A/B Testing a Checkout

A/B tests let you compare two or more checkout pages against each other on a single shareable link. WeGive splits incoming traffic between the variants you choose, tracks how each one performs, and lets you promote the winner when you're ready.

This guide walks through setting up a test, what's happening behind the scenes, how to read the results, and the most common gotchas.

Before you start

You need:

• At least two checkouts already built and saved on your account. A/B tests don't create checkouts for you — they route traffic between checkouts that already exist.

• A clear hypothesis. "Will a $50 default ask outperform $25?" is testable. "Will donors like this more?" is not.

• Enough traffic. A/B tests need volume to produce a reliable winner. If a checkout normally sees only a handful of donors a week, expect to leave the test running for a while.

Setting up a test

1. Create the test

From the dashboard, go to Checkout A/B Tests and click Create. You'll fill in:

• Name — internal label so you can find the test later. Donors never see this.

• Slug — used to build the public testing URL. Pick something short and readable. Heads up: once the test goes live, the slug is locked and can't be changed.

• Description — optional context for your team about what you're testing and why.

• Status — start in Draft while you finish setting things up.

2. Add your variants

Every test starts with two variants split 50/50. For each variant, pick the checkout you want to include and set a traffic percentage.

Rules WeGive enforces:

• You need at least two variants.

• Percentages across all variants must add up to 100% (rounding within 0.02% is allowed).

• Each variant must point to a different checkout — you can't pick the same checkout twice.

You can add more than two variants if you want a multi-way test (for example, three checkouts at 33/33/34), but the more variants you run at once, the more traffic you'll need before the results are meaningful.

3. Set up notifications (optional but recommended)

You can have WeGive email you when the test hits a milestone. There are two notification types:

• Date-based — get notified on a specific date.

• Threshold-based — get notified once the test reaches a session count you specify.

Enter the email addresses that should receive the notification. This is useful so you don't have to keep checking the test manually.

4. Take the test live

Change the status from Draft to Live and save. WeGive will generate a public testing URL based on the slug you chose. Share that URL — not the URLs of the underlying checkouts — anywhere you want the test to run (email, ads, social, your website).

When a donor clicks the testing URL, WeGive routes them to one of the variants according to your traffic split. The donor sees the checkout normally; they don't know they're in a test.

How tests work behind the scenes

Traffic routing

WeGive acts as a load balancer in front of the variants. When a donor hits the testing URL, the platform picks one of the variants based on the percentages you set and sends the donor to that checkout. The decision is made server-side, so there's no flicker or visible redirect.

Session tracking

Every visit to the test URL creates a checkout session, which records:

• Which variant the donor was assigned to

• Which steps of the checkout they reached

• Whether they completed a donation (one-time or recurring)

• How much they gave

This is how WeGive can compare variants apples-to-apples — every session counts toward exactly one variant's stats.

Statuses

A test moves through these statuses:

• Draft — being configured, not yet collecting data.

• Live — actively splitting traffic and collecting results.

• Paused — test is on hold; you can resume it later. Useful if you spot a problem and want to stop the bleeding without ending the test.

• Complete — a winner has been chosen. 100% of traffic now goes to the winning checkout, and the test is closed.

Viewing and interpreting results

Open any live or completed test to see the results page. Here's what each section means.

Per-variant KPIs

For each variant, you'll see:

• Session Count — how many donors visited this variant.

• Interaction Rate — % of those sessions that showed donor intent (engaging with the checkout rather than just landing on the page). A low interaction rate usually points to a layout or messaging issue, not a pricing one.

• Conversion Rate — % of sessions that completed a donation (one-time or recurring).

• Converted Count — raw number of completed donations.

• One Time Count / Total One Time / Average One Time — number, total revenue, and per-session average for one-time gifts.

• Recurring Count / Total Recurring / Average Recurring — same breakdown for recurring plans. Total Recurring is annualized, so a $10/month plan counts as $120, a $25/quarter plan counts as $100, etc. This makes recurring revenue directly comparable across variants regardless of frequency.

Summary KPIs

At the top of the page, a summary card highlights:

• Total Sessions across the whole test

• Highest Conversion Rate — which variant is winning on conversion

• Highest Average One Time — which variant pulls the biggest one-time gifts

• Highest Average Recurring — which variant pulls the biggest recurring gifts

These are quick callouts; always check the underlying numbers before declaring a winner.

Charts

• Revenue history — total revenue per variant over time, with filters for one-time vs. recurring.

• Step performance — how donors progress through each step of the checkout, so you can see where each variant is losing people.

How to read the results

Don't pick a winner just because one variant has a higher number. Look for:

• A meaningful sample size (the more sessions per variant, the more trustworthy the result).

• A consistent gap that holds up over multiple days, not a one-day spike.

• Alignment between metrics — if Variant A wins on conversion rate and average gift size, you can be confident. If it wins on one and loses on the other, think carefully about which metric matters more for this campaign.

Choosing a winner

Once you're confident in the result:

1. Open the test detail page.

2. Click Choose Winner.

3. Select the variant you want to promote.

WeGive will set the winning variant to 100% traffic, set the others to 0%, and mark the test Complete. From that point on, anyone who visits the testing URL goes to the winning checkout.

Choosing a winner is permanent. You can't reopen a completed test or swap to a different variant later. If you want to try something new, create a new test.

Best practices

• Test one thing at a time. If your variants differ in ask amounts, headline copy, and layout, you won't know which change drove the result.

• Don't peek too early. Conversion rates are noisy at low sample sizes. Resist the urge to call a winner after a couple of dozen sessions.

• Run tests for whole-week cycles. Donor behavior shifts across weekdays vs. weekends. Cutting a test off mid-week can bias the result.

• Use the testing URL everywhere — and only the testing URL. If you mix the testing URL with direct links to the underlying checkouts, those direct visits won't count toward the test, and your data will be skewed.

• Set up a notification. It's the easiest way to avoid forgetting about a test that's been quietly running for weeks.

• Lock the slug before promoting. Once the test is live, the slug can't change — so anything you've already published with that URL stays valid, but make sure the slug is one you're happy with before going live.

FAQ

How is a donor assigned to a variant?
WeGive routes traffic based on the percentages you set. Once a donor lands on a variant and starts a session, that session is tracked against that variant for the full duration of their visit.

Can I change the variants or percentages while the test is live?
No. Once a test leaves Draft, the variants and traffic split are locked. You also can't change the slug. If you need to materially change the test, mark the current one Complete (or pause it) and start a new one. The only way to change traffic mid-test is to choose a winner, which sends 100% to the winning variant.

What happens to traffic if I pause a test?
Paused tests stop running for now while preserving the session data you've already collected, and you can resume them by switching the status back to Live. If you're unsure how a paused test URL behaves for donors during the pause, send a quick test visit yourself before sharing it widely.

Can I promote a variant without ending the test?
No — choosing a winner sets the test to Complete. If you want to keep collecting data, leave it Live.

Can I run two A/B tests on the same checkout at the same time?
A checkout can be a variant in multiple tests, but each test has its own testing URL and its own sessions. The results are tracked separately by which testing URL the donor came in through.

My winning variant has only slightly higher conversion. Should I promote it?
That depends on traffic volume. With low sample sizes, small differences are usually noise. With high traffic and a consistent gap over time, even a 1–2 point lift can be a real signal — and on big campaigns, that's a meaningful amount of revenue.

Where do I find the testing URL after the test is created?
On the test detail page. That's the URL you should share — never the underlying checkout URLs.