Google’s annual I/O conference is fast approaching, and it seems as though it’ll be an eventful one. According to the Information, the company’s planning to announce A/B testing for Android apps on the Google Play store.
What’s A/B testing, you ask? A very reasonable question. Also known as split testing in some circles, it’s often employed as a Web development tool to determine which of two pages performs better: You show one version to a set of visitors, another version to a similar visitors, and see which results in superior traffic. A/B testing is a bit different in the context of mobile apps, but the principle is the same: Developers create multiple unique, independent app listings and see which one manages to accrue more downloads or purchases.
Related: Wait, Google earns four times more from iOS than Android?
According to sources, Google will offer a fair degree of A/B customizability when it goes live in the Play Store. App makers will be able to create listings with alternate descriptions, icons, images, videos, and even pricing. Just what determines which users see what page, though, is unclear (the Information implied some form of localization). The feature’s use, at least at launch, will seemingly be limited to the simplest forms of optimization — i.e., funneling random groups of users to distinct pages. Given the potential analytics goldmine, though, Google will undoubtedly expand A/B testing capabilities in the future.
A/B testing isn’t an end-all solution for Android’s app profitability woes — according to DAU-UP, a gaming marketing company, average revenue per user is far lower on Android than iOS — but it could help incentivize equal or Android-first release strategies. One developer quoted by the Information believes A/B testing could improve conversion rates by up to 50 percent, and sources claim Apple currently has no answer to Google’s system in the works.
We’ll learn more soon enoughif A/B testing in the Play Store will become a reality. Google I/O is scheduled to begin later this month on May 28.
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