{"id":993,"date":"2010-12-10T18:19:51","date_gmt":"2010-12-10T12:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vwo.com\/blog\/?p=993"},"modified":"2025-05-02T15:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T10:22:09","slug":"difference-ab-testing-multivariate-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vwo.com\/blog\/difference-ab-testing-multivariate-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Differences Between Multivariate Testing (MVT) And A\/B Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Multivariate testing (MVT)<\/a> is a form of testing in which changes are made to multiple sections of a webpage on a site, and then variations are created for all the possible combinations of those changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"diff<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many people seem to get confused about the terms A\/B testing<\/a>, split URL testing<\/a>, and multivariate testing<\/a>. Essentially, A\/B testing and split URL testing <\/a>are the same concepts but Multivariate testing is different.<\/strong> So for all practical concepts, consider A\/B Testing = Split Testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download Free: Multivariate Testing Guide<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The following table will illustrate the difference between Multivariate Testing and A\/B testing (or split testing<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/td>\n

What is A\/B Testing?<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/td>

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What is Multivariate Testing?<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/td><\/tr>

What is it?<\/strong><\/td>

In A\/B testing you split traffic amongst two or more completely different versions of a webpage (landing page, home page, etc.) The variations of your original page can differ in any manner. You can either just change the headline; or you can even change the entire design, layout, offer, and whatnot in the variations. What you change in an A\/B test is only limited by your creativity. <\/span><\/p>

For example, if you are A\/B testing on your landing page you may want to create one version with a 15% discount, the other with free shipping, and one with the same offer but a different page design.<\/span><\/p>
<\/td>

In a multivariate test, you identify a few key areas\/sections of a page and then create variations for those sections specifically (as opposed to creating variations of the whole page in an A\/B split test). So for example, in a multivariate test, you can choose to create different variations for 2 different sections: headline and image. A <\/span>multivariate testing software<\/span><\/a> will combine all these section-specific variations to generate unique versions of the page to be tested and then simply split traffic amongst those versions. That is, you will get these variations of the page: Headline1_Image1, Headline1_Image2, Headline2_Image1, Headline2_Image2.<\/span><\/td><\/tr>
How it works?<\/strong><\/td>\"Ab<\/td>\"Multivariate<\/td><\/tr>
Traffic Required<\/strong><\/td>Relatively Less<\/td>Huge<\/td><\/tr>
Best used for<\/strong><\/td>Testing radically different ideas for conversion rate optimization<\/a><\/td>Optimizing<\/a> and refining an existing landing page or homepage without making a significant investment in the redesign<\/td><\/tr>
Example Case Study<\/strong><\/td>Signups increased by 60% after actually removing the signup form<\/a><\/td>Hyundai and VWO Multivariate Test Case Study<\/span><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Watch how you can quickly set up a multivariate testing campaign in VWO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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