{"article":{"id":4523165348626,"url":"https://sendinblue.zendesk.com/api/v2/help_center/en-us/articles/4523165348626.json","html_url":"https://help.brevo.com/hc/en-us/articles/4523165348626-Create-an-A-B-test-campaign","author_id":391957702439,"comments_disabled":false,"draft":false,"promoted":false,"position":1,"vote_sum":19,"vote_count":97,"upvote_count":58,"downvote_count":39,"section_id":202146509,"created_at":"2022-03-04T10:39:26Z","updated_at":"2026-10-08T11:28:11Z","name":"Create an A/B test campaign","title":"Create an A/B test campaign","source_locale":"en-us","locale":"en-us","outdated":false,"outdated_locales":[],"edited_at":"2026-04-07T08:53:12Z","user_segment_id":null,"permission_group_id":114904,"content_tag_ids":[],"label_names":["banner_std+"],"body":"

When it comes to contact engagement, even small variations to your newsletters can have a big impact. A/B testing campaigns help you learn what works best for your contacts (and what doesn't).

Brevo allows you to run A/B test campaigns on your email subject lines or content.

❓What is an A/B test campaign?

An A/B test campaign (or split test campaign) allows you to test two different variations of an email campaign (A or B) with a portion of your recipient list. The \"winning\" or most successful variation of your campaign will be sent to the rest of your audience to help improve your statistics.

When creating an A/B Test campaign, you will:

Each recipient in your sample will receive only one of the two variations: version A or version B. After the test period, the winning variation will be selected based on your criteria (open or click rate) and will be immediately sent to the rest of your campaign's recipient list. 

This process ensures the best version of your campaign is sent to the largest group of recipients.

🧪 What elements can you test in A/B test campaigns?

\n
\nSubject Lines Email Content\n
\n
\n
\n\n\n
Email subject lines are the very first thing your recipients will see when receiving your campaign since subject lines are visible to them before they even open your campaign. 
Research shows that 68% of people open an email based on the subject line alone.		\"campaigns_subject-line-view_EN-US.png\"

It is important to use an effective subject line for your campaigns depending on your audience. You can run A/B test campaigns on email subject lines to determine for example if it is more effective to: 

\n\n
\n
\n

You can test different elements in the campaign design itself that could influence or not the conversion of your clients like different section titles, article length, call-to-action buttons, images, and more. You might even test two completely different designs to see which one gets the most clicks.

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Version AVersion B
\"Campaigns_test-version-A_EN-US.png\"\"Campaigns_test-version-B_EN-US.png\"
\n
\n

Before you start

⚙️ Step 1: Configure your A/B test campaign

A/B test campaigns are created in the same way as regular email campaigns but include additional steps to set the test criteria. To create an A/B test campaign:

    \n
  1. \n Go to\n Marketing > Campaigns > Email.\n
    2. \n
  2. \n Click Create an email campaign.
    \n
    3. \n
  3. \n Click on the A/B test tab and fill in the relevant information:\n
      \n
    1. \n Choose which element you would like to test between\n Subject lines and Email content.\n
      2. \n
    2. \n Write a Campaign name that will help you find\n it easily in the list of your campaigns.
      \n This name will only be visible to you.\n
      3. \n
    \n
    4. \n
  4. \n Click Create A/B campaign
    \n
    \n \"2022-09-30_15-34-19__1_.gif\"\n
    \n
    5. \n
  5. \n Choose a sender and recipients from the\n From\n and\n To\n sections respectively and set\n Advanced settings\n if needed.
    \n To learn more, check our dedicated article on how to\n Configure your campaign.\n
    6. \n
\n \n
\n
\n Subject LinesEmail Content\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
💡 Good to know
\n Use artifical intelligence (AI) to generate a catchy subject\n line for you in a few seconds with our integrated AI, the\n Brevo AI assistant. To learn more, check our\n dedicated article\n Auto-generate engaging marketing content with the Brevo AI assistant.\n
\n
\n

