In this article, we will discuss how content testing works and how to manage duplicate products created by ABConvert. Content testing involves duplicating a product and according to user’s settings.
How the Content Test is Created
First, choose a product and make any desired changes in our user interface.
If the product is already in content testing or price testing, the app will prompt you to select a different product to avoid conflicts.
Once you have finished editing, click on the "Create test" button, and the app will duplicate the product with your chosen settings.
During the duplication process, we will update the images, description, and title of the product, and remove the duplicate from your collections (except for auto-generated ones) as well as unpublish it from all sales channels except the online store. Finally, your content test will begin.
Noted that the status of duplicate product will be set to “Active” once created.
In short, below is the process of starting a content test:
Pick a product
Edit the test product and set traffic percentage
Create test
Duplicate product
Remove duplicated product from Collection
Unpublish duplicated product from Sales channel
How to Manage Duplicate Products in Shopify
We will discuss the issues associated with duplicate products in the following section.
How to find duplicate products in Shopify.
ABConvert will automatically add the tag "abconvert" to all duplicates that it creates, as well as a few other tags that are specific to each product.
To find the duplicated products created by ABConvert, simply navigate to the "Product" tab in your Shopify admin and use the search bar to search for the relevant tag. This will display a list of all the duplicated products created by ABConvert.
How to configure duplicate products in Shopify.
Now that you have found to the duplicate products for your new test, the following steps will help you configure the duplicate products within Shopify to start your test.
Step 1: Ensure that Duplicated Products are Removed from Third-Party Channels
ABConvert will automatically remove third-party channels from the duplicated products, but if you need to perform this action manually for any reason, please follow the steps provided below.
Select the product by clicking the checkbox
Select three dots on the pop up action
Select “'Remove available channel(s)” action
De-select Online Store
Click “Make product unavailable”
Step 2: Verify that Duplicated Products are Removed from Collections
ABConvert will automatically remove duplicated products from non-auto collections, but if you need to perform this action manually for any reason, please follow the steps provided below.
Select the product by clicking the checkbox
Select three dots on the pop up action
Select • “’Remove from collection(s)” > “Exclude from sales channels” action
Select all collections
Select 'Save'
If you have auto-collections on your website, you may need to exclude the duplicate products from those pages. ABConvert's test script will automatically remove the test product from any collection in your Online Store as well.
We recommend updating the duplicate products' "Product Type" to "Test Products" and then excluding that product type from any auto-collections. This approach has been effective for many users, but please feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions on this topic.
Step 3: Setting up Inventory Tracking
To keep track of duplicate products sold during the test and reconcile inventory after the test, follow the steps below.
However, since different stores manage inventory differently, it's important to consider how selling duplicate products will affect inventory tracking before launching a test.
If your store uses a third-party application to manage inventory, please skip these steps.
Also, note that third-party apps that track inventory by SKU should not be affected by duplicating products as SKUs are copied to the duplicates. However, any app that uses product IDs or variant IDs to track inventory may need to be configured with the duplicate products. Please reach out to **[email protected]** if you have any questions or concerns.
Set the inventory quantities of all duplicate product variants to zero either through Shopify's bulk editor or by clicking into the Shopify product page for each duplicate product.
Turn on "Continue selling when out of stock" for all variants. If there are variants that you don't have stock to sell, select "Stop selling when out of stock" for those variants.
Step 4: Add Duplicate Products to Custom Shipping Profiles, if Needed
This step is only required if you want different shipping profiles for duplicate products. Otherwise, ABConvert will automatically add a shipping profile to the duplicate products based on the original product's shipping profile.
Go to the Shopify admin console and select Settings → Shipping and Delivery.
Click ‘Manage rates’ for the relevant custom shipping profiles.
Inside the shipping profile, click 'Manage Products'.
Add the relevant duplicate products and variants to each custom shipping profile. You can search for ‘price_test’ to show only the duplicate products. Click ‘Done’ when you have selected all the relevant products.
Go back to the shipping profile page and click 'Save'.
Step 5: Include duplicate products in discount codes.
These instructions only apply if you have discount codes set up for specific products or collections. If you don't have any discount codes, or if all of your discount codes apply store-wide, you can skip this step.
In the Shopify admin page, go to the 'Discounts' tab on the left-hand side.
Filter for the discount code(s) that you want to include the duplicate products in. To quickly find the discounts that may need editing, filter for 'Active' status and 'Amount off products' or 'Buy X Get Y' for type.
Select any codes that apply to 'Specific products' that are part of the test. Use the search bar or browse feature to add all duplicate products that the discount should apply to. Remember that there should be one version of each product for each group in the test.
Advanced: Configuring Duplicate Products in Third-Party Apps
If necessary, follow these steps to configure duplicate products within third-party apps. Note that you only need to configure duplicate products in third-party apps if you are redirecting to duplicate product detail pages (PDPs).
Refer to the section above for more information and contact [email protected] **** if you are unsure.
If you don't see your duplicate products in a third-party app, you may need to set your duplicate products to 'Active' status in Shopify to access them. However, users won’t be able to navigate to these pages until the test is live, unless they are given the URL directly, as long as you completed all the necessary steps.
Configuring Subscription Management Apps
There are many different subscription management apps, such as:
Recharge
Skio
You may want to set up the subscription plan as well for your duplicate product.
Configuring Ratings and Reviews Apps
Most ratings and reviews applications offer a solution for grouping products so that multiple products display the same ratings and reviews.
It is recommended to use these features to ensure that duplicate products display the same content as the original products.
Refer to the links below for documentation on creating groups on some of the apps we’ve come across:
Configuring Search Apps
If you use a search app, such as Searchanise, you may need to hide duplicate products in the search app. You can do this by adding 'abconvert' to 'Hide-products-with-these-tags' in your search app settings.