Within campaigns, you have the ability to set a custom control. You may wish to use this in order to;
Test against an existing 'non-intent' experience
Test against an existing intent experience (for example, if you wish to test one set of messages against another)
If you wish to send custom events in the control (for example, some customers wish to send events to GA4 in order to enable further post-test analysis).
Setting up a Custom Control
Within the Experience Overview, once you have toggled on A/B Test, a checkbox will appear to 'Enable Custom Control'. Once checked an Edit button will appear by the control experience.
You are then able to go into the Control and edit the following;
Segment; by default, control experiences are set to 'All Users' (with the experience to look at just those who match the experience segmentation within reporting). However, if you are testing experiences against one another, you may wish for the control to be a specific segment
Content; you are able to add any code, or content to your control experience, and the set-up is the same as a normal variant set-up
You may wish to add code if you are looking to send specific events in the control, or a custom experience
You may wish to attach a pre-built template or third-party trigger if you are looking to test two experiences against one another
Custom Controls in Dynamic Campaigns
Within Dynamic Campaigns, if custom control is enabled you are able to;
Test against nothing, but potentially send events in custom code
Test against one standard experience. For example, you may wish to test a static message in a USP banner versus a dynamic one
This is set-up by editing the control as above
Test against a dynamic experience, using the same template as your variant. For example, you may wish to test dynamic content in a USP banner versus different dynamic content.
This is set-up by selecting 'Apply Main Template to Control Group', and then setting up Dynamic Content experiences as you would for the variants
Custom Controls in Sequenced Campaigns
Within Sequenced Campaigns, if custom control is enabled you are able to;
Test against nothing, but potentially send events in custom code
Test against one standard experience. For example, you may wish to test one email capture versus a sequence of email captures
This is set-up by editing the control as above
Test against a sequenced experience. For example, you may wish to test one email capture sequence versus a different one
This is set-up by selecting 'Add Sequence to Control Group', and then setting up the experiences as you would for the variants
