Best Practice for A/B Testing
Planning Your A/B Test
To get the most value from your A/B tests, keep these principles in mind:
Test One Thing at a Time
Focus on a single variable—imagery, copy, or incentive type—to ensure you're able to isolate the cause of any performance changes.
- ✅ 7-day vs. 14-day validity period
- ✅ Branded vs. lifestyle imagery
- ❌ Changing both incentives and visuals at once
Prioritise What to Test
- Impact: Will the change likely drive major results?
- Ease: Is it quick and simple to implement?
- Volume: Do you have enough traffic to support a test?
Always Be Testing
- Treat A/B testing as an ongoing optimisation process
- Continually test and iterate to find new insights
Promote Your Referral Programme Widely
- Ensure both test variations get equal exposure
- Include referral promotions in emails, homepage, and post-purchase flows
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Avoid testing too many things at once
- Don’t stop the test too early
- Act only on results from completed tests
- Don’t cherry-pick data—look at the full picture
Conclusion
A/B testing is your roadmap to meaningful growth. Keep learning from what works, avoid common mistakes, and continue iterating to build a stronger, data-backed referral programme.
Best Practice for Test Templates
The templates below are sorted by effort and impact level. Use them to identify what drives the greatest performance uplift for your referral programme.
Reduce Share Methods (Lower Effort)
Description: Test name + native + link vs. offering all share methods.
Category: Share Methods
Setup Required: None
Result: +43% Share Rate
Remove Meta Sharing (Lower Effort)
Description: Remove Facebook and Messenger in favour of higher-performing options
Result: +14% Share Rate, +18% Conversion Rate
Add WhatsApp Sharing (Lower Effort)
Description: Add WhatsApp to the mobile share options
Result: +24.5% Share Rate
Reward Framing: Give vs. Get (Lower Effort)
Description: Test CTA: “Give 20% Off” vs. “Get 20% Off”
Result: +12% Share Rate when ‘Give’ used
Add Brand USPs (Lower Effort)
Description: Highlight brand strengths to add motivation
Setup: Copy changes on referrer page, corner peel & messaging
Lifestyle vs. Product Imagery (Higher Impact)
Description: Lifestyle (social scenes) vs. Product-only images
Result: +21% Share Rate and +5% Conversion Rate with product focus
Lifestyle vs. Reward Focus Imagery (Higher Impact)
Use case: Ideal for service-led brands
Money vs. Percentage Off (Higher Impact)
Example: £20 off vs. 55% discount (min £30 spend)
Result: +20% Share Rate and +100% Purchase Rate for % discount
Reducing Reward Value (Higher Impact)
Description: Test reward value sensitivity to optimise ROI
Adjusting Minimum Spend (Lower Effort)
Test: With vs. without minimum spend requirement
Result: +45% Share Rate when removed
Shorten Offer Validity (Lower Effort)
Goal: Increase urgency by reducing offer duration
Result: 3-day expiry vs. 7-day — +28% Purchase Rate
Extend Offer Validity (Lower Effort)
Use case: Beneficial for high-consideration purchases
Referral Best Practice (When A/B Testing Isn’t Feasible)
Even without formal A/B testing, you can analyse and optimise your programme using funnel data, benchmarking, and engagement metrics.
Understand the Referral Funnel
- Customer purchases and sees referral prompt
- Refers a friend
- Friend clicks the link and visits your referral page
- Friend registers to redeem the offer
- Friend completes a purchase
- Referrer receives the reward
Optimise Using Benchmarking and Explore
Key Metrics to Monitor
- Impressions per order
- Enrolment rate
- Share rate
- Shares per sharer
- Responses per share
- Incented per response
- Purchases per incented
Explore Section Analysis Dimensions
- Promotion point (e.g., homepage vs. post-purchase)
- Share method (WhatsApp, Name Share, etc.)
- Audience segment
- Device (mobile vs. desktop)
Practical Optimisation Tips
1. Maximise Promotion Points
- Use homepage banners, corner peels, and email placement to ensure visibility
- Email campaign examples:
- +107% Share Rate from Solus email launch
- +336% Referrals from Valentine’s Day promo
- 50% Open Rate with targeted reminder email
2. Improve Referrer Experience
- Enable native share buttons
- Allow message personalisation
- Encourage multiple shares per referrer
3. Improve Referee Experience
- Use social proof (e.g., Trustpilot)
- Highlight key USPs at every touchpoint
- Offer exploration CTAs
- Test offer duration for urgency impact
4. Enhance Tracking
- Use “situation” tags to track performance by placement
- Run cohort or device-type analysis
- Link referral journeys to customer value outcomes