A/B test your first WhatsApp campaign
Set up two variants, run a 50/50 split, and promote the winner — plus what to do when neither one wins.
Overview
A/B testing is the fastest way to lift your reply-to-purchase rate. In this guide we'll set up two variants on a cart-recovery campaign — one leading with a discount, one leading with social proof — and let Helio promote the winner automatically.
By the end you'll have a live test running and know how to read the results dashboard.
Before you start
You'll need:
- Helio installed on your store (Install on Shopify)
- WhatsApp connected as a channel
- At least 800 cart abandonments per week for a meaningful test — smaller stores should run an 80/20 split for two weeks instead
1. Open the campaign builder
From the dashboard, click Campaigns → New campaign, pick WhatsApp, and select the Cart abandoned trigger. Helio pre-fills your audience with anyone who added to cart in the last 24 hours and didn't check out.
2. Create variant A — discount
Use the AI to draft a recovery message that offers 10% off, but only after the second message goes unanswered. This protects your margin on customers who would have bought anyway.
- Click + Add variant
- Pick the Discount template
- Set the discount to 10%
- Toggle on "Only offer after no reply"
3. Create variant B — social proof
Pull recent reviews into the message body. No discount. Helio's editor will warn you if the message is too long for WhatsApp's template rules.
4. Set traffic split
Start with 50/50for the first week. If you're a smaller store, use 80/20 weighted toward your control variant.
5. Read the results dashboard
Look at reply-to-purchase rate, not just reply rate. A high reply rate with low conversion means you're getting "thanks but no thanks" — change the offer, not the copy.
6. Promote the winner
When confidence hits 95%, promote the winning variant to 100% with one click. Helio keeps the loser around for 7 days in case you want to re-run.
Next steps
- Build customer segments for more targeted tests
- Revenue attribution — reconcile Helio results with Shopify
- Improve reply rates with five copy techniques from top campaigns