Schedule and test an A/B test broadcast

After you set up your variations and recipients, you choose when the broadcast starts, send test messages to check each variation, and review the full setup before you activate it.

Choose when to send

The Schedule step for an A/B test broadcast offers two options:

These scheduling options aren't available for A/B test broadcasts:

• Throttled Schedule
• Automatically adjust for each recipient's time zone (sending in local time)
• Fast track this broadcast
• Make this broadcast recurring

To schedule the broadcast:

1. On the Schedule step, select Send Now or Schedule.
2. If you selected Schedule, choose a date and time with the date and time picker.
3. Click SAVE & CONTINUE to go to the Review step.

Keep these rules in mind:

• Send Now isn't available if your account requires broadcast approval or has Send Now turned off.
• The scheduled time can't be in the past.
• If Send Now is turned off for your account, the scheduled time must be at least 1 hour from now.
• Times display in your own user time zone. If you haven't set one, they display in your account's time zone. The page shows "Times shown in" followed by the time zone it uses.

After you activate the broadcast, it moves to Scheduled, then to Preparing while mCommons builds the audience groups for each variation, and then starts sending. A broadcast sent with Send Now also goes through Scheduled first.

Quiet Hours

The Schedule step shows this message for every A/B test broadcast: "Quiet hours do not apply to A/B test broadcasts."

Here's what that means in practice:

• Start time: If your account uses Quiet Hours, you still can't schedule the broadcast to start inside them. If you try, you see this error: "This broadcast is scheduled during the company's quiet hours (...). Please choose another time."
• During sending: Once sending begins, A/B test broadcasts don't pause for Quiet Hours.
• Winner send (Test Group only): With Auto-send Winner, the winning variation sends to the remaining recipients as soon as the wait time ends. With Manual Send, it sends when you send it. In both cases, Quiet Hours don't apply to the winner send.

Tip: If you use a test group, choose a start time and wait time so the test ends during your normal sending hours. Or use Manual Send so you control when the winner goes out.

Send a test message

Use the Send test section on the Review step to see how your variations look on a real phone before you activate the broadcast.

1. On the Review step, go to Send test.
2. In Select Variation, choose a variation, or choose All to send every variation to each phone number.
3. Enter up to 5 phone numbers, separated by semicolons (;). For example: 617-000-5000; (617) 000-5001; 16170005002.
4. Click SEND TEST.

Keep these rules in mind:

• mCommons ignores any phone numbers after the fifth.
• Each phone number must already be a profile in your account. If it isn't, an error asks you to add the recipient as a subscriber first.
• Test messages count in your broadcast reporting. The info icon next to Send test reminds you: "Please note that test messages will be included in reporting."
• You can't send test messages while the broadcast is sending.

Review your A/B test

The Review step shows a summary of your broadcast so you can check everything before you activate it.

Test Summary

The Test Summary banner at the top gives a quick overview of how your A/B test is set up. For example: "you're testing 2 variations using Response Rate as the winning criteria. After 1 hour(s), you can review the results to identify the best-performing variation." The wording changes with your settings.

Quiet Hours banner

If you use a test group, a Quiet Hours banner also appears. Split Recipients broadcasts don't show this banner.

• Auto-send Winner: "This send does not adhere to Quiet Hours, so the winning message will automatically send to the remaining recipients as soon as the test window ends."
• Manual Send: "This send does not adhere to Quiet Hours. Once the test window ends, you will need to manually select and send the winning message to the remaining recipients."

Recipients

The Recipients section summarizes your audience and test settings.

To change any of these settings, click EDIT in the Recipients section. This takes you back to the Recipients step.

Schedule

The Schedule section shows when the broadcast will send, for example "Send at: Sep 22, 2026 19:57". To change it, click EDIT in the Schedule section.

Conversations

The Conversations section shows a phone preview of each variation. Use the variation tabs above the preview to switch between variations. The first tab is selected when the page opens, and the selected tab is highlighted.

Each tab also shows how the message will be sent, for example "will be sent via Single or Multi-part SMS depending on liquid". To change a variation's content, click EDIT in the Conversations section. This takes you back to the Conversation step.

Note: The Review step doesn't show a fallback preview for A/B test broadcasts. For details, see How fallback works for RCS and MMS variations.

When everything looks right, click ACTIVATE.

Related topics

• A/B testing overview
• Monitor results and send the winner
• Configure A/B test settings
• Create an A/B test broadcast
• Understand A/B test winner metrics