Google has officially announced the sunset of Google Optimize. Both Google Optimize and Optimize 360 will sunset on September 30, 2023. While experiments and personalizations can run until the date, any active experiences will automatically end.

Many brands are shocked at the news that Google will no longer be supporting experimentation, especially without a specific alternate product ready to go. While Google has a history of sunsetting their A/B testing tools, they have historically launched a product to replace the previous iteration. For example, Google Optimize replaced the Google Analytic Experiments when it launched 5 years ago.

Google has alluded to future experimentation capabilities in their announcement: Google has a history of sunsetting and relaunching products and alludes to another A/B testing capability within GA 4 in their announcement: “We remain committed to enabling businesses of all sizes to improve your user experiences and are investing in A/B testing in Google Analytics 4.”

What to do from now until September 30?

Here’s our checklist for companies currently using Google Optimize or Google Optimize 360:

• Mark the calendar for September 30th, 2022. Set a reminder that your experiments and personalizations will automatically end on this date.

• Download/export your data from Google Optimize. You can find instructions on Google Support. We recommend downloading your experimentation data in case you need to do additional analysis on your experiments after the product has sunset.

• Migrate to a new testing platform. Most importantly, you have 8 months to test out different A/B testing platforms that are available.

How should we evaluate a testing tool (beyond price)?

We recommend considering a number of factors in determining your next experimentation platform. Here are some criteria to start with:

• Pricing

• Integrations with your existing analytics tool, such as Google Analytics

• Number of experiments you can conduct at a time

• Number of personalizations you can have on at a time

• User experience (how easy to use and onboard your team with the new tool)

Google Optimize Alternatives

We’ll continue to keep this list updated as competitors to Google Optimize react to the announcement that Google Optimize (the leading free A/B testing tool on the market) is vacating the market.

VWO (Free and Paid Options)

In response to the Google Optimize sunset, VWO announced a new, FREE plan called the VWO Testing Starter Plan for companies with up to 50K monthly visitors.

For companies with up to 100K monthly tested visitors, the plan costs $199/month.

Their new starter plan includes unlimited experiments, integration with Google Analytics, and the ability to run experiments on single page applications.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for an expert approach to safely transition to a new A/B testing platform, it’s a good choice to consider setting up an appointment with us. We have spent countless hours working with various A/B testing tools and have experience setting up as well as migrating our clients between different platforms.

Experiment Zone helps online ecommerce/retail B2B and B2C, to grow their customer base – and their revenue – by providing easy to use & high-converting experiences for their online visitors.

You can request a chat with our ecommerce specialists to see how we can transform your ecommerce business to increase your online sales & email sign-ups and eventually a conversion. Every ecommerce business has its own unique set of conversion strengths and challenges, a chat will help us identify those for you.