Silverstripe A/B Testing

Run page-level A/B (and multivariate) experiments in Silverstripe CMS 6. Assign visitors to weighted variations, measure conversions in the CMS, push events to the Google dataLayer, and forward the same canonical payload to any other analytics or CDP endpoint through a pluggable tracking API.

Requirements

• PHP 8.3+
• Silverstripe CMS 6
• symbiote/silverstripe-gridfieldextensions ^5

Installation

composer require fullscreeninteractive/silverstripe-abtesting

Then run a rebuild:

vendor/bin/sake db:build --flush

The module registers itself via Composer autoload and YAML config. No Page.php edits are required.

Features

• CMS experiment manager under A/B Testing
• Weighted variations plus a control arm
• Traffic enrolment % so you can ramp an experiment gradually
• Cookie or session persistence for assignments
• QA override via query string (default ?abv=variant-b)
• Content variation by alternate (usually hidden) page
• Template variation via alternate layout templates
• Conversion pages at experiment or per-variation level
• Custom conversions from JS, forms, or server code
• Google dataLayer exposure + conversion events
• Webhook / bridge API for Segment, GA4 Measurement Protocol, custom CDPs, etc.
• CMS reporting with summary table and Chart.js trends
• Raw data export of visitor exposures/conversions
• Page CMS tab listing experiments that touch a page

Quick start

1. Open A/B Testing → Experiments and create an experiment.
2. Set Tested page (where visitors are split) and optional Conversion page.
3. On Variations, add one or more variants:
   • Alternate page for different content (same URL)
   • Alternate template for different layout
4. Tune weights / enrolment on Assignment.
5. Confirm dataLayer / webhook settings on Tracking.
6. Switch Status to Active.

Visitors hitting the tested page are enrolled, assigned a variation, recorded as an exposure, and (by default) pushed into window.dataLayer.

Variation strategies

Goal	How
Different copy / images	Create a hidden child page and set it as the variation Alternate page
Different template	Set presentation to AlternateTemplate and enter template names, e.g. HomeVariant,Page
Both	Combine alternate page + alternate template on the same variation
QA a specific arm	Visit https://example.org/page?abv=variant-b

The public URL always stays on the tested page — alternate page fields are copied into the request at runtime so navigation/menus keep working.

Google dataLayer

When Push events to Google dataLayer is enabled (default), exposures and conversions push:

window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
window.dataLayer.push({
  event: 'ab_test_exposure', // or ab_test_conversion
  ab_experiment_id: 12,
  ab_experiment_key: 'homepage-hero-cta',
  ab_experiment_name: 'Homepage hero CTA',
  ab_variation: 'variant-b',
  ab_variation_name: 'Variant B',
  ab_is_control: false,
  ab_event_id: 'a1b2c3d4e5f60718'
});

Event names are configurable:

FullscreenInteractive\ABTesting\Bridge\DataLayerBridge:
  event_exposure: ab_test_exposure
  event_conversion: ab_test_conversion

Use these events as Google Tag Manager triggers for GA4, Ads, or Floodlight tags.

Frontend helpers

The module exposes window.SSABTesting:

// Current assignment on an experimented page
console.log(SSABTesting.assignment);

// Custom conversion (form submit, CTA click, etc.)
SSABTesting.trackConversion('homepage-hero-cta', {
  assertiveness: 100,
  custom: { source: 'signup-form' }
});

// Listen locally
SSABTesting.onEvent(function (type, detail) {
  console.log(type, detail);
});

Or declare a conversion in markup:

<button type="button" data-ab-convert="homepage-hero-cta">Buy now</button>

Tracking API (any third party)

Every exposure/conversion is built into one canonical JSON payload and sent through tracking bridges.

Canonical payload

{
  "event_type": "exposure",
  "event_id": "a1b2c3d4e5f60718",
  "timestamp": "2026-10-12T20:15:30+00:00",
  "experiment": {
    "id": 12,
    "key": "homepage-hero-cta",
    "title": "Homepage hero CTA",
    "status": "Active"
  },
  "variation": {
    "key": "variant-b",
    "title": "Variant B",
    "is_control": false
  },
  "page": {
    "id": 4,
    "url": "https://example.org/home"
  },
  "visitor": {
    "id": "9f8e7d6c5b4a3210"
  }
}

Inspect the schema live at /abtesting/eventschema.

Built-in bridges

1. DataLayerBridge — browser dataLayer.push
2. WebhookBridge — HTTP POST JSON to one or more HTTPS endpoints

Global webhooks:

FullscreenInteractive\ABTesting\Bridge\WebhookBridge:
  endpoints:
    - 'https://hooks.example.org/ab-events'
  timeout: 5

Per-experiment webhooks can also be set in the CMS Tracking tab.

HTTP endpoints

Method	Path	Purpose
GET	/abtesting	Discovery
GET	/abtesting/assignment?experiment=homepage-hero-cta	Current visitor assignment
POST	/abtesting/convert	Record a conversion for the current visitor
GET	/abtesting/eventschema	Payload schema

POST /abtesting/convert body:

{
  "experiment": "homepage-hero-cta",
  "assertiveness": 100,
  "custom": { "plan": "pro" }
}

Custom bridge

Implement TrackingBridgeInterface and register it:

namespace My\App;

use FullscreenInteractive\ABTesting\Bridge\TrackingBridgeInterface;

class SegmentBridge implements TrackingBridgeInterface
{
    public function track(array $payload): void
    {
        // forward $payload to Segment, RudderStack, etc.
    }
}

FullscreenInteractive\ABTesting\Service\TrackingService:
  bridges:
    - FullscreenInteractive\ABTesting\Bridge\DataLayerBridge
    - FullscreenInteractive\ABTesting\Bridge\WebhookBridge
    - My\App\SegmentBridge

Server-side usage

use FullscreenInteractive\ABTesting\Model\ABTestExperiment;
use FullscreenInteractive\ABTesting\Service\ExperimentTracker;
use FullscreenInteractive\ABTesting\Service\TrackingService;

$experiment = ABTestExperiment::get()->find('Key', 'homepage-hero-cta');
$tracker = ExperimentTracker::create();
$data = $tracker->hitConversion($experiment, $request);

if ($data) {
    TrackingService::create()->trackConversion(
        $experiment,
        $data->VariationKey,
        ['visitor_id' => $data->VisitorID]
    );
}

Templates can read the active assignment:

<% if $ABTestAssignment %>
  <body data-ab-variation="$ABTestAssignment.variation_key">
<% end_if %>

Development

composer install
composer lint
composer test

GitHub Actions runs PHPUnit on PHP 8.3/8.4 and PHPCS (PSR-12).

Migrating from the legacy module

This package replaces the pre-Composer abtesting module:

• Classes moved to the FullscreenInteractive\ABTesting namespace
• Table names (ABTestExperiment, ABTestVariation, ABTestData) are preserved
• StateVariableValue / PHPSessionID columns remain for upgrade safety; new code writes VariationKey / VisitorID
• Dynamic Templates support was removed (module unmaintained); use alternate pages/templates instead
• Status values are now Draft, Active, Paused, Complete

After upgrading, run db:build and re-activate experiments intentionally.

Maintainers

• Fullscreen Interactive — https://www.fullscreen.io
• Originally created by Mark Stephens (Silverstripe)

License

BSD-3-Clause. See LICENSE.