuckle]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

Geoff Berrow wrote:

Message-ID:
<7d4a2c89-d9ad-44c8-a168-9a9d71e44dac@e3 9g2000hsf.googl egroups.comfrom
Fad¥ contained the following:
>

>>Use include() to randomly include either A or B

>

>Aha I see what you mean. But let's say each of the versions are in a
>folder (new and old folders). I created index.php that would randomly
>give access the index.php in the new and old folders?

>
Yes. You'll need to use the <basetag if you are using folders.

It doesn't help. By the time the <basetag takes effect, the page is
already loaded.


--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Fad=A5?=]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

On Sep 27, 11:12 pm, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:

Geoff Berrow wrote:

Message-ID:
<7d4a2c89-d9ad-44c8-a168-9a9d71e44...@e3 9g2000hsf.googl egroups.comfrom
Fad¥ contained the following:

>

>Use include() to randomly include either A or B

>

Aha I see what you mean. But let's say each of the versions are in a
folder (new and old folders). I created index.php that would randomly
give access the index.php in the new and old folders?

>

Yes.  You'll need to use the <basetag if you are using folders.

>
It doesn't help.   By the time the <basetag takes effect, the page is
already loaded.
>
--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstuck...@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

well sorry if i didn't make myself clear :S i appreciate the help :)
I'm going to explain the scenario. I have the new website in the /
wwwroot/ folder and the old one in a folder inside the new website
called v2 because the new site it's the v3. I want any user when he
types www.mydomain.com for example to go randomly either to wwwroot/
index.php or to wwwroot/v2/index.php. Each one of the sites would have
different analytics so that i can see the performance of both (A/B
split testing).

Please let me know if I need to clarify even more.

thanks a lot!!

[Jerry Stuckle]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

Fad¥ wrote:

On Sep 27, 11:12 pm, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:

>Geoff Berrow wrote:

>>Message-ID:
>><7d4a2c89-d9ad-44c8-a168-9a9d71e44...@e3 9g2000hsf.googl egroups.comfrom
>>Fad¥ contained the following:
>>>>Use include() to randomly include either A or B
>>>Aha I see what you mean. But let's say each of the versions are in a
>>>folder (new and old folders). I created index.php that would randomly
>>>give access the index.php in the new and old folders?
>>Yes. You'll need to use the <basetag if you are using folders.

>It doesn't help. By the time the <basetag takes effect, the page is
>already loaded.
>>
>--
>============== ====
>Remove the "x" from my email address
>Jerry Stuckle
>JDS Computer Training Corp.
>jstuck...@attg lobal.net
>============== ====

well sorry if i didn't make myself clear :S i appreciate the help :)
I'm going to explain the scenario. I have the new website in the /
wwwroot/ folder and the old one in a folder inside the new website
called v2 because the new site it's the v3. I want any user when he
types www.mydomain.com for example to go randomly either to wwwroot/
index.php or to wwwroot/v2/index.php. Each one of the sites would have
different analytics so that i can see the performance of both (A/B
split testing).
>
Please let me know if I need to clarify even more.
>
thanks a lot!!
>

As I said - you can get a load balancer and place them on two different
servers, then compare the statistics between them. Or, you can do like
Geoff suggested and include one set of files or the other.

But you never told us WHY you need such a thing. Is the current site
having performance problems?

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Fad=A5?=]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

On Sep 28, 9:47 am, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:

Fad¥ wrote:

On Sep 27, 11:12 pm, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:

Geoff Berrow wrote:
>Message-ID:
><7d4a2c89-d9ad-44c8-a168-9a9d71e44...@e3 9g2000hsf.googl egroups.comfrom
>Fad¥ contained the following:
>>>Use include() to randomly include either A or B
>>Aha I see what you mean. But let's say each of the versions are in a
>>folder (new and old folders). I created index.php that would randomly
>>give access the index.php in the new and old folders?
>Yes.  You'll need to use the <basetag if you are using folders.
It doesn't help.   By the time the <basetag takes effect, the pageis
already loaded.

>

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstuck...@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

well sorry if i didn't make myself clear :S i appreciate the help :)
I'm going to explain the scenario. I have the new website in the /
wwwroot/ folder and the old one in a folder inside the new website
called v2 because the new site it's the v3. I want any user when he
typeswww.mydoma in.comfor example to go randomly either to wwwroot/
index.php or to wwwroot/v2/index.php. Each one of the sites would have
different analytics so that i can see the performance of both (A/B
split testing).

>

Please let me know if I need to clarify even more.

>

thanks a lot!!

