WEB OPTIMIZATIONA/B AND MVT TESTS

June 2013

LEAD LIFECYCLE

A/B + MVT

METHODS CURRENTLY USED FOR IMPROVING CONVERSION RATES

A/B VERSUS MVT

A/B

Radically different designs

• Designs don’t need common elements

• Templates can be structured in completely distinct ways

• Content doesn’t need to be shared

Focus on:

• Key messages• Content structure

MVT

Primarily used to test different treatments of elements:

• Layout