Magento 2 AB testing category page

Question

I'm looking to create variants of the same category page to perform AB testing? For example, If I have a category page called /bags, we need to create one more version of the same category page called /bags-v1 (with a different design). Then, I will compare both versions in the AB testing tool and will make the decision.

is there anything available out of the box in Magento to perform the AB testing like the above I mentioned?

Did anyone try this before? If yes, please point me in the right direction.

Thanks.

Answer 1

How about creating a Custom Router in a custom module; when the url hits a category, the router may redirect to the category indeed. However, using this method of router, you will capture from an A/B test algorithm of your choice what version you want to render.

--> I would likely modify the request at this point to store the version info.

then, finally, when the category would load: notice with the method I describe here, I have not changed the category (and therefore I have not altered your SEO rank)

then, the theme to use for this specific version will be defined according to the version info in the request.

At this point, I suggest to try to apply your versioned design/theme in the category controller, at the lines:

$settings = $this->_catalogDesign->getDesignSettings($category);

            // apply custom design
            if ($settings->getCustomDesign()) {
                $this->_catalogDesign->applyCustomDesign($settings->getCustomDesign());
            }

Answer 2

I have actually another solution for you, it is likely simpler than my first solution.

the idea is to generate some category urls that are alternatives: very much like you suggest in your question.

these urls may be stored in url_rewrite table or a custom table but url_rewrite would give better result for your page load.

I understand your idea is to offer a different design but the content of the category will remain the same. For this reason, I think it is important that you add a canonical header in your category pages.

The urls may be created by a script: in essence this would be your A/B test algorithm.

then, when the page would load and the url rewrite operation would happen (thanks to a customisation you'd have to do), it would pick up one of the existing urls.

in terms of speed, most of the current Magento architecture would remain the same and therefore your page load would likely be identical whilst the router would incur some overhead likely.