This article is for web experiments. To read about how to use Mutually Exclusive Groups for feature experimentation instead, refer to this article.
What is a Mutually Exclusive Group?
The Mutually Exclusive Group feature in Kameleoon lets users create groups of campaigns where each visitor can only be targeted by one campaign within that group. This feature is particularly helpful when you have multiple campaigns that may conflict with each other.Key benefits
A Mutually Exclusive Group prevents overlapping campaigns from interfering with each other. Benefits include:- Clearer results: Avoids conflicting data by ensuring visitors see only one campaign within each group.
- Better user experience: Reduces visitor fatigue from being exposed to multiple changes, creating a smoother experience.
Example of a Mutually Exclusive Group
Imagine you have two groups of campaigns targeting your website’s homepage:- Group A: Campaign 1 (new homepage layout) and Campaign 2 (highlighted “Buy Now” button)
- Group B: Campaign 3 (simplified navigation) and Campaign 4 (updated product descriptions)
- A visitor will see either Campaign 1 or Campaign 2 from Group A, but not both.
- The same visitor may see either Campaign 3 or Campaign 4 from Group B, but not both.
Cross-group exposure
Mutually Exclusive Groups only prevent overlap within the same group. Kameleoon can expose visitors to one campaign from Group A and one campaign from Group B simultaneously. For example, a visitor could experience any of these combinations:- Campaign 1 (from Group A) and Campaign 3 (from Group B)
- Campaign 1 (from Group A) and Campaign 4 (from Group B)
- Campaign 2 (from Group A) and Campaign 3 (from Group B)
- Campaign 2 (from Group A) and Campaign 4 (from Group B)
How exposure percentages interact with a MEG
Exposure percentages set on individual campaigns are not applied independently to each campaign’s full traffic when those campaigns belong to the same Mutually Exclusive Group. The MEG first decides which single campaign a visitor is eligible for within the group, and the campaign’s own exposure percentage is then applied on top of that allocation. Each campaign in a MEG receives roughly an equal share of the eligible group population (for example, one third if the group contains three campaigns), regardless of the individual exposure settings.Example
Imagine three campaigns in the same MEG, each running on a different page that receives 200,000 requests:| Campaign | Page traffic | Exposure | Exposed visitors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campaign A | 200k | 10% | 200k × 1/3 × 10% ≈ 6.7k |
| Campaign B | 200k | 30% | 200k × 1/3 × 30% ≈ 20k |
| Campaign C | 200k | 60% | 200k × 1/3 × 60% ≈ 40k |
Because a MEG splits eligible traffic across the group before exposure is applied, MEGs are best suited for campaigns that can overlap and need to be made mutually exclusive — typically campaigns running on the same page or surface.
Setting up a Mutually Exclusive Group
- Define the campaign group: Decide which campaigns should be mutually exclusive. For example, you may want all homepage layout changes to be grouped.
- Tag the campaign: Follow the naming convention
“ME-GROUP-\{GROUP NAME}”to tag each campaign in the group, such asME-GROUP-A. This naming tells Kameleoon to treat the campaigns within each group as mutually exclusive.
Note that Mutually Exclusive Groups are disabled in simulation mode.