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How to set audience filter for my tests

Use country, visitor type, traffic source, and device filters to target specific audiences in your A/B tests.

Joan at ABConvert avatar
Written by Joan at ABConvert
Updated over 2 weeks ago

Filter specific audiences with advanced test settings. See which filters are available for each test type and how to configure them.

Available audience settings by test type

Different test types support different targeting options. Here's what's available:

Test Type

Country

Traffic Source

New vs Returning

Device

Cookie

Price Test

✅

✅

✅

❌

❌

PDP Content Test

❌

❌

❌

❌

❌

URL Redirect Test

✅

❌

✅

❌

❌

Shipping Test

❌

❌

✅

❌

✅

Template Test

✅

❌

✅

✅

❌

Theme Test

✅

❌

✅

✅

❌

Checkout UI Test

✅

❌

✅

✅

❌

Payment Customization Test

✅

❌

✅

✅

❌

Delivery Customization Test

✅

❌

✅

✅

❌

How to set country filter

  1. find the country filter in audience targeting / advanced options in your test setting

    find the country filter in audience targeting / advanced options in your test setting

  2. select the country you want to run your test in

    select the country you want to run your test in

After you select countries and create the test, only visitors come from selected country will enter the test traffic split, and all other visitors will see your original store.

When you have selected countries to only run the test in, we will exclude the none selected countries data in our analytics, and you can view the data as usual.

How to set traffic source filter

  1. find the traffic source filter in advanced options in your test setting

  2. set up the filter according to following logic: If A condition meets -> do B action

    For example:

    • If traffic comes from Facebook then assign it to a random group -> utm_source equals to facebook assigns to a random group.

    If traffic comes from Facebook then assign it to a random group -> utm_source equals to facebook assigns to a random group.

    • If none of the above condition meets, then assign to the original group

    If none of the above condition meets, then assign to the original group

    In this way, you can set up many conditions at once, and each condition has its following action. And you can only run a price test when your audience is coming from a specific source.

  3. filter in analytics page if you want to check the most accurate data on the specific traffic

    filter in analytics page if you want to check the most accurate data on the specific traffic

How to set new or returning customer filter

  1. In ABConvert setting page, enable ABConvert visitor label app embedded in your theme

  2. Give it some time to collect data

    As we mentioned above, our script starts labeling the first visit time after the script is enabled. Therefore, we suggest starting a test at least two weeks later.

    Otherwise, most returning visitors will be viewed as new visitors since their past activities are not recorded.

  3. Create a test and find the new / returning visitors filter in audience targeting / advanced options in your test setting

    find the new / returning visitors filter in audience targeting / advanced options in your test setting and select

How does this the visitor label work?

After the visitor label script is enabled, ABConvert will start recording the first visit time of each visitor in your store. Then differentiate visitors into new visitors or returning visitors based on their labeled first visit time and the time the test was created.

  • New visitor: The labeled first visit time is later than the test.

  • Returning visitor: The labeled first visit time is earlier than the test.

Let’s say we enabled the script on May 10 and started the price test on May 24.

  • Visitors A and C will be new visitors as their labeled first visit time is later than the price test.

    • Visitor A has visited the store before but the visit activities are not recorded before the script is enabled.

  • Visitor B will be a returning visitor as the labeled first visit time is earlier than the price test.

[Advanced Topic] How to view the test with the new and returning visitor filter

View as a returning visitor

  • Visit your store

  • Open up the dev tool of the browser by right-clicking the page, then click “inspect“

  • Navigate to the console tab and use the following command to set the first visit timestamp to Jan 01, 1970.

window.localStorage.setItem('abconvert-first-visit-time',0000000001)

  • Refresh the browser to see if the test is running correctly.

View as a new visitor

Simply visit your store in the incognito window, then you will be identified as a new visitor in the test.

How to set cookie filter

  1. find the cookie filter in audience targeting / advanced options in your test setting

  2. set up the cookie filter you want

    find the cookie filter in audience targeting / advanced options in your test setting

How do I correctly view my cookie filter shipping rate

While visitors will see the correct shipping rate if they match your cookie filter, it is still important to view the variants yourself. With your intended cookie value set up, you simply need to clear the shipping configuration cache to view the variant shipping rate.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial:

  1. Check if the correct cookie value is set up: Right click on your store website and select Inspect > Application > Cookies. You should see the same cookie key-value pair as in your test settings. If not, double click in a new row to type in the cookie key and value.

  2. Clear the shipping configuration cache: Go to Application > Local storage and locate the abconvert-shippingxp item and delete it.
    ​

  3. Refresh the page and add products to checkout. Make sure to start from the homepage or product page to re-add products to the cart. You will not see the changes if you stay on the checkout page.

  4. In the checkout page, you should see the correct shipping rate for your cookie filter.

For detailed instructions, check out this video demo.

If you still cannot see the variant shipping rate for your cookie filter:

  1. Check if you deleted the original shipping rates that you are running the test on. Go to Why should I delete my shipping rate for more details.

  2. Your IP is not in the test zone for the particular shipping rate. To resolve this:

    1. Use a VPN to connect to an IP address that is in your shipping rate zone.

    2. Append ?country=<code>&preview=<group-index> to the URL. For example: https://abconvert-test.myshopify.com/checkouts/?country=US&preview=1

      1. Look up country codes here

      2. Original group: group-index = 0
        Test group: group-index = 1 (For multiple test groups, enumerate the index. For example: input 2 for test group 2)

FAQ

What happens to visitors who don't match my filters?

The visitors who don't match your filters will not be part of the experiment, so they will see your store as your original settings.

Can I combine multiple filters?

Yes. Visitors must match ALL enabled filters to see test variants. Example: Country = US AND Traffic Source = facebook AND Visitor Type = new.

⚠️ Combining filters significantly reduces your test audience and increases time to statistical significance.

Can I change filters after launching my test?

You can edit filters on running tests, but we don't recommend it. Changing filters mid-test means your data includes two different audiences, making results less reliable.

Best practice: Set filters before launching. If you need different targeting, create a new test.

Related Articles
Understanding ABConvert setting page
How to update your theme’s shipping text when running a shipping test
How to edit my price test after launching
How to manage my tests
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