• What are the System Requirements?
• What forms of payment are accepted?
• Do you provide installation support?
• What reports are available?
• What does the name Vertster mean?
• Is there a contract?
• Do you offer a free trial?
• Can I change plans at any time?
• Can I cancel at any time?
• Are the prices flat monthly rates or are they per user?
• What are your billing procedures?
• What is the Taguchi Method and why does it matter?
• What types of testing are available with Vertster?
• Do you have a special agency plan or something for resellers?
• Can I test two pages without changing the URL?
• Can I use my Vertster account with multiple domains?
• Our site is built in .php/ .aspx/ .asp/ .cfm, can we still use Vertster?
• Will testing with Vertster effect my search rankings?
• Do you make sure your show the same version to return visitors?
• Do you use first party tracking cookies?
• Are URL parameters passed through your services correctly?
• Where are the test files hosted, on my server or yours?

What are the System Requirements?

Vertster is a hosted (web based) application, which means there is no messy CGI script configuration or database installation. It also means the application is completely platform independent. It will work equally well with PHP, ASP, CGI, CFML or static HTML.  Our reporting tool works equally well in all modern browsers.

Requirements for tracking code:

You will need access to your website source code to be able to install Vertster code. All web hosts provide this either through FTP, Frontpage, or a web based system. Depending on the type of test you are running, you may need to cut and paste a small javascript code into your pages.

What forms of payment are accepted?

Vertster requires a valid credit card. The following credit cards are accepted:

	Visa
	Mastercard
	Discover
	American Express

Enterprise and agency accounts may arrange prepayment by check or electronic funds transfer. Please contact sales@vertster.com for details. A credit card is still required.

Do you provide installation support?

Yes we do. If you are having difficulty getting set up we would be happy to assist you. Please contact our support department via email at support@vertster.com, or by phone at 877-88-SPLIT.

We also provide managed and full service levels, and can design a custom package where we provide everything from installation to a complete "soup to nuts" solution.

What reports are available?

Vertster provides many different graphs and reports detailing the activity of a specific test or test creative. Nearly all reports may be filtered by start date and end date, and give the option of viewing data daily, weekly, or monthly. Reports and Graphs include:

Creative Specific Reports:

• Summary View of all creatives
• Weekly creative activity snapshot
• Graph of creative views/conversions plotted simultaneously
• Graph of Views including Moving Average
• Graph of Conversions including Moving Average
• Graph of Conversion Rate including Moving Average

Account Lifetime Reports:

• Total Views Tracked
• Total Conversions Tracked

Test Reports

• Summary of Test Performance
• Summary of Test Member Performance
• Stacked Bar Chart Graph Comparing Views
• Stacked Bar Chart Graph Comparing Conversions
• Line Chart plotting Conversion Rate of Each Group Member

What does the name Vertster mean?

Vertster is the combination of two words, conVERT and teSTER. It aptly describes what Vertster does- help you convert more prospects to customers by testing!

Is there a contract?

Do you offer a free trial?

Can I change plans at any time?

Can I cancel at any time?

Are the prices flat monthly rates or are they per user?

What are your billing procedures?

What is the Taguchi Method and why does it matter?

In the 1940’s and 1950’s, a Japanese scientist and engineer named Genichi Taguchi became known for a radical new method of improving manufacturing quality. This technique is known as the Taguchi Method of Process Improvement. 

The methodology was further refined and perfected in hundreds of manufacturing applications, and has yielded huge improvements in quality and cost savings for the Japanese auto and telecom industries.

The Taguchi method is able to look well beyond techniques like A/B testing by investigating multiple variables in a system at the same time.  Through sophisticated analysis of the results, the experimenter is able to learn the relative impact of each variable, including how important it is to the overall output of the experiment.

This is important for online marketing because it allows us to optimize an entire page or set of pages, testing many variables simultaneously.  It becomes possible to do large scale tests of thousands of possible combinations in a short amount of time.  This would be impossible to accomplish through standard split testing.

What types of testing are available with Vertster?

When you sign up for our software, you will be asked to choose what “service plan” you wish to subscribe to. This will determine what testing capabilities are included.

Our basic plan provides for “Split Path” testing only.  This means dividing traffic between two or more complete URLs.  Using this tool you could test varying landing pages or registration processes.

This plan enables you to do split path tests, but also allows you to isolate a content element on any page and test different versions of it, without changing the URL at all.

The Taguchi suite lets you do simple Taguchi experimentation on your site.  This means you can test up to 11 variables simultaneously.  Our algorithm will tell you which are the most important variables, and tell you the best combinations of variables (out of 2048 possible combos.)

Many customers realize they do not have the expertise or the time to conduct a testing campaign by themselves.  If this includes you, then you should contact sales@vertster.com for more information on our custom managed and full service offerings.

You’ll benefit from having our expertise and help is choosing what to test, when to test it, how to test it, and how to interpret the results.  On average, managed and full service customers get 50% better results from their testing.

Do you have a special agency plan or something for resellers?

Yes. We offer a competitive agency/reseller plan and provide priority support to agencies. Please contact sales@vertster.com for more information.

Can I test two pages without changing the URL?

Yes.  Our Comprehensive Suite gives you the ability to identify a test area on any page and change content in just that area, without changing the URL of the page.

Can I use my Vertster account with multiple domains?

Yes. We license our software in a way which allows you to use your account with as many domains as you wish, provided that you are the rightful owner of each site. Agencies should contact our sales department about special agency plans, since you would ultimately have many domains, but not qualify to use them under one account because they are owned by different clients.

Our site is built in .php/ .aspx/ .asp/ .cfm, can we still use Vertster?

Vertster relies on all client side code to work its magic, which means it will work with any server platform. Our software will generate short javascript snippets for you to insert into the pages you wish to test.  All you will need to do is be able to insert this code into the html source of your page(s).

Will testing with Vertster effect my search rankings?

No. Vertster’s Content swapping engine is designed to allow site testing without having any impact on organic search engine rankings.  This is accomplished by modifying your site content with AJAX/DHTML.  This essentially leaves your existing page code unchanged, yet shows the user a test version of the content.

Our split path tool uses a javascript redirect which could affect rankings, although in our experience it has not.

Do you make sure your show the same version to return visitors?

Yes, our software makes certain that returning visitors (whether its on the same session or a different day) will be shown the same thing they saw the first time. During the configuration of a new test, you will be prompted to specify a cookie duration, which controls how long a user will continue to see this same version.

Do you use first party tracking cookies?

Since its creation, Vertster has always used first party tracking cookies exclusively. This results in the most accurate data possible, and also helps prevent “cookie deletion” issues caused by many popular spyware applications removal of third party tracking cookies.

Are URL parameters passed through your services correctly?

Yes. This is really only an issue with a split path test, where traffic is diverted between two or more URLs.  Our software was engineered to push any URL parameters through the test without incident.

Where are the test files hosted, on my server or yours?

You will host all files related to your test, and all remain in your main domain. This includes pages being tested, as well as content being used for the test itself.  You do not need to make DNS modifications, add host records, or do any tricky configurations to use our software.