>
As I said - you can get a load balancer and place them on two different
servers, then compare the statistics between them.  Or, you can do like
Geoff suggested and include one set of files or the other.
>
But you never told us WHY you need such a thing.  Is the current site
having performance problems?
>
--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstuck...@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

Well the old website was not performing well, up to the client's
expectation so we made a new version of the site. But still we need to
have both online to measure the performance of the new site.
First, I thought it would be something easy. Like create an index.php
file that would randomly formard the user request to either /v2/
index.php (old) or /v3/index.php (old). But the issue here is that
even with this forward I still want to user to see /index.php instead
of /v2 or v3/index.php and the same for all the other files in both
folders. So I want it to be transparent for the users.

What do you think? can it be done without a load balancer and the use
of 2 different servers?
As I understood Geoff mentioned the use of include. So if I understand
correctly i would have to create for each file in the folders v2/v3 a
file that would be the root folder and that would randomly include v2
or v3?

Thanks again!

[Jerry Stuckle]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

Fad¥ wrote:

On Sep 28, 9:47 am, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:

>Fad¥ wrote:

>>On Sep 27, 11:12 pm, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:
>>>Geoff Berrow wrote:
>>>>Message-ID:
>>>><7d4a2c89-d9ad-44c8-a168-9a9d71e44...@e3 9g2000hsf.googl egroups.comfrom
>>>>Fad¥ contained the following:
>>>>>>Use include() to randomly include either A or B
>>>>>Aha I see what you mean. But let's say each of the versions are in a
>>>>>folder (new and old folders). I created index.php that would randomly
>>>>>give access the index.php in the new and old folders?
>>>>Yes. You'll need to use the <basetag if you are using folders.
>>>It doesn't help. By the time the <basetag takes effect, the page is
>>>already loaded.
>>>--
>>>============ ======
>>>Remove the "x" from my email address
>>>Jerry Stuckle
>>>JDS Computer Training Corp.
>>>jstuck...@at tglobal.net
>>>============ ======
>>well sorry if i didn't make myself clear :S i appreciate the help :)
>>I'm going to explain the scenario. I have the new website in the /
>>wwwroot/ folder and the old one in a folder inside the new website
>>called v2 because the new site it's the v3. I want any user when he
>>typeswww.mydo main.comfor example to go randomly either to wwwroot/
>>index.php or to wwwroot/v2/index.php. Each one of the sites would have
>>different analytics so that i can see the performance of both (A/B
>>split testing).
>>Please let me know if I need to clarify even more.
>>thanks a lot!!

>As I said - you can get a load balancer and place them on two different
>servers, then compare the statistics between them. Or, you can do like
>Geoff suggested and include one set of files or the other.
>>
>But you never told us WHY you need such a thing. Is the current site
>having performance problems?
>>
>--
>============== ====
>Remove the "x" from my email address
>Jerry Stuckle
>JDS Computer Training Corp.
>jstuck...@attg lobal.net
>============== ====

>
Well the old website was not performing well, up to the client's
expectation so we made a new version of the site. But still we need to
have both online to measure the performance of the new site.
First, I thought it would be something easy. Like create an index.php
file that would randomly formard the user request to either /v2/
index.php (old) or /v3/index.php (old). But the issue here is that
even with this forward I still want to user to see /index.php instead
of /v2 or v3/index.php and the same for all the other files in both
folders. So I want it to be transparent for the users.
>

Why wasn't the old site performing well? Did you do any analysis to see
what the problem was, or did you just write a new site, hoping it would
perform better?

What do you think? can it be done without a load balancer and the use
of 2 different servers?
As I understood Geoff mentioned the use of include. So if I understand
correctly i would have to create for each file in the folders v2/v3 a
file that would be the root folder and that would randomly include v2
or v3?
>
Thanks again!
>

Not unless you use the include() method Geoff indicated.


--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Fad=A5?=]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

On Sep 28, 3:41 pm, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:

Fad¥ wrote:

On Sep 28, 9:47 am, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:

