Popups for most ecommerce brands are in ‘set it and forget it’ mode. Yes, Klaviyo has allsorts of a/b testing opportunities within their built-in popups, but they’re limited and the testing process is set to ‘manual’ mode.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of ecommerce marketing, the ability to optimise conversion rates while minimising your manual effort has become a critical competitive advantage. Speed is the name of the game. Alia’s Smart Testing represents a significant shift in how ecommerce marketers approach A/B testing, providing you an AI-driven solution that delivers are whole new level of popup optimisation and customer acquisition strategies. On autopilot.

Alia's Smart Testing eliminates the traditional bottlenecks of A/B testing by automating the entire process, from variant generation to winner selection and test initiation. All the things you know you should be doing… done for you. By the machine. The AI continuously proposes A/B tests based on insights from over 1,000 brands, runs the experiments, automatically picks winners and starts the next test cycle without any code or manual intervention required. Testing timings, messaging, triggers and automations based on product/category pages.

This represents a departure from traditional testing approaches where marketers spend countless hours manually creating variants, monitoring results, and making optimisation decisions often based on hunches rather than data. Instead, the AI within Alia operates 24/7, ensuring that performance is always improving even while you and your marketing team focus on higher-level strategic initiatives.

The system automatically generates high-converting variants with no coding or design requirements from the marketing team. This removes the creative bottleneck that slows down optimisation efforts and delivers you a steady pipeline of test variations. The machine is doing its job for you.

AI learns the optimal time to trigger popups for each individual user, resulting in 10-20% increases in signups with minimal effort. This behavioural learning approach moves beyond Klaviyo’s basic time-based or scroll-based triggers to deliver true personalised timing.

The popup platform maintains tests running 24/7, creating a continuous improvement cycle where performance is always on the up. A shift from periodic optimisation sprints to constant, automated enhancement.

Traditional A/B testing requires significant time investment across multiple phases (at least this is how your work SHOULD be mapped out)

Alia's Smart Testing compresses this entire cycle into an automated workflow, freeing marketing teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than tactical execution. Case studies show brands like Gardencup achieving 124% increases in email sign-ups and 177% SMS growth after implementing automated testing processes.

Brands using Alia's Smart Testing report achieving 15%+ opt-in rates, with some cases showing results as high as 25-35% opt-in rates. I’m seeing this across the brands I work with too. This level of performance, when achieved at scale, can dramatically impact customer acquisition costs and lifetime value calculations. It forces you to focus in on optimisation across email welcome flows as the numbers of subscribers becomes more and more significant. And you are collecting real data from your new subscribers discovering their reasons to buy, right? That’s a fundamental most brands ignore.

Real-world implementations show significant revenue impact: Hostage Tape generated $86,000 in incremental revenue within 60 days, achieving a 143× ROI, while Firebelly Tea (Shopify's President's brand) increased purchase rates from 14% to 36% and generated over $13,000 in incremental revenue.

The continuous optimisation approach creates compound growth effects. Unlike traditional testing cycles that might yield 10-15% improvements quarterly, automated systems can accumulate multiple smaller optimisations that compound over time, potentially doubling or tripling baseline performance within months rather than years.

As AI takes over tactical optimisation tasks, marketing leaders must evolve their approach to "managing the machine" rather than manually executing tests. This shift requires:

Marketing teams transition from being test operators to being strategic directors, focusing on broader conversion funnel optimisation, customer journey design and cross-channel integration while the AI (your machine) handles variant-level optimisation.

Smart Testing algorithms are trained to optimise for multiple metrics simultaneously not just opt-in rates, but also purchase rates, site conversion rates, average order value etc. This requires marketers to think holistically about success metrics and ensure AI optimisation aligns with core business objectives.

While AI can generate and test variants automatically, human oversight remains critical for brand consistency, messaging alignment and strategic direction. Human + Machine is the dream ticket. Marketing teams must establish guardrails and approval processes that allow for AI efficiency while maintaining brand integrity.

Advanced analytics capabilities provide insights into purchase rates, site conversion rates, AOV and more, enabling informed strategic decisions. Marketing leaders must develop capabilities to interpret and act on AI-generated insights at a scale that would be impossible with manual testing.

In an environment where most popup tools haven't evolved beyond static "10% off" boxes that max out at single-digit opt-in rates, AI-powered optimisation represents a fundamental competitive advantage. Brands that successfully implement and manage these automated systems can achieve:

Feels exciting? It should. Alia's Smart Testing represents more than just an improved A/B testing tool, it signals the future of marketing optimisation where AI handles tactical execution while humans focus on strategic direction. For marketing leaders it’s about how quickly they can implement and learn to manage these systems effectively.

The brands that master this transition from manual optimisation to AI management will find themselves with a significant competitive advantage: better conversion rates, lower acquisition costs and marketing teams freed to focus on higher-value strategic initiatives. In an increasingly competitive landscape, this could be the difference between sustainable growth and being left behind.

The machine is ready to optimise… the question is whether marketing leaders are ready to manage it effectively.

It’s this level of AI advancement in ecommerce that can no longer be ignored. Tools that are ready to do the grunt work for you. Your job is to oversee output and make the necessary tweaks and strategic adjustments to ensure you see impactful results. In standard a/b testing, let’s say 2-3 years ago, I would often see subscriber opt-in rates double simply by focusing in on timing, triggers and messaging. Doubling the volume of welcome email flows dispatched… creating a new swell of revenue through Klaviyo. Now that job of a/b testing can be done for you.

Go check out Alia to see what improvements you can make over the set-it and forget-it 10% discount popup you’re currently running