CRO Glossary
Multivariate Testing (MVT)
A method that tests multiple page elements and their combinations simultaneously to see which mix performs best.
Multivariate testing (MVT) changes several elements on a page at once — say, headline, hero image, and button color — and tests every combination against each other. Instead of asking "does this one change help?" like a simple A/B test, MVT asks "which combination of changes works best, and which elements matter most?"
The tradeoff is traffic. A test with 3 headlines, 2 images, and 2 button colors creates 12 combinations, and each one needs enough visitors to detect a meaningful difference. Low-traffic sites often can't reach statistical significance on that many variants in a reasonable timeframe, which is why MVT is mostly practical for high-traffic pages like homepages or checkout flows.
MVT is useful when you suspect elements interact with each other — for example, a bold headline might only work well paired with a matching image style. If you just want to know whether one specific change helps, a standard A/B test with proper traffic allocation is usually faster and easier to interpret.
Related terms
Above vs Below Median Split
A segmentation technique that divides users into two groups at the median of a metric to compare high and low engagers.
Qualitative Feedback Loop
A recurring process of collecting and acting on user comments, session recordings, and survey responses to inform test hypotheses.
Experiment Metadata
The structured record of who, what, when, and how for a test — hypothesis, owner, dates, variants, and metrics used to track and audit it.
Pre-Test Analysis
The upfront work of validating traffic, metrics, and baseline data quality before launching an experiment.
Above-the-Fold vs Below-the-Fold Messaging Hierarchy
How the order and prominence of value-proposition messaging is split between the visible screen and the rest of the page.
Experiment Contamination
When a control or variant group is unintentionally exposed to the other condition, corrupting the comparison.
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