> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.elevateab.com/elevate-helpcenter/page-testing/page-testing-overview.md).

# Page Testing Overview

What page experiments do in Elevate A/B Testing, which page types you can test, when to use a page experiment instead of another type, and what you need before you start.

***

A page experiment compares two or more versions of the same page to find which one converts better. You change the layout, the content, the imagery, or the order of sections, and real visitor behavior decides the winner.

Page experiments change what a visitor sees. They do not change what a visitor buys or what they pay.

### How it works

Page testing uses Shopify's alternate template system.

Every page on your store renders from a template. A product page renders from a product template, your homepage from an index template, and so on. Shopify lets a theme hold more than one template for the same page type, and page testing puts one of those alternatives in front of a share of your visitors.

1. You create the experiment in Elevate A/B Testing and choose which page type to test.
2. For each variation you either pick an alternate template that already exists in your theme, or have Elevate A/B Testing duplicate your current one so you can customise it.
3. Visitors are split between the control template and your variations.
4. Elevate A/B Testing records what each visitor does and attributes conversions to the version they saw.

Assignment is sticky. A visitor who comes back sees the same version they saw before, so nobody watches your page change shape between visits.

### What you can test

| Page type       | Examples                                                                    |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Home Page       | Hero image, featured collections, value propositions, section order         |
| Product Page    | Layout, gallery style, description format, review placement, button styling |
| Collection Page | Grid against list, filter placement, product ordering, banner content       |
| Cart Page       | Cart layout, upsell placement, trust badges, shipping calculator visibility |
| Other Pages     | Landing pages, about pages, FAQ layouts, any custom Shopify page            |
| Multiple Pages  | A single experiment spanning more than one page type at once. Coming soon.  |

Anything you can build as a Shopify template is testable, from a single headline to a full redesign of the page.

### When to use it

| Use a page experiment when                                     | Use something else when                                                                |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| You want to compare two versions of a page template            | You want to change one element on the page and nothing else. Use a Content Experiment. |
| The change is structural: sections moved, added, or removed    | You want to compare two entire themes. Use a Theme Experiment.                         |
| You are testing a redesign of a page type across the store     | The two versions live at different URLs. Use a Split URL Experiment.                   |
| You want to test a landing page layout against the current one | You want to change price. Use a Price Experiment.                                      |

The line that matters most is page against content. A **Content Experiment** edits elements on the page you already have, with no template work. A **page experiment** serves a genuinely different template. If you find yourself duplicating a template to change one headline, you wanted a Content Experiment.

### Scope: one page or every page of a type

Page experiments run against a template, and a template can serve many pages. During setup you decide how wide the experiment goes.

**All pages of that type.** Every product page using the tested template enters the experiment. Use this for structural changes you intend to roll out everywhere, such as a new product page layout.

**Specific pages.** Only the products, collections, or pages you select enter the experiment. Use this to test a change on your highest traffic product or a single landing page without touching the rest of the store.

Home Page and Cart Page have no scoping step. There is only one of each.

Each experiment currently covers one page type. **Multi-page testing is coming soon**, and will let a single experiment span more than one page at once, so you can test a change that spreads across the journey rather than sitting on one page type.

### Requirements

* Elevate A/B Testing installed on your store.
* A theme that supports alternate templates. Any Online Store 2.0 theme does.

Page experiments do **not** require the Elevate A/B Testing theme extension. They serve a different template rather than changing anything on the page, so the extension is not part of the delivery path.

Page testing works on all Shopify plans. No duplicated products and no code editing are required.

### Before you start

**Finish the variation template before you launch.** A half configured template loses on its own merits and teaches you nothing about the design you were actually testing.

**Change one thing at a time, or accept what that costs you.** A page experiment tells you which template won. If your variation moved the reviews, changed the button colour, and rewrote the headline, you will know the combination won and not which part did the work. Both approaches are valid. Decide which question you are asking before you build.

**Write the hypothesis down.** What you changed, what you expect to happen, and why. Results are easy to rationalise after the fact and much harder to argue with when the prediction is already on record.

**Check your third party apps on the variation.** Reviews widgets, upsells, subscription selectors, and chat widgets are configured per template in some themes. They do not always carry across to a duplicate.

### If your store is translated

If you use Shopify's Translate and Adapt app, translations are stored per template. A variation template starts with none, so visitors in other languages see untranslated content until you translate it.

Translate the variation before you launch. See Shopify Translate and Adapt for the workflow.

### Next steps

* Create a Page Experiment for the walkthrough
* Preview and QA a Page Experiment before you launch
* Reading Results and Ending a Page Experiment for what to do when the data arrives