Google's Gmail A/B Test Over?

In mid July we mentioned that Google's Gmail was doing some A/B testing to help drive more Gmail registrations. During the test we noticed at least 5 or 6 different types of messaging to help lure new users to sign up. The messaging include phrases such as "Start Fresh," "Sign up for Gmail," "Pick a Name," etc...However we believe the test must be pretty close to completion as we have noticed "Pick a Name" with a dark blue background appearing fairly consistently.

If you are going to attempt some A/B testing of your own (which we definitely recommend) here are some things worth considering:

- Have you selected an appropriate segment of your page to test?
- Do you have a goal in mind for the outcome of the test?
- Do you have the ability to randomly display the 'A' and 'B' versions of the selected segment
- Have you implemented Web Analytics tracking?
- Will your web analytics software be able to help you measure the performance of your A/B test
- Specifically, will your web analytics software be able to correlate conversions back to your A/B test?

Resource: A/B Testing Case Study