Fad¥ wrote:
>On Sep 27, 11:12 pm, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:
>>Geoff Berrow wrote:
>>>Message-ID:
>>><7d4a2c89-d9ad-44c8-a168-9a9d71e44...@e3 9g2000hsf.googl egroups.com>fro m
>>>Fad¥ contained the following:
>>>>>Use include() to randomly include either A or B
>>>>Aha I see what you mean. But let's say each of the versions are ina
>>>>folder (new and old folders). I created index.php that would randomly
>>>>give access the index.php in the new and old folders?
>>>Yes.  You'll need to use the <basetag if you are using folders.
>>It doesn't help.   By the time the <basetag takes effect, the page is
>>already loaded.
>>--
>>============= =====
>>Remove the "x" from my email address
>>Jerry Stuckle
>>JDS Computer Training Corp.
>>jstuck...@att global.net
>>============= =====
>well sorry if i didn't make myself clear :S i appreciate the help :)
>I'm going to explain the scenario. I have the new website in the /
>wwwroot/ folder and the old one in a folder inside the new website
>called v2 because the new site it's the v3. I want any user when he
>typeswww.mydom ain.comforexamp le to go randomly either to wwwroot/
>index.php or to wwwroot/v2/index.php. Each one of the sites would have
>different analytics so that i can see the performance of both (A/B
>split testing).
>Please let me know if I need to clarify even more.
>thanks a lot!!
As I said - you can get a load balancer and place them on two different
servers, then compare the statistics between them.  Or, you can do like
Geoff suggested and include one set of files or the other.

>

But you never told us WHY you need such a thing.  Is the current site
having performance problems?

>

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstuck...@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

>

Well the old website was not performing well, up to the client's
expectation so we made a new version of the site. But still we need to
have both online to measure the performance of the new site.
First, I thought it would be something easy. Like create an index.php
file that would randomly formard the user request to either /v2/
index.php (old) or /v3/index.php (old). But the issue here is that
even with this forward I still want to user to see /index.php instead
of /v2 or v3/index.php and the same for all the other files in both
folders. So I want it to be transparent for the users.

>
Why wasn't the old site performing well?  Did you do any analysis to see
what the problem was, or did you just write a new site, hoping it would
perform better?
>

What do you think? can it be done without a load balancer and the use
of 2 different servers?
As I understood Geoff mentioned the use of include. So if I understand
correctly i would have to create for each file in the folders v2/v3 a
file that would be the root folder and that would randomly include v2
or v3?

>

Thanks again!

>
Not unless you use the include() method Geoff indicated.
>
--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstuck...@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

Well, I'm not the one in charge for analyzing the performance of the
site. My client wants to do the A/B split testing. Obviously, he
wasn't satisfied by the performance of the old web site in a marketing
perspective.
Anyway thanks a lot for your thoughts. I really appreciate it.
Cheers

[Jerry Stuckle]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

Fad¥ wrote:

On Sep 28, 3:41 pm, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:

>Fad¥ wrote:

>>On Sep 28, 9:47 am, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:
>>>Fad¥ wrote:
>>>>On Sep 27, 11:12 pm, Jerry Stuckle <jstuck...@attg lobal.netwrote:
>>>>>Geoff Berrow wrote:
>>>>>>Message-ID:
>>>>>><7d4a2c 89-d9ad-44c8-a168-9a9d71e44...@e3 9g2000hsf.googl egroups.comfrom
>>>>>>Fad¥ contained the following:
>>>>>>>>Use include() to randomly include either A or B
>>>>>>>Aha I see what you mean. But let's say each of the versions are in a
>>>>>>>folder (new and old folders). I created index.php that would randomly
>>>>>>>give access the index.php in the new and old folders?
>>>>>>Yes. You'll need to use the <basetag if you are using folders.
>>>>>It doesn't help. By the time the <basetag takes effect, the page is
>>>>>already loaded.
>>>>>--
>>>>>========== ========
>>>>>Remove the "x" from my email address
>>>>>Jerry Stuckle
>>>>>JDS Computer Training Corp.
>>>>>jstuck...@ attglobal.net
>>>>>========== ========
>>>>well sorry if i didn't make myself clear :S i appreciate the help :)
>>>>I'm going to explain the scenario. I have the new website in the /
>>>>wwwroot/ folder and the old one in a folder inside the new website
>>>>called v2 because the new site it's the v3. I want any user when he
>>>>typeswww.my domain.comforex ample to go randomly either to wwwroot/
>>>>index.php or to wwwroot/v2/index.php. Each one of the sites would have
>>>>different analytics so that i can see the performance of both (A/B
>>>>split testing).
>>>>Please let me know if I need to clarify even more.
>>>>thanks a lot!!
>>>As I said - you can get a load balancer and place them on two different
>>>servers, then compare the statistics between them. Or, you can do like
>>>Geoff suggested and include one set of files or the other.
>>>But you never told us WHY you need such a thing. Is the current site
>>>having performance problems?
>>>--
>>>============ ======
>>>Remove the "x" from my email address
>>>Jerry Stuckle
>>>JDS Computer Training Corp.
>>>jstuck...@at tglobal.net
>>>============ ======
>>Well the old website was not performing well, up to the client's
>>expectation so we made a new version of the site. But still we need to
>>have both online to measure the performance of the new site.
>>First, I thought it would be something easy. Like create an index.php
>>file that would randomly formard the user request to either /v2/
>>index.php (old) or /v3/index.php (old). But the issue here is that
>>even with this forward I still want to user to see /index.php instead
>>of /v2 or v3/index.php and the same for all the other files in both
>>folders. So I want it to be transparent for the users.

