Eventually, you will finish accepting participants and collecting data. This may be when you get enough participants, run out of time, or (as often happens) a combination of both.
You may close the test manually, or you may have configured your testing tool to close it automatically according to a rule. See Setting closing rules in Chapter 8 for more on your options.
Once the test is closed, there are a few housekeeping items to attend to:
- Take down your web ads on all the sites you posted them to.
- If you posted an explanation page and linked to it from other channels such as email or social media, replace its text with a simple “Thank you but this study is closed” message.
- If anyone who received an email invitation belatedly clicks the test link, your testing tool should display its own “study closed” message (but best to try it yourself to make sure).
- If you arranged a prize draw, pick the lucky winner(s) and notify them. For more on this, see Offering incentives in Chapter 9.
Finally, after all your work setting up the study, and the participants each doing their best to find the right answers in your tree, you can now sit down, look at the data, and see how well your tree performed. The next chapter shows you how to make sense of your results.
Next: Chapter 11 - key points