

A/B test anything with Var.to, a link shortener with variable destinations - mmayernick
http://var.to/

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kevindewalt
Guys,

This is really clever. When I first looked at it I thought "I can already do
this in my app or with Unbounce or ..."

But then when I took a closer look at app it occurred to me that this is
sooooo simple. Unbounce takes a learning curve and doing app-level routing
testing can take some configuration.

With that in mind, I see a couple of options:

1\. Do A/B testing on the type of products you suggest, such as Google Docs
that don't normally then themselves to such functionality. The issue I have
with this approach is that I don't actually know of a situation where I would
have done this. The times I'm A/B testing something (which isn't often), I'm
highly invested in whatever I'm doing and the outcome. This is almost always
whatever I'm building or selling, hence Unbounce or my own app.

2\. Figure out a way to put var.to INTO an app or a situation that I care a
lot about and would pay for the tool. IF you could figure out way to make it
drop-dead simple for me to put it into my app and then provided killer
analytics an services on top if it, then it might be something I'd pay for.

Bottom line: I think you have a clever, interesting, easy-to-use tool that I
like from an intellectually curious position. But it doesn't yet grip me
emotionally with a "I've GOT to use this" position yet.

Nice job, hope it helps!

Kevin

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cesarsalazar12
I really like your URL approach to A/B testing. I gave the product a try and
found a couple of things you guys might want to fix:

\- The copy to clipboard button isn't really working. At least not on Chrome
9.0.597 on OSX10.6.6

\- Using cufon for the actual URL I want to copy isn't the best idea. It makes
it really difficult to do a traditional "select and copy".

\- There's no way to delete/edit a URL

\- The title/description this for each URL may be a bit too much to ask. At
least as an early user with just a couple of short URLs in the list.

Something more controversial (and also more important). What I expect from a
URL shortener is a permanent redirect, not an iFrame. Some mayor website don't
even allow rendering their pages inside iFrames (namely Twitter and Facebook)

I didn't find a feedback link in your page, that's why I'm doing this here.

Congrats for the realease!

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lcm133
Put the "Add New" form on your homepage. Burying that form behind three pages
creates way too much friction.

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mmayernick
Good point - I'll get that up in the next deployment. Appreciate the feedback!

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tdoggette
Looks like a good product, but I found the fonts on the front page very hard
to read. I'm on XP/Chrome.

<http://imgur.com/vaUq7>

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mmayernick
Thanks for the feedback, and I appreciate you sharing the pic! Yeah, that
doesn't look very good. I'll test it on XP and see if I can improve.
Personally I really like the text-shadow/bevel effect, but I've always worried
it reduces readability.

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xiongchiamiov
_you'll need a Twitter account to login_

Whelp. Too bad, since it looked like a pretty cool service.

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azolotov
Some case studies of how people increased their traffic/conversions/growth
would be awesome :)

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skevvis
Super simple, and really useful. I can imagine a few different use cases for
this!

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mfinley
Great idea! I would use it for my app

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JohnTitus
Very cool idea. Would love an API!

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pdeverak
Cool idea!

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adamsfallen
also simple. also good.

