1. Overview
Sensefuel offers merchants the possibility to evaluate the business impact of search engine by running a full A/B test, comparing Sensefuel’s search performance against your existing search technology.
This is designed as a “Try Before You Buy” approach:
You can run Sensefuel for one month, measure the results with minimal effort, and objectively assess the added value.
Because Sensefuel generates near‑instant improvements with a small dataset required, without third party and because the setup requires almost no engineering effort, customers quickly see clear, measurable benefits.
2. Eligibility for A/B Testing
The feasibility and statistical relevance of an A/B test depend on several key factors:
- Session volume
- Search engine usage rate = count of sessions in which users performed at least one search
Your website will be assessed by our specialist on these criteria beforehand to confirm that an A/B test will produce reliable, meaningful results.
3. Implementation Model: JavaScript Plug‑and‑Play
Sensefuel provides a JavaScript tag that embeds the search experience without requiring deep integration work.
Key Capabilities
✅ Automatic traffic with search splitting (50/50)
The JS tag handles randomization and ensures each visitor is consistently exposed to either:
- Variant A: Your current search
- Variant B: Sensefuel search
This split is:
- Deterministic (users stay in the same group)
- Balanced across all device types (mobile, desktop, tablet)
✅ Zero effort on your side
No backend or complex frontend changes are needed. Sensefuel manages :
- Session assignment
- Search execution
- Tracking of search interactions
- Performance dashboard in the platform
✅ Guaranteed fairness
To ensure fairness:
- The product tile must contain all decision‑critical attributes (e.g., price, discount, availability, or any specific data within your context → If needed, you simply provide a few attributes in your product feed to enable these UI elements.).
- If your current engine supports Add to Cart from results, this feature should also be available in the Sensefuel variant.
4. KPIs & Measurement Framework
Before launching the A/B test, Sensefuel shares the full list of tracked KPIs accessible in a dedicated dashboard.
These KPIs feed a transparent and standardized methodology to calculate business impact.
4.1 Search Funnel‑Based Measurement
Performance is measured through a structured funnel focused on sessions involving search.
Resulting in calculating an additional incremental orders & revenue.
5. ROI Calculation and Success Criteria
Before the test starts, you share your key business metrics with Sensefuel to compute the ROI target.
- Average order value (mandatory)
- Last 12 months sessions volume (mandatory)
- Search use rate (recommended)
- Search conversion rate (optional)
- Margin (optional)
This allows alignment on:
- Expected impact
- What “success” means for your organization
During the A/B test, the dashboard updates continuously, providing transparent performance monitoring and you can of course continue tracking events on your side with your own Analytics as Sensefuel can propagate events into your DataLayer or you can capture events from our Event Bus.
6. Beyond the Numbers: Qualitative Evaluation
While the A/B test quantifies business impact, it also allows your teams to evaluate:
- Ease of integration
- Platform capabilities
- Search quality
- Relevance and UX fluidity
- Sensefuel support & responsiveness
- Back‑office productivity gains
These qualitative aspects often prove as valuable as the raw performance metrics.