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ashah123
Level 4
February 23, 2026
Question

Ways to do AB Testing

  • February 23, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 33 views

Hi Team,

I wanted to check on two items related to our upcoming A/B testing plans in Adobe Marketo Engage:

1. A/B Testing Approach

  • Currently, we use a single Email Program for our batch and blast campaigns. Each campaign is a monthly series with 4 to 6 emails, and we have separate Smart Campaigns set up to send each email. At the moment, these are standard sends without A/B testing.
  • Going forward, we would like to run A/B tests for each email in the series (for example, 4 or 6 A/B tests within the same campaign).
  • From what I understand, the out-of-the-box A/B testing functionality within an Email Program allows only one A/B test per program. If we want to run multiple A/B tests, one option might be to use Smart Campaigns and manage the test and winner selection manually. Please let me know if my understanding is correct? 
  • I also wanted to check if there have been any recent updates or enhancements that allow multiple A/B tests within a single Email Program using the native functionality, or if the recommended approach would be to create separate Email Programs for each A/B test. Could you confirm please?

2. Number of Programs Limitation

  • Is there any limitation on the number of programs we can create in Marketo, or can we create as many as needed?
  • I ask because, with our current setup, we have multiple Smart Campaigns under one program. If we need to use the native A/B testing feature for each email, it seems we may need to create separate programs for each test. I wanted to confirm if this is the correct and recommended approach.

Could you please confirm on both points and share your guidance?

Regards,
Akshat

2 replies

Darshil_Shah1
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
Darshil_Shah1Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
Community Advisor and Adobe Champion
February 23, 2026

Out-of-the-box, Email Programs support only one native A/B test per program, so you can’t run 4-6 separate A/B tests within the same Email Program using the built-in winner selection.

If you want multiple A/B tests in a monthly series, you have two main options:

 

Option 1: Separate Email Programs (use the native A/B testing)
Create one Email Program per email send. This lets you use Marketo’s automated sample selection, winner calculation, and auto-send to the remainder

This is the cleanest approach if you want true native A/B testing.

 

Option 2: Smart Campaign (manual):
Stay within a single program and split the audience using Smart Campaign logic (random sample or segments), then compare performance and select the winner manually. This works well operationally, but requires manual analysis and follow-up sends.

 

Re limits on # of Programs: There isn’t a strict hard limit on the number of programs you can create in Marketo. Most enterprise instances run thousands of programs without issues. There is a soft limit of 100 active engagement programs, which can be extended by Marketo support

The real considerations in an enterprise instance are: overall instance organization, folder structure, and optimal use of Trigger(with correct usage of priority overriding) vs Batch campaigns to ensure you don’t have long queues/time-sensitive operational campaigns waiting to run when the instance gets busy.

Hope you find this helpful. Pls let us know if you have any further questions! 

A
ashah123Author
Level 4
February 23, 2026

​@Darshil_Shah1 

Thank you for your feedback. It has been very helpful and has clarified my questions.

 

PeeyushSachdeva
PeeyushSachdeva
Level 4
February 24, 2026

​@ashah123 

If your goal is to split the audience based on specific criteria and run a controlled A/B test with winner rollout, then ​@Darshil_Shah1’s suggestion (Option 2) is the right approach:

However, if your objective is simply to test multiple variants and see which one performs better over time (without needing automated winner selection or sending the winner to the remaining audience), then I would recommend using the Champion/Challenger feature.

You can configure this by right-clicking your email asset and selecting Set New Test, then defining your Champion and Challenger versions. These email variants can be used directly in your Smart Campaign sends, and Marketo will track and report their performance, making it easier to compare results and identify the better-performing version for future use.

This approach works well when Email Programs are not a mandatory requirement.

A
ashah123Author
Level 4
February 25, 2026

Thanks ​@PeeyushSachdeva  for your insights . Our goal is to conduct A/B testing and select a winner in a timely manner, so we will proceed with the option recommended by Darshil for now and also consider the suggestions you shared for future campaigns.

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