Action Groups and A/B Testing

On this page, we will explain what Action Groups and A/B Testing are, why you should consider using them, and how to set them up for your Activities.

​🤷‍ What are they?

An Activity needs to contain at least one Action Group, however, you also have the option to add multiple Action Groups.
You can use multiple Action Groups to split your Segment to receive different content, styling options, or even type of Actions. When you run the Activity the players within the Segment will then at random be assigned to the different Action Groups available.

​🤔‍ Why are they used?

Using multiple Action Groups allows you to perform something called A/B testing.
A/B testing is an excellent way to try the effectiveness of everything from different email subjects to different bonus types or communication channels.
You can then make comparisons between the conversion data from the different groups to see which player engagement was more successful in converting players. This will allow you to make educated decisions on how to improve your future player engagements.

​🔝‍ The Best Practice

Once you've set up your Action Groups and run with the Activities, you now have the conversion data collected (provided you have tracked the conversion data for your Activity) and at hand.
Follow up on the numbers and make comparisons between the different Action Groups and how they performed in the Activity Conversion Dashboard.
Read more about Analysing the Results further down on this page.
The natural next step, after analysing the results from the conversion data, would be to make potential amendments to your current and future player engagement according to what the numbers are telling you. This allows you to always improve and evolve your player engagement for the best possible results.

​⚙‍ How does it work?

For every Action Group that you add to your Activity, you can set the % amount to control how your Segment will be divided between them.
Most commonly you'd do an even split between the different Action Groups, i.e. Action Group A 34%, Action Group B 33%, and Action Group C 33%.
This even split is also done automatically when adding your Action Groups to your Activity, however, it is possible to adjust these numbers in any way that suits your needs.
Delivery split between action groups
Delivery split between action groups
When the Action fires, the players inside your segment will be picked at random to be included in each and every Action Group - all according to the percentage you've set.
​👩‍🏫‍ Example: Following the above-mentioned example, we have 3 Action Groups with a, more or less, even split:
Action Group A: 34% Action Group B: 33% Action Group C: 33%
When the Activity fires and targets a player; this player has a 34% chance to be assigned Action Group A, a 33% chance to join Action Group B, and a 33% chance of entering Action Group C. In addition to this, the system also assigns the players randomly to each Action Group. This means that if 100 players enter the Lifecycle the split will not necessarily be 34 players in Action Group A and 33 players in each of the other two Action Groups.
Instead, the split could be 40 players in Action Group A, 25 players in Action Group B, and 35 players in Action Group C, for the first 100 players.
​🙋‍ Following the example above, please note: Due to the random factor, there will never be a "perfect split" according to the percentage setup. However, the bigger the segment of players is the more accurate the split will be according to the numbers that you've set.

​🔧‍ How to set it up

Once you have your first Action Group set up, you can easily add additional ones. You can create an Action Group completely from scratch, import an Action Group from another activity, or duplicate the first Action Group, Action Group A.
Once you have your additional Action Group(s) the final step is to decide on the delivery percentage for each Action Group you've created. By default, the delivery percentage will be divided equally between all Action Groups.
How to clone an Action Group
How to clone an Action Group
​🧠‍ Note: The delivery percentage shouldn't exceed 100% in total when combining all the action groups in the activity.

​👩‍🔬‍ Analysing the Results

If you're using A/B testing to compare the success of different Action Groups, you naturally need to follow up on those numbers.
Once your Activity has run, you want to compare the conversion numbers for the different Action Groups. This is the only way to get insights into which Action Group was the most successful.
📝‍ Tracking conversion
It's important that your Activities are tracking conversion in the first place. The option to track conversion is set inside your Activity when you build it. By default, your Activities are tracking conversion for 24 hours, but you can also choose to track the conversion for anywhere between 48h - 10 days:
Make sure to track conversion
Make sure to track conversion
If this is not set up in your Activities, the conversion numbers will not be stored for you, which means you can not follow up on any conversion data.

​🔢‍ Understanding the numbers

You can access all the collected conversion data inside of the Data Studio -> System Dashboard -> Activity Conversion.
There’s also a shortcut to the conversion numbers for the specific Activity if you hover over the three-dot menu from the Activity overview and select Activity Conversion:
Conversion Dashboard shortcut
Conversion Dashboard shortcut
Checking the Activity Conversion of your activity you can see the top section of numbers, displayed in the picture below.
Activity Conversion
Activity Conversion
This is where you can compare the Activity Conversion numbers generated from the different Action Groups.
If you don't have a Control Group in your Activity you are missing out on valuable information. Read more about the importance of Control Groups and more here.
Don't forget that SMS, Email and Notification Actions also have a detailed conversion breakdown that can be found from the same Activity menu or from System Dashboards in the Data Studio:
SMS Conversion
SMS Conversion
The conversion numbers are straightforward and, with a few exceptions, the higher the number the better. Simple as that!

Alternative Uses

The Action Groups feature is mainly for the purpose of performing A/B testing. However, they can be used for more than just A/B Testing.
There are multiple ways of using the Action Groups and in this section, we will give you some insights and inspiration on how to use them in alternative ways.

