A/B Test Updates

Both the A/B Test composer and the /experiments API endpoint now support these delivery features:

• Delivery by time zone for scheduled messages

  • In the dashboard, you’ll see this option in the Delivery step after selecting Schedule. See: A/B Test Delivery.
  • In the API, use the Local Scheduled Time object in your schedule specifications.

• Optimal Send Time — Optimal Send Time is an algorithm that determines the best hour for optimal engagement activity — when each individual member of your audience is most likely to receive and act on your message. iOS, Android, and Fire OS platforms only. See: Optimal Send Time.

  • In the dashboard, select Optimize in the Delivery step.
  • In the API, use the Best Time object in your schedule specifications.

We also added these dashboard-only features for A/B tests:

• Throttling — Set a delivery rate for your Airship messages. Throttling is an optional feature in the Message and A/B Test composers and is supported for all channels. You can change the rate after sending your message, and also pause/resume or cancel delivery.

  See our original announcement from March 2021: Message Throttling. All information now also applies to the A/B Test composer.

• Send Test — Test your A/B test! Send a test message for each variant and verify its appearance and behavior on each channel the message is configured for. The message is sent to your selected recipients immediately, and it appears as a test in Messages OverviewA view of all your project’s messages, with options for editing their settings, content, status, and more..

  In the Review step of the A/B Test composer:

  1. Click Send Test.
  2. Select a variant.
  3. Enter at least one named user or Test GroupA preview group is audience group used for previewing personalized content in the dashboard. Wherever a personalization preview is available, you can select a preview group, and its group members’ attributes will appear for any Handlebars references to attributes. You can enable any preview group as a test group so you can send test messages to its group members. These messages appear as tests in Messages Overview. and select from the results.
  4. Click Send.

  This feature is also available in the Message, Automation, and Journey composers.