Assign user IDs not visitor IDs to experiment variation

[matt-gardner]

I want to be able to run AB tests that consistently drop a user into a specific (randomized) experiment experience - no matter which browser they sign in on.   The experience is post sign in - so essentially I want to randomly assign user ids to test and control - as opposed to visitor ids.   Is this possible?  I cannot find out how to do this in the documentation.  Can someone point me in the right direction - I may be looking for the wrong thing!

Thanks,

Matt

[MihneaD]

matt-gardner​,

Requirements:

• AB Test.
• Drop user into randomized A/B Experience irrespective of browser
• Each user id belongs to a visitor. Want to target users post log-in.

Solution:

Based on those requirements an out of the box AB activity should do the trick. The only thing you need to ensure is that you configure it to target the post log-in URL.

Mihnea Docea  | Technical Support Rep, Customer Care | Customer & Employee Experience | Adobe | (:: 1 (800) 497-0335​

[Shruthi_N]

Hi Matt,

If your objective is to show a random experience to the user after they have converted, then you can use the advanced settings to specify this .

[matt-gardner]

Thanks Mihnea,

One followup - how do I configure an activity to target post log-in URL?

Matt

[MihneaD]

matt-gardner​,

Great question. You would need to have access to a valid user/pass combo and then in the activity experience where you want to make the change (Lets say ExperienceB) switch from "Edit" mode to "Browse" mode by clicking the "Browse" button. This will enable you to navigate to the post log-in page by actually logging in. Once there go back to "Edit" mode and make the change in question. (See Screenshot below) Hope this helps.

Mihnea Docea  | Technical Support Rep, Customer Care | Customer & Employee Experience | Adobe | (:: 1 (800) 497-0335​

[matt-gardner]

Just to be clear (double and triple check!) - as long as I am targeting a page post sign in page - Adobe Target "magic" will make sure that a user dropped into a experience A will always see experience A no matter what browser they use?  How does it do this?

[Shruthi_N · Accepted solution]

Hi matt-gardner, If you want the same experience to persist across browsers or devices, then you need to consider using Experience Cloud Device Co-op

With the Device Co-op, a user’s various devices can be identified as being used by the same user. When that user sees a page with Targetactivities—either activities or targeted content—Target can ensure that the user sees the same experience seen on another device.

Do check the following documentation that talks about this .

Target: A/B Tests, Multivariate Tests, and Experience Targeting

[MihneaD]

matt-gardner​,

Good thing you clarified!

When I originally read: "AB tests that consistently drop a user into a specific (randomized) experiment experience - no matter which browser they sign in on." I though you meant you wanted to include any visitor irrespective of browser.

However after reading the clarification it appears the need is to be able to target the same user "Bobby" across browsers/devices so if "Bobby" gets into Experience X in Safari today and comes back to the site later from a different device/browser you want him to see the same Experience X.

In that case please see my good colleagues Shruthi Naomi's reply about Device Co-op. Hope this helps.

Mihnea Docea  | Technical Support Rep, Customer Care | Customer & Employee Experience | Adobe | (:: 1 (800) 497-0335​

[matt-gardner]

Do we have to use the device co-op or can we use something like the visitor ID stitching in analytics?

[MihneaD]

matt-gardner​,

Visitor ID stitching makes it so that both Target and Analytics recognize: "Bobby" as the same visitor. It stitches the data between Target and Analytics. I do believe what you are looking for is Device co-op.

Hope this helps!

Mihnea Docea  | Technical Support Rep, Customer Care | Customer & Employee Experience | Adobe | (:: 1 (800) 497-0335​

[Ryan_Roberts_]

Hi matt-gardner,

The specific use case you outlined can actually be achieved a few different ways with Adobe Target. As Shruti mentioned device co-op can bridge cross device scenarios. Though it can even help before login. Mbox3rdPartyId is another way that will allow you to share profile data across devices post login. Here's the main help doc: Real-time profile syncing for mbox3rdPartyID​. However, the specific scenario you mention could also be achieved with a simple profile parameter and an audience rule (assuming there is a logic to the assignment of id's) and an XT activity (rather than AB activity). Though it can still be treated/evaluated as an AB test.

For example:

1. Userid 10001 with a Target ID (aka tntid) of abc logs in to your site. In their Target mbox request you can pass profile.userid=10001 to Target.
2. If you have an audience rule where all visitors with a profile.userid ending in odd digits (or ending with 0-5 or some other pattern) I can assign her to experience A in an XT activity.
3. Now if userid 10002 comes along (tntid: def) my audience rule for the even digits will assign him to experience B.
4. Now if userid 10001 logs in on device 2 (so a different tntid: ghi) you still are able to pass the profile.userid of 10001 to Target because you talking about a post login scenario, and since the audience rule checks against the profile.userid Target knows to place this visitor into experience A.

Caveat is while only 2 userid's have enter the test, Target will report 3 visitors: 2 in experience A (tntid: abc, ghi), and 1 in experience B (tntid: def). If you care about the reported visitor counts then device co-op will be a better option. IF you simply care about maintaining the visitors experience across devices you simply need to pass the id you are keying off of and have a logical way of splitting the values into the different experiences/groups.

Since you've assigned exp A to odd ids and exp B to even ids they will split pretty evenly as long as the userid values are actually random. So while I've set this up as an XT activity in Target it is still effectively being an AB test.

Hope that helps you understand some of the other options.

[hs_vk]

Hi @Ryan_Roberts_  @Shruthi_N @MihneaD 

I wonder if one can use the above logic of userid based audiences for a slightly different scenario given below -

Suppose when targeting all visitors ( including first time unauthenticated & logged in both) for an A/B test, the experience changes as Mbox3rdPartyId = Login id ( which is set after login).

So a first-time user (unauth) sees Exp A, and after login would see Exp B. Probably happens because of the Mbox3rdPartyId setup

To override this issue, how would one set up the audience/profile script for an A/B test activity (not XT) to keep the experience consistent for a user when visiting the site first time and after login?

Would the above logic work or is there an alternative to that?

Thanks