# Experiments from CMS Orbit

> See what else changed for the visitors who saw each variant of an experiment from CMS Orbit, with marks on the charts and the experiments running now.

Source: https://docs.bifrostorbit.com/insights/everyone/experiments/

Experiments, also called A/B tests, are run in CMS Orbit: it shows some visitors a variant of a page or a block, counts the experiment's goal and says when there is a winner. When the website's space in CMS Orbit is connected to a site here, Insights Orbit shows what else the variants changed: where visitors went next, how long they stayed and which of the site's goals and funnels they got through.

Insights Orbit doesn't start, stop or choose the winner of an experiment, and it doesn't repeat the results. The experiment's results page in CMS Orbit is where it is decided.

For example, Northwilds tests a new hero on its Lofoten trip page in CMS Orbit, with paid bookings as the goal. In Insights Orbit it can check whether visitors who saw the new hero also looked at more trips, or left the site sooner.

## What you need

- The site is connected to the website's space in CMS Orbit. See [Use with CMS Orbit](https://docs.bifrostorbit.com/insights/everyone/cms-orbit/).
- The website has the Insights Orbit script and version 0.11 or later of the CMS Orbit SDK, which tells Insights Orbit which variant a visitor saw.
- To see experiments' names and variants, you need to be able to see experiments in that space in CMS Orbit. Without it, Insights Orbit shows them by their key, with a link to CMS Orbit.

## The experiment report

**Experiments** in the menu lists the experiments that visitors saw in the period, with their visitors, visits and page views. Running experiments that nobody has seen yet are listed too.

Choose an experiment to see:

- **Visitors who saw the experiment**, by day, with marks for when it started, paused, resumed and ended, and when a winner was chosen.
- **By variant:** each variant's visitors, visits, page views, bounce rate, average visit and events, with a small chart of its visitors per day.
- **The site's goals, by variant:** the share of each variant's visits that reached each goal after seeing it, and how many did.

**Results in CMS Orbit** opens the experiment's results page. **Open in Insights** on that page in CMS Orbit comes back here, for the days the experiment ran.

## Split any report by variant

Choose a variant in the experiment report, or **By variant** next to a running experiment on the overview, to filter the whole site to the visits that saw it. The filter stays as you move between reports, so you can open **Pages**, **Sources**, **Goals** or **Funnels** for only those visits. It shows at the top as **Experiment variant**, with the experiment's and the variant's names. A filter for the whole **Experiment** keeps the visits that saw any of its variants.

A goal's page also has **By experiment variant**, and a funnel shows **By experiment variant** when the report is filtered to one experiment.

## Marks on the charts

The overview chart, and other charts with marks, show when an experiment started, paused, resumed or ended, such as "Lofoten hero started" or "Winner chosen: Variant B". Point at the mark for its name, and choose the name under the chart to open the results in CMS Orbit.

## Running experiments on the overview

The overview lists the experiments running now: their name, the page, how many days they have run and the variant CMS Orbit has ahead, or **Too early** while it can't tell yet. The name opens the results in CMS Orbit, and **By variant** the experiment report here. If you can't see experiments in CMS Orbit, the card only links there.

## How a variant is remembered

Insights Orbit remembers a visitor's variants for the visit only, in the same way it counts visits: no cookie, and the visitor is recognised for one day at most. When the visitor sees the tested part of the page, the website tells Insights Orbit the experiment and the variant, and from then on the visit counts for that variant.

- Visitors, visits, bounce rate and average visit count the whole visit that saw the variant.
- Page views, events and goals reached with an event count from the page where the variant was seen.
- A visitor who comes back after the visit ended counts for the variant again only if they see it again.

Nothing else is stored: no ID from CMS Orbit, and nothing that follows a visitor from one visit to the next. Visitors who ask not to be tracked see the original and aren't counted.

## Good to know

- These numbers are counted per visit, and the experiment's in CMS Orbit per visitor, from its own goal. They can differ, and it is the results in CMS Orbit that say which variant wins.
- Numbers are worked out from the visits themselves, so a long period on a busy site can take a moment to load.
- Experiments seen before the website moved to SDK 0.11 don't show by variant.
- When an experiment is removed in CMS Orbit, it leaves Insights Orbit too: it is no longer listed, split by or marked on the charts. The visits stay in your other reports.