1

I've started rolling out new features to a site using Netlify's branch split testing so I can say ex. 10% of users gets a branch with a specific UI change to see if it produces measurably different results. I have google analytics events set up to track some useful metrics already.

How can I compare the events in branch A with branch B in google analytics? I think there are two parts here: how to change the analytics code to identify sessions on branch A vs branch B, and also where to create a view in google analytics that I can compare events from sessions in A to sessions in B.

I'm happy with the tools I'm using so I'd like to avoid cluttering my page with yet another tracking script from a single-purpose A/B test provider when I'm pretty sure my existing tools can do this, I just don't know how.

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    Netlify suggests using a custom dimension: netlify.com/docs/split-testing/#branch-split-testing -- does that work for you? And are you using Google Tag Manager or do you include GA directly?
    – Reve
    Commented Dec 20, 2018 at 12:41
  • @Reve that's what I ended up with yeah!
    – Nick
    Commented Dec 20, 2018 at 17:24

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

Google Analytics has built in support for multivariate A/B testing. The first is available within GA under "Behavior" -> "Experiments." The second way to do this is via Google Optimize.

I'm not sure how these would work with the A/B testing solution you are already using but it will provide a great way to compare analytic performance between the different versions.

Improve this answer
1
  • Thanks for the help. Optimize seems like an interesting and easy to use tool for testing text changes and other cosmetic edits on a page - netlify A/B gets a bit more powerful since I can deploy code base changes.
    – Nick
    Commented Dec 20, 2018 at 17:24
1

After a bit more experimentation, I figured out what I was looking for:

Netlify adds an environmental variable BRANCH that tells you what portion of the A/B test you're on. I created a new dimension in google analytics and used my analytics tags to set dimension4: process.env.BRANCH.

To compare against normal traffic in google analytics, I created a fresh segment that was based off my new dimension, matching the branch name exactly. Now I can compare traffic or events on any screen that can compare between segments.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    can you detailed your process to create your dimension and get the data in a segment on Analytics. I added the following code on our branches: ga('send', 'pageview', { 'Branch': 'branch-name' }); I created a personalized dimension in analytics named 'branch-name' but I don't see any data when looking at this dimension in my report. Did I forget any steps?
    – Yann
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 13:29
  • The key name isn't Branch, it's dimension4 or whichever dimension number you want to use.
    – Nick
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 21:30

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.