A Variant is a marketing message that Persado generates using its AI algorithm and proprietary marketing language database. The Variants we create for Experiments are uniquely designed to obtain maximum insights about which elements of your message are resonating most with your audience. Persado uses experimental design to create these Variants and then deploys them in two phases: Exploration and Broadcast. While Predictive Content also employs Variants, they are not experimentally designed.

This article dives deeper into how these Variants are created and deployed, and reviews the types of insights you can expect when running an Experiment.

In the Exploration phase, we use experimental design to create Variants - typically, 16 of them. Then, we deploy them (plus your control) to a test audience. This allows Persado’s platform to “explore” and discover what works and what doesn’t.

There are two key messages we typically identify by the end of the Exploration Phase:

To maintain the integrity of our experimental design, the smallest number of Variants required to test is the lowest common multiple of the number of values in every element being tested. So, if your promotional email has at least 2 4-value elements (like 4 different variations on your subject line and your offer description), then the smallest possible design is 4 x 4 = 16.

Over years of working with customers, Persado has found that 16 Variants obtain useful results while still being efficient to produce and approve. However, this is not restrictive; we can use a different experimental design and test more or less Variants (e.g., 8) depending on your objectives.

When we use experimental design, our technology can track which elements of each Variant have the most impact - something that simply can’t be accomplished using A/B testing. We break down each Variant into 6 key elements so we can understand during testing which elements contribute most to your KPIs.

We define each element as follows:

We then tag these elements during testing for tracking purposes. You’ll see these tags in your reports for both Exploration and Broadcast.

Persado’s Experiment Reports give you a full analysis of the outcomes of each individual Experiment or Predictive Content deployment, and they are unique to each Experiment’s specific structure. After reading your Experiment Report, you’ll have insight into which Variants performed the best with your audience, how each message performed against your KPIs, and a better understanding of what worked and what didn’t with your audience.

In Exploration, we learn which emotions and elements of your message resonated most with your audience and make a data-driven decision on which creative combinations should be deployed in the Broadcast phase. We track impressions, clicks, and any other KPIs you’ve determined with your Persado team.

NOTE: Certain Exploration views only populate if significance is reached for the metric. You can toggle between available metrics on the Experiment Report by clicking on the tabs above the report.

The second phase of an Experiment is the Broadcast phase, or the “earning” phase of the Experiment. In this phase, we decide which winning content to deploy based on our findings in Exploration. We may deploy a Best Observed Variant, a Best Predicted Variant, or both to maximize impact for the remainder of the audience. On average, Broadcast consists of 1 to 3 Variants in addition to the control.

Broadcast is structured as a head-to-head test for simplicity, so it doesn’t produce the same insights as Exploration, which uses experimental design. But you’ll be able to see your winning message, along with the performance of all Variants tested and their performance against your KPIs.