Best Practices for A/B Testing

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Planning Your A/B Test

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Test One Thing at a Time

Focus on a single variable - imagery, copy, or incentive type - to ensure you can isolate the cause of any performance changes.

• Test 7-day vs. 14-day validity periods
• Test branded vs. lifestyle imagery
• Avoid changing both incentives and visuals at once

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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?

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Always Be Testing

Treat A/B testing as an ongoing optimisation process. Continually test and iterate to find new insights.

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Promote Your Referral Programme Widely

• Ensure both test variations get equal exposure
• Include referral promotions in emails, homepage, and post-purchase flows

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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

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Test Templates

The templates below are sorted by effort and impact level. Use them to identify what drives the greatest performance uplift.

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Reduce Share Methods (Lower Effort)

Test name + native + link vs. offering all share methods. Result: +43% Share Rate

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Remove Meta Sharing (Lower Effort)

Remove Facebook and Messenger in favour of higher-performing options. Result: +14% Share Rate, +18% Conversion Rate

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Add WhatsApp Sharing (Lower Effort)

Add WhatsApp to the mobile share options. Result: +24.5% Share Rate

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Reward Framing: Give vs. Get (Lower Effort)

Test CTA: “Give 20% Off” vs. “Get 20% Off”. Result: +12% Share Rate when “Give” used

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Add Brand USPs (Lower Effort)

Highlight brand strengths to add motivation. Requires copy changes on referrer page, corner peel, and messaging.

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Lifestyle vs. Product Imagery (Higher Impact)

Lifestyle (social scenes) vs. product-only images. Result: +21% Share Rate and +5% Conversion Rate with product focus

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Lifestyle vs. Reward Focus Imagery (Higher Impact)

Ideal for service-led brands.

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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

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Reducing Reward Value (Higher Impact)

Test reward value sensitivity to optimise ROI.

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Adjusting Minimum Spend (Lower Effort)

Test with vs. without minimum spend requirement. Result: +45% Share Rate when removed

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Shorten Offer Validity (Lower Effort)

Increase urgency by reducing offer duration. Result: 3-day expiry vs. 7-day - +28% Purchase Rate

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Extend Offer Validity (Lower Effort)

Beneficial for high-consideration purchases.

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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.

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Understand the Referral Funnel

1. Customer purchases and sees referral prompt
2. Refers a friend
3. Friend clicks the link and visits your referral page
4. Friend registers to redeem the offer
5. Friend completes a purchase
6. Referrer receives the reward

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Optimise Using Benchmarking and Explore

Use the Benchmark tab under Performance to compare your funnel metrics against the industry average and see where to focus first. For a full breakdown of each metric and targeted test ideas, see Understanding Referral Intelligence Benchmarks. Explore section analysis dimensions:

• Promotion point (e.g. homepage vs. post-purchase)
• Share method (WhatsApp, Name Share, etc.)
• Audience segment
• Device (mobile vs. desktop)

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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