Control
The unchanged version in a test, which every variant is compared against.
Also called baseline, variant A
The control is what visitors see today. It is the fair baseline: it runs at the same time and on the same mix of visitors as the variants, so the comparison isolates the change.
Keeping the control unchanged during a test matters. Editing it mid-test changes the baseline the results are measured against.
In a test of a new product description, the control is the current description and variant B is the rewrite.
Related terms
- VariantA changed version of a page or experience in a test, compared against the control.
- A/B testAn experiment that shows two versions of a page to randomly split visitors and compares which one performs better on a chosen goal.
- LiftHow much better or worse a variant performs than the control, as a percentage of the control's value.