Method and web content management system for A/B testing or multivariate testing of websites on computers being connected to a web content management system

1. Method for A/B testing or multivariate testing of a website on a computer being connected to a web content management system, comprising:

storing, at the web content management system, website content data in the form of stored content objects and one or more website variants, wherein each of the one or more stored website variants represents data that defines a structure of one or more webpages of the website on the basis of said stored content objects,

creating, at the web content management system, markup language representation data of one or more webpages on the basis of at least one of the stored website variants and the stored content objects indicated by said at least one of the stored website variants,

receiving, at the web content management system from a requesting computer, a webpage data request directed to at least one webpage of the website for which at least two website variants including a first website variant and a second website variant are defined, and

selecting one website variant of the at least two website variants of the website;

wherein:

if the first website variant is selected, the method further comprises:

creating, at the web content management system, first markup language representation data of the at least one webpage on the basis of the first website variant and the content objects indicated by the first website variant, and

providing the requesting computer with the first markup language representation data of the webpage; and

if the second website variant is selected, the method further comprises:

creating, at the web content management system, first markup language representation data of the at least one webpage on the basis of the first website variant and the content objects indicated by the first website variant,

creating, at the web content management system, second markup language representation data of the at least one webpage on the basis of the second website variant of the website and the content objects indicated by the second website variant,

determining, at the web content management system, differences between the created first and second markup language representations of the at least one webpage,

creating, at the web content management system, webpage difference data on the basis of the determined differences, the created webpage difference data indicating the differences between the first and second markup language representation data of the at least one webpage,

providing the requesting computer with the first markup language representation data of the at least one webpage, and

providing the requesting computer with the created webpage difference data for post-processing of the first markup language representation at the requesting computer on the basis of the webpage difference data.

2. Method according to claim 1 , wherein

if the first website variant is selected, the method further comprises displaying the at least one webpage corresponding to the first markup language representation data on the basis of the first markup language representation data; and

if the second website variant is selected, the method further comprises displaying the at least one webpage corresponding to the second markup language representation data on the basis of the first markup language representation data being post-processed on the basis of the webpage difference data.

3. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of selecting one of the at least two website variants of the website is performed at the web content management system,

wherein selecting one website variant of the at least two website variants of the website is performed in response to receiving the webpage data request or

in response to receiving a webpage difference data request.

4. Method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

providing the requesting computer with scripting language data comprising instructions for post-processing of the first markup language representation data at the requesting computer, the instructions including an instruction to request webpage difference data,

wherein creating second markup language representation data of the webpage is performed in response to receiving a webpage difference data request directed to the at least one webpage.

5. Method according to claim 4 , wherein

if the first website variant is selected, the method further comprises:

providing, upon receiving from the requesting computer the webpage difference data request, the requesting computer with webpage difference data indicating that no post-processing of the first markup language representation is required.

6. Method according to claim 4 , wherein

if the second website variant is selected, providing the requesting computer with the created webpage difference data that indicates the differences between the first and second markup language representation data of the at least one webpage is performed in response to receiving the webpage difference data request.

7. Method according to claim 1 , wherein

the step of selecting one of the at least two website variants of the website is performed at the requesting computer; and

if the second website variant is selected, the method further comprises:

issuing, at the requesting computer, a webpage difference data request directed to the second website variant,

wherein providing the requesting computer with the created webpage difference data that indicates the differences between the first and second markup language representation data of the at least one webpage is performed in response to receiving from the requesting computer the webpage difference data request directed to the second website variant.

8. Method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

storing the first website variant and the second website variant of the website; or

storing the first website variant of the website and variant difference data indicating at least one difference between the first website variant and the second website variant, and, if the second website variant is selected,

the second website variant is created on the basis of the first website variant and the at least one difference between the first website variant and the second website variant.

9. Method according to claim 8 , wherein

the at least two website variants further include a third and a fourth website variants, and the method further comprises:

storing variant difference data that indicates at least one difference between the first website variant and the third website variant,

creating the third website variant on the basis of the first website variant and the at least one difference between the first website variant and the third website variant, and

creating the fourth website variant on the basis of the first website variant, the at least one difference between the first website variant and the third website variant, and at least one difference between the first website variant and the second website variant.

10. Method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

storing the first website variant of the website and a plurality of differences between the first website variant and a third website variant, and

creating the second website variant on the basis of the first website variant and a subset of differences of the plurality of stored differences between the first website variant and the third website variant.

11. Method according to claim 10 , wherein,

if the second website variant is selected, the one or more differences included in the subset are selected in response to receiving from a requesting computer a request directed to the at least one webpage.

12. Method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

storing the first markup language representation data, the second markup language representation data, the created webpage difference data, and/or scripting language data in a cache memory of the web content management system.

13. Method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

removing the first markup language representation data, the webpage difference data and/or scripting language data stored in the cache memory of the web content management system, when one or more content objects indicated by the first website variant are changed;

removing the second markup language representation data, the webpage difference data and/or scripting language data stored in the cache memory of the web content management system, when one or more content objects indicated by the second website variant are changed; and/or

removing the first markup language representation data, the second markup language representation data, the webpage difference data and/or scripting language data stored in the cache memory of the web content management system, when one or more defined differences are changed.

14. Method according to claim 1 , wherein

in selecting one website variant, upon receiving a request directed to the webpage from the requesting computer within a predetermined time period after having received already an earlier request directed to the webpage from the requesting computer, the same website variant is selected as having been selected upon receiving the earlier request.

15. Web content management system configured to manage A/B testing or multivariate testing of a website on a computer being connected to the web content management system,

the web content management system comprising:

a storage device configured to store website content data in the form of stored content objects and to store one or more website variants, wherein each of the one or more stored website variants represents data that defines a structure of one or more webpages of the website on the basis of said stored content objects, and

one or more processors configured to execute

creating markup language representation data of one or more webpages on the basis of at least one of the stored website variants and the content objects indicated by said at least one of the stored website variants, and

determining differences between markup language representations of the one or more webpages;

wherein

the web content management system is configured to receive, from a requesting computer connected to the web content management system, a webpage data request directed to at least one webpage of the website for which at least two website variants including a first website variant and a second website variant are defined,

wherein:

if the first website variant is selected at the requesting computer or at the web content management system, the one or more processor of the web content management system are configured to:

create first markup language representation data of at least one webpage on the basis of the first website variant and the content objects indicated by the first website variant, and

provide the requesting computer with the first markup language representation data of the at least one webpage; and

if the second website variant is selected at the requesting computer or at the web content management system, the one or more processors of the web content management are configured to:

create first markup language representation data of the at least one webpage on the basis of the first website variant and the content objects indicated by the first website variant,

create second markup language representation data of the at least one webpage on the basis of the second website variant of the website and the content objects indicated by the second website variant,

determine differences between the created first and second markup language representations of the at least one webpage,

create webpage difference data on the basis of the determined differences, the created webpage difference data indicating the differences between the first and second markup language representation data of the at least one webpage, and

provide the requesting computer with the first markup language representation data of the at least one webpage and with the created webpage difference data for post-processing of the first markup language representation at the requesting computer on the basis of the webpage difference data.