Randomised winnings in Campaigns

Campaign Example: "Make a deposit today for the chance to win a random prize."
This is how the different Action Groups and actions would be set up: 🇦‍ Action Group A, actions:
Fire immediately 📨‍ Email: Informing players about the offer
Scheduled on deposit 🗒‍Notification: "Congratulations, you've won 10 free spins on Gonzo's Quest Megaways."🎁‍Credit Bonus: 10 free spins on Gonzo's Quest Megaways
🇧‍ Action Group B, actions:
Fire immediately 📨‍ Email: Informing players about the offer
Scheduled on deposit 🗒‍Notification: "Congratulations, you've won 20 bonus spins on Book of Dead." 🎁‍Credit Bonus: 20 bonus spins on Book of Dead
🇨‍ Action Group C, actions:
Fire immediately 📨‍ Email: Informing players about the offer
Scheduled on deposit 🗒‍Notification: "Congratulations, you've won €5 in bonus money." 🎁‍Credit Bonus: €5 bonus money
​🇩‍ Action Group D, actions:
Fire immediately 📨‍ Email: Informing players about the offer
Scheduled on deposit 🗒‍Notification: "Aw-shucks! You didn't win anything this time around. Better luck next week!"
In combination with the above, you have the option to set the split percentage between these Action Groups according to the strategy for your campaign.
By default, the percentage will be split equally between all the groups (25%) which means that the players that qualify for this campaign will be, more or less, split equally between these Action Groups. If you would like to be a bit more or less generous with the different bonuses you can change this split. Example:
​🇦‍ Action Group A: 6% 🇧‍ Action Group B: 20% 🇨‍ Action Group C: 4% 🇩‍ Action Group D: 70% (Total percentage: 100%)
This is one of the few situations that we would advise to not use Control Groups. This is for the simple fact that we want to communicate with each and every player if and what they've won.
Implementing a Control Group would leave some players without any player engagement at all.

Automation with Variance

If you wish to run a recurring campaign with some variance, in terms of content and offer, for each occasion it's fired - this is also possible to do with the help of Activity Action Groups.
You can easily create a simple one Activity campaign that runs for weeks on end, while still offering the element of variance.
Campaign Example: Every Friday you wish to offer players 50 bonus spins on their first €50+ deposit of the day. You want alternative communication and also games that you offer the bonus spins on.
This is how the different action groups and actions would be set up:
🇦‍ Action Group A, actions:
Fire immediately 📲‍SMS: "Get your shine on with 50 bonus spins on Starburst on your next deposit of €50+."
Scheduled on deposit of €50+ 🗒‍Notification: "Reach for the Stars! You've just been enlightened with 50 bonus spins on Starburst." 🎁‍Credit Bonus: 50 bonus spins on Starburst
​🇧‍ Action Group B, actions:
Fire immediately 📲‍SMS: "Ready to get your feet wet? Get 50 bonus spins on Golden Fish Tank on your next deposit of €50+."
Scheduled on deposit of €50+ 🗒‍Notification: "Congratulations! You've just reeled in 50 bonus spins on Golden Fish Tank." 🎁‍Credit Bonus: 50 bonus spins on Golden Fish Tank
​🇨‍ Action Group C, actions:
Fire immediately 📲‍SMS: "It's time for an electrifying experience! Get 50 bonus spins on Danger High Voltage on your next deposit of €50+."
Scheduled on deposit of €50+ 🗒‍Notification: "Shockingly good! You just got your hands on 50 bonus spins on Danger High Voltage." 🎁‍Credit Bonus: 50 bonus spins on Danger High Voltage
​🇩‍ Action Group D, actions:
Scheduled on deposit of €50+ 📲‍SMS: "Arr Matey! Get 50 bonus spins on Pirates' Plenty on your next deposit of €50+."
Scheduled on deposit 🗒‍Notification: "Avast Ye Matey! You've just seized 50 bonus spins on Pirates' Plenty." 🎁‍Credit Bonus: 50 bonus spins on Pirates' Plenty
​🇪‍ Action Group E, actions:
Scheduled on deposit of €50+ 📲‍SMS: "Ready for an out-of-this-world experience? Get 50 bonus spins on Reactoonz on your next deposit of €50+."
Scheduled on deposit 🗒‍Notification: "Time to have a blast! You've just received 50 bonus spins on Reactoonz." 🎁‍Credit Bonus: 50 bonus spins on Reactoonz
By default, the percentage will be split equally between all the groups (20%) which means that the players that qualify for this campaign will be, more or less, split equally between these Action Groups.
This would probably be the preferred setting of this type of campaign, however, it can always be altered.
​🇦‍ Action Group A: 20% 🇧‍ Action Group B: 20% 🇨‍ Action Group C: 20% 🇩‍ Action Group D: 20% 🇪‍ Action Group D: 20% (Total percentage: 100%)
As long as this isn't a campaign promoted on-site to all players, this would be another perfect situation to use a Control Group.
Read more about Control Groups for Activities here.