Introduction of its new Cobalt solution has enabled EidosMedia to integrate A/B testing into the editorial process.

Chief marketing officer Massimo Barsotti says the process of trying out variations in page design or content to find out which generates the most visitor engagement is a valuable technique in web and mobile design: "In the past, setting up this kind of experiment meant manual coding or the use of a third-party application.

"Cobalt now brings this process inside the editorial workspace where users can set up and run a test with just a few clicks of the mouse."

Launched in the last quarter of 2016, Cobalt is a new digital publishing solution providing highly flexible delivery to a full range of digital destinations from standard web pages to mobile apps, news platforms and social media.



To set up an audience response test using Cobalt, the user selects the alternatives using a simple wizard and specifies the time period to run the trial. Once the test is launched, a proportion of visitors, selected at random, will receive one version, while the others receive the alternative, until the test period is finished. Optionally, more than two alternatives can be tested at the same time and unequal weightings applied.



As the test proceeds, Cobalt displays the performance of each variant using visitor statistics pulled in from Cobalt's integrated analytics package.



"With Cobalt testing you can compare the performance of individual stories or of home page and section page variants," says Barsotti. "Because it's so easy to set up and launch a test from inside the workspace, staff can use it regularly to fine-tune the performance of the site and optimise traffic and engagement."

Cobalt runs via a web browser or through dedicated mobile and tablet apps.