In my recent post “A/B Testing for Dummies”, I mentioned about deciding on metrics based on our goals then measuring the impact the change in the design of the webpage brings on those metrics. Srinivas Kadiyala – a colleague in testing field – posted a good comment asking for further explanation on this metrics part. Therefore, we will have a look at webpage design/testing metrics in this post.

As I mentioned in the post, the results of changing the design of a webpage can be either positive or negative. Also, our mission is to find out whether this change brings positive results or negative results. Therefore, metrics are always a good way to know where we are standing and also where we are heading to. In our case and with A/B Testing, those metrics are related to the performance of the webpage. Examples of those metrics are:

Number of pages per visit.

Bounce rate.

Time on site.

Returning visitors.

New visitors.

Bounce Rate: the percentage of visitors who enter the site and “bounce” (leave the site) rather than continue viewing other pages within the same site.

The above metrics and others will help us to determine whether the change we will bring to the design of the webpage is positive or negative and therefore if we should go with this change or look for a better change to the design.

All the best…

* Reference: Common KPIs and metrics for analyzing website performance, www.ironpaper.com.