\n If you decided to test two different subject lines in your campaign,\n click Add subjects and enter the two different subject\n lines you want to test in the Subject line A and\n Subject line B\n fields respectively:\n

\n

\n \"campaigns_ab-test-subject_EN-US.gif\"\n

\n
\n
\n
💡 Good to know
\n You can insert personalization into your subject lines and preview\n text using the 👤  icon. To learn more, check our dedicated\n section on Subject in\n Creating an email campaign.\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\n If you decided to test two different email content, you will see\n in the Design section that you can create two email\n designs:\n

\n

\n \"campaigns_ab-test-email-content_EN-US.png\"\n

\n

\n Click Design version A to create your first email\n design. Design your email campaign as if you were designing a regular\n email campaign. To learn more, check our dedicated\n section on how to\n Design your email campaign.\n

\n

\n Once you are done with designing email campaign A, you can duplicate\n version A by clicking the duplicate icon , or restart your design\n from\n scratch or use another email template.\n

\n

\n \"campaigns_ab-test-copy-A_EN-US.gif\"\n

\n
\n
\n
💡 Good to know
\n You can switch from Version A to Version B directly from the\n header of the Drag & Drop Editor.\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

✂️ Step 2: Define split rules

When creating an A/B Test campaign the Split Rules section is added to your campaign creation flow. These rules will determine the size of the test groups, how the winning version will be selected, and the amount of time for which the test will run. Click Add split rules to start configuring them. 

Select the size of your test groups

\n
\n
❗️ Important
\n You must first select your recipients to define test groups. \n
\n

The default test group size is 50% of the total recipient list with versions A and B each being sent to 25% of the recipient list. The remaining 50% of the recipients would receive the winning version after the test ends. The maximum size of each test group is 50% and each recipient in the test groups will receive only one version of your campaign. To change the test group size, simply move the slider right to increase the size or left to decrease it. 

\"campaigns_ab-test-slider_EN-US.gif\"

How will the winning version be chosen?

\n\n\n
Select the method for determining the winning version: choose whether the version with the highest Open Rate or the highest Click Rate wins.\"campaigns_ab-test-open-click-rate_EN-US.png\"

How long should we run the test? 

Select how long the test will run. After the test duration completes, the winning version will be identified and sent to the remaining recipients. The duration may be defined in hours or in days with a maximum test duration of 23 hours or 7 days. 

\"campaigns_ab-test-duration_EN-US.gif\"

🚀 Step 3: Finalize your campaign

After completing each section of the email campaign creation flow, you will find in the top-right corner of your screen three options: Save & Quit, Preview & Test, and Schedule.

\n
\n
❗️ Important
\n The Best time and Send in batches options\n cannot be used to schedule the sending of A/B test campaigns. You can\n only choose between the Send now or\n Schedule options to send your A/B test campaign. \n
\n

The test versions will be sent to the respective test groups depending on the schedule option you choose and the winning version will be sent automatically to the rest of the recipients as soon as the test duration ends.

\n
\n
➡️  For example
\n If the test duration is 4 hours and the campaign is scheduled to be sent\n at 1:00 pm on a certain date, the winning version will be sent out to\n the remaining recipients at 5:00 pm on the same day.\n
\n

You will be able to edit and see your A/B test campaign in your campaign list. To help you identify an A/B test campaign from a regular campaign in your campaign list, an A/B test tag is added to your campaign name.

\n \"campaigns_tag-ab-test_EN-US.png\"\n

📊 Access and understand your A/B test campaign reports

Once your campaign is sent to all your recipients, you can access the report and see which version of your A/B test campaign won. To access your report, click the name of your A/B test campaign from Marketing > Campaigns > Email once it has been sent to all your recipients. You will have access to all the statistics on your A/B test campaign. From the A/B test details section, you will be able to see which version of your A/B test campaign won:

\"campaigns_ab-test-report_EN-US.png\"

➡️ To learn more about how to understand your email campaign report, check our dedicated article Analyze and export your email campaign report.

","user_segment_ids":[]}}