Branching Split Testing in SurveyGizmo

Version 3.x Instructions

Note: Percent Branch in SurveyGizmo refers to A/B Split Testing. If you are looking for a tutorial on page jumping, the ability to jump or skip pages within the survey, please see our other tutorials on skip logic (5 minute video) and our advanced Logic Builder.

Percent Branch in SurveyGizmo is a powerful tool that allows you to perform A/B Split Testing and is available for Pro, Enterprise, and Dedicated accounts. It provides the ability to assign a percentage of individuals in a branch to see a specific set of questions that differs from another branch’s set of questions. A simple example can be given using 2 branches or splits.

The survey contains a single page with 2 questions that ask the same thing, but phrased slightly differently. The branching is setup to give each branch 50%: Group A would see question 1 while Group B would only see question 2; a coin flip chance.

Percent Branch must be on a prior page to the questions that will be branched (shown/hidden/required)

The Percent Branch action supports up to 10 different branches and can be added to any page of the survey, excluding the Thank You page. However, it must be added on a page prior to any questions that should be effected. Thus, if you wish to hide questions on page 3, the Percent Branch action should be added to page 1 or 2. To add a Percent Branch to your survey, click Add Action on any allowed page of the survey:

Select Percent Branch from the list and give it an appropriate title. Click Add and Edit Action in the bottom right to be brought into the Percent Branch action, with only the default Branch A (100%).

As previously mentioned, there can have up to 10 branches (A-J) available, number (1) above. At the bottom of the list of branches is the Total percentage allocated across all the branches. Selecting any branch on the left allows you to edit that branch, including the branch name (2) and percentage for that branch (3). It also allows you to effect the questions in the survey using the three attributes (4): Hide, Show, and Require.

Branching allows the attributes to be assigned to any element within a survey:

• Hide: Checking this box will make the element hidden from that group
• Show: Checking this box will display this element to that group if the element is set as ‘Hidden by Default’
• Require: Checking this box will require that the question must be answered if visible for that group

While you can choose to combine different attributes together, Hide and Show are not compatible, and if both are checked, Hide will take precedent. However, you can absolutely combine Require with either Hide or Show. Typically, when setting up a Percent Branch, since all questions added to the survey are visible by default, you want to check the Hide column for any questions that should not be seen by that Branch. For instance, if there were four branches, then you would want check Hide for the three survey elements that would not be seen in that branch.

Remember, survey elements means more than simply questions in the survey, but can also include actions such as Send Email or URL Redirect actions.

Common Questions

What if the total of all branches does not equal 100%?

If you were to setup a 3 branch split of 33% per split, that means that 1% of the time they would not be matched to a particular split. In this case, they are assigned to the A branch. Thus, if you setup 3 branches each with a 10% chance (30% total), that would mean that branch B and C would have a 10% chance, but branch A would have an 80% chance (10% + 70% unassigned).

What if the branch hides all elements present on a particular page?

That page will be automatically skipped by SurveyGizmo if all the elements on the page were set to ‘Hide’ on the particular branch the respondent was assigned to by the action.

Does Percent Branch force respondents into each branch to ensure that over 100 responses, a 50%/50% branch split would have exactly 50 responses in each branch?

No, because SurveyGizmo offers the ability to collect multiple responses at anytime, this could lead to skewing of the results. It is random each time, just like a coin flip: you may have 56 heads and 44 tails over 100 flips. The percentages would increase in accuracy over a larger sample of responses (1000 responses would be a closer distribution than 10 responses).

How do you use the Show attribute?

The survey element must be set as Hide by default on the question’s Show-When tab to be affected by the Show attribute in Percent Branch:

Can I use the Show attribute to show a question that is affected by Hide All After or has its own Show-When Logic Rule built?

No, the Show attribute is only effective on questions set as Hide by default.

What does the merge code display for a Percent Branch action?

When using a merge code to display which branch is assigned to a respondent, the merge code [question("option value"), id="X"] where X is the id of the Percent Branch, will display the title of the branch (#2 in the labeled image at the top of the tutorial)