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A/B test anything with Var.to, a link shortener with variable destinations

53 points| mmayernick | 15 years ago |var.to | reply

14 comments

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[+] kevindewalt|15 years ago|reply
Guys,

This is really clever. When I first looked at it I thought "I can already do this in my app or with Unbounce or ..."

But then when I took a closer look at app it occurred to me that this is sooooo simple. Unbounce takes a learning curve and doing app-level routing testing can take some configuration.

With that in mind, I see a couple of options:

1. Do A/B testing on the type of products you suggest, such as Google Docs that don't normally then themselves to such functionality. The issue I have with this approach is that I don't actually know of a situation where I would have done this. The times I'm A/B testing something (which isn't often), I'm highly invested in whatever I'm doing and the outcome. This is almost always whatever I'm building or selling, hence Unbounce or my own app.

2. Figure out a way to put var.to INTO an app or a situation that I care a lot about and would pay for the tool. IF you could figure out way to make it drop-dead simple for me to put it into my app and then provided killer analytics an services on top if it, then it might be something I'd pay for.

Bottom line: I think you have a clever, interesting, easy-to-use tool that I like from an intellectually curious position. But it doesn't yet grip me emotionally with a "I've GOT to use this" position yet.

Nice job, hope it helps!

Kevin

[+] cesarsalazar12|15 years ago|reply
I really like your URL approach to A/B testing. I gave the product a try and found a couple of things you guys might want to fix:

- The copy to clipboard button isn't really working. At least not on Chrome 9.0.597 on OSX10.6.6

- Using cufon for the actual URL I want to copy isn't the best idea. It makes it really difficult to do a traditional "select and copy".

- There's no way to delete/edit a URL

- The title/description this for each URL may be a bit too much to ask. At least as an early user with just a couple of short URLs in the list.

Something more controversial (and also more important). What I expect from a URL shortener is a permanent redirect, not an iFrame. Some mayor website don't even allow rendering their pages inside iFrames (namely Twitter and Facebook)

I didn't find a feedback link in your page, that's why I'm doing this here.

Congrats for the realease!

[+] lcm133|15 years ago|reply
Put the "Add New" form on your homepage. Burying that form behind three pages creates way too much friction.
[+] mmayernick|15 years ago|reply
Good point - I'll get that up in the next deployment. Appreciate the feedback!
[+] tdoggette|15 years ago|reply
Looks like a good product, but I found the fonts on the front page very hard to read. I'm on XP/Chrome.

http://imgur.com/vaUq7

[+] mmayernick|15 years ago|reply
Thanks for the feedback, and I appreciate you sharing the pic! Yeah, that doesn't look very good. I'll test it on XP and see if I can improve. Personally I really like the text-shadow/bevel effect, but I've always worried it reduces readability.
[+] JohnTitus|15 years ago|reply
Looks like that in XP/FF 3.6.8 too.
[+] xiongchiamiov|15 years ago|reply
you'll need a Twitter account to login

Whelp. Too bad, since it looked like a pretty cool service.

[+] azolotov|15 years ago|reply
Some case studies of how people increased their traffic/conversions/growth would be awesome :)
[+] skevvis|15 years ago|reply
Super simple, and really useful. I can imagine a few different use cases for this!
[+] mfinley|15 years ago|reply
Great idea! I would use it for my app
[+] JohnTitus|15 years ago|reply
Very cool idea. Would love an API!