# How to A/B test a campaign

> Send two or more versions of a campaign to part of the audience, let the better one win by open or click rate, and send the winner to everyone else.

Product: Kelune CRM Cloud (hosted by us). Page: https://kelunecrm.com/docs/cloud/email-campaigns/ab-test-campaign

An A/B test sends different versions of one campaign to a sample of its audience, such as two subject lines. After a wait, the version with the better open or click rate wins and goes to the rest of the audience.

> **Note:**
>
> Set up the test on a draft campaign, before it is sent. You need the permission to edit campaigns, and to send them. How many variants a test can have depends on your plan; see [How to check plans, usage, and billing](https://kelunecrm.com/docs/cloud/getting-started/plans-and-usage).

## Set up the test

1. Create the campaign with its content, subject, and audience as usual. See [How to send your first campaign](https://kelunecrm.com/docs/cloud/getting-started/first-campaign).
2. On the **Review** step, click **A/B testing** next to **A/B test**. You can also open it from the campaign's **More actions** menu on **Campaigns**.
3. Turn on **Enable A/B testing**.
4. Choose the **Winner selection metric**: **Open rate** or **Click rate**.
5. Set the **Test sample size (%)**: the share of the audience that gets the test.
6. Set the **Winner wait (hours)**: how long after the last test email to wait before picking the winner.
7. Click **Save**.

![The A/B testing configuration drawer with the settings and the audience split](https://kelunecrm.com/images/docs/cloud/email-campaigns/ab-test-campaign/ab-settings.webp)

| Metric | Choose it when you test |
| --- | --- |
| **Open rate** | The subject line, the preview, or the From name: what people see before they open |
| **Click rate** | The content: what people do after they open |

## Add a variant

The campaign as you wrote it is the **Original (control)**. Each variant changes one part of it.

1. Click **Create variant**.
2. Enter a **Variant label**, such as "B".
3. Choose the **Test type**: **Subject line**, **Email content**, **From name**, or **Full email (subject + content)**.
4. Set the **Share of the test sample**. The original gets the rest.
5. Write the new subject, content, or From name.
6. Click **Create**.

The **Audience split** table shows how many contacts get each version, such as "926 of 1852 contacts get the test. The other 926 get the winning email."

## Send the test

Send or schedule the campaign from the **Review** step as usual. The test sample gets its versions first. When the wait is over, the winner goes to everyone else in the audience.

A variant wins only if it beats the original. If the results tie, the original is sent.

To pick the winner before the wait is over:

1. On **Campaigns**, open the campaign's **More actions** menu and click **A/B testing**.
2. Click **Determine winner**. It picks the winner from the results so far.

## Read the results

Open the campaign and click the **A/B test** tab.

![The A/B test tab with each version's type, sent, opens, clicks, open rate and click rate, and the winner marked with a trophy](https://kelunecrm.com/images/docs/cloud/email-campaigns/ab-test-campaign/ab-results.webp)

The winner is marked with a trophy. The note under the table says how the winner was picked and whether it has gone to the rest of the audience. The **Recipients** tab shows which version each contact got.

## Tips for a useful test

- Test one thing at a time, so you know what made the difference.
- Use a sample big enough to mean something. With a few hundred contacts, a 50% sample is a fair start.
- Give opens time to arrive. Four hours suits most audiences; a day is safer for business audiences who read email on workdays.

## Common questions

**Can I change the variants after sending starts?** No. Variants are fixed once the campaign leaves draft. Duplicate the campaign to test a different set.

**What if the sample is 100%?** Everyone gets a version in the test, so there is nothing left to send to. Use it when you only want to compare results.

**Can a follow-up be A/B tested?** No. A follow-up always sends one version.

## Where to go next

- [How to manage email campaigns](https://kelunecrm.com/docs/cloud/email-campaigns/email-campaign)
- [How to send a campaign follow-up](https://kelunecrm.com/docs/cloud/email-campaigns/campaign-follow-ups)
- [How to read email logs and reports](https://kelunecrm.com/docs/cloud/email-campaigns/email-logs-and-reports)