>Why wasn't the old site performing well? Did you do any analysis to see
>what the problem was, or did you just write a new site, hoping it would
>perform better?
>>

>>What do you think? can it be done without a load balancer and the use
>>of 2 different servers?
>>As I understood Geoff mentioned the use of include. So if I understand
>>correctly i would have to create for each file in the folders v2/v3 a
>>file that would be the root folder and that would randomly include v2
>>or v3?
>>Thanks again!

>Not unless you use the include() method Geoff indicated.
>>
>--
>============== ====
>Remove the "x" from my email address
>Jerry Stuckle
>JDS Computer Training Corp.
>jstuck...@attg lobal.net
>============== ====

>
Well, I'm not the one in charge for analyzing the performance of the
site. My client wants to do the A/B split testing. Obviously, he
wasn't satisfied by the performance of the old web site in a marketing
perspective.
Anyway thanks a lot for your thoughts. I really appreciate it.
Cheers
>

Your job as a consultant is to fix his problem.

As I said - you can do the A/B split. It should only cost him a few
thousand dollars for six months forth of analysis (the least I would say
would be valid).

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[Geoff Berrow]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

Message-ID: <gbqcd7$aqg$2@r egistered.motza rella.orgfrom Jerry Stuckle
contained the following:

>Well, I'm not the one in charge for analyzing the performance of the
>site. My client wants to do the A/B split testing. Obviously, he
>wasn't satisfied by the performance of the old web site in a marketing
>perspective.
>Anyway thanks a lot for your thoughts. I really appreciate it.
>Cheers
>>

>
>Your job as a consultant is to fix his problem.
>
>As I said - you can do the A/B split. It should only cost him a few
>thousand dollars for six months forth of analysis (the least I would say
>would be valid).

He's trying to analyse performance from a marketing perspective not a
technical perspective. A/B testing may well be the way to go but you
could also try other market research techniques such as focus groups.

Website optimiser from Google allows this kind of testing. I've not
tried it so I don't know how transparent it is to the user. Here is a
tutorial

http://www.google.com/support/conversionuniversity/bin/answer.py?answer=77161

--
Geoff Berrow 011000100110110 0010000000110
001101101011011 001000110111101 100111001011
100110001101101 111001011100111 010101101011
http://slipperyhill.co.uk - http://4theweb.co.uk

[Jerry Stuckle]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

Geoff Berrow wrote:

Message-ID: <gbqcd7$aqg$2@r egistered.motza rella.orgfrom Jerry Stuckle
contained the following:
>

>>Well, I'm not the one in charge for analyzing the performance of the
>>site. My client wants to do the A/B split testing. Obviously, he
>>wasn't satisfied by the performance of the old web site in a marketing
>>perspective .
>>Anyway thanks a lot for your thoughts. I really appreciate it.
>>Cheers
>>>

>Your job as a consultant is to fix his problem.
>>
>As I said - you can do the A/B split. It should only cost him a few
>thousand dollars for six months forth of analysis (the least I would say
>would be valid).

>
He's trying to analyse performance from a marketing perspective not a
technical perspective. A/B testing may well be the way to go but you
could also try other market research techniques such as focus groups.
>
Website optimiser from Google allows this kind of testing. I've not
tried it so I don't know how transparent it is to the user. Here is a
tutorial
http://www.google.com/support/conver...y?answer=77161

Which could be - and is completely the wrong way to analyze a technical
issue.

I wonder how the customer got the idea to do such a thing. It isn't
normally what a non-technical person would consider.

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[Geoff Berrow]

Re: A/B split testing on PHP built website

Message-ID: <gbqq48$bkk$2@r egistered.motza rella.orgfrom Jerry Stuckle
contained the following:

>Which could be - and is completely the wrong way to analyze a technical
>issue.

What's technical about it? The A/B testing can show interesting results
as the tutorial points out. They have a case study where they have a
page displaying a picture of an adviser and one without. They found out
that people responded much better to the one without the picture,
contrary to what one might expect.

These are not technical issues. It's to do with psychology, aesthetics,
useability, customer profiling etc etc. Admittedly, off topic for this
group.
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Geoff Berrow 011000100110110 0010000000110
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