A/B tests in a campaign: variants, winner and comparison
On any message step of a campaign flow (email, WhatsApp or SMS) you can test 2 to 5 variants, each with its own subject, body and call to action. The CRM splits leads in a stable way, compares open rate and reply rate per variant, and lets you apply the winner in one click.
Every team argues about which subject line works better, and almost always settles it on gut feeling. An A/B test replaces the argument with numbers: instead of sending a single version of the message, you write a few versions, the CRM splits the leads between them and shows which one got more opens and more replies.
An A/B test is not a separate screen or a separate campaign: it is a property of a message step inside the campaign flow. You can test an email, a WhatsApp or an SMS step, and you can test more than one step in the same flow.
Creating the variants
- Open the campaign and go into the flow editor.
- Click the message step you want to test (email, WhatsApp or SMS) to open its configuration.
- Check Test variants (A/B). The CRM creates variants A and B from the content already in the step.
- Adjust each variant: the label, the subject (email only), the body and the Call to action (CTA), which is appended to the end of the body at send time.
- Add more variants if you want, up to five in total, and save the step.
Personalization variables and rotating text keep working inside each variant. On email you can also fill in an alternative body, used when a variable finds no value on the record.
How leads are split
The split is deterministic, not a coin toss at each send. The CRM derives the variant from the lead enrollment in the campaign, so the same lead always lands on the same variant even if the campaign is reprocessed, and volume spreads evenly across the versions. That keeps the test fair and stops the same person from getting different versions on resends.
Comparing and applying the winner
- On the campaign page, the A/B tests panel shows one card per tested step, with the number sent, the Open rate and the Reply rate of each variant.
- The CRM marks one variant as Suggested: the one with the highest reply rate; on a tie, the highest open rate; if still tied, the one with the most sends.
- Click Apply as winner so the campaign sends only that variant to the leads that follow.
- Click Split again to resume the test and go back to distributing across every variant.
Limits, permissions and effects
- You get 2 to 5 variants per step. If you remove variants until only one is left, the A/B test on that step is switched off.
- A variant label takes up to 24 characters, a subject up to 200 and a call to action up to 300. The body respects the channel limit: 4096 characters on WhatsApp and 1600 on SMS.
- The metrics compared are opens and replies only. Clicks are not part of this panel.
- Applying a winner or splitting again requires permission to manage settings. Everyone else sees the comparison but not the buttons.
Common questions
- Do people who already received one variant switch versions when I apply the winner? No. The winner applies to future sends; the history of who already received what is not rewritten.
- Can I undo it? Yes. Split again removes the winner and the step goes back to distributing across every variant.
- Why are the rates all zero? Either the step has not sent anything yet, or the sends are too recent for opens and replies to be recorded.
- Can I test more than one step in the same campaign? Yes. Each tested step gets its own card in the A/B tests panel, with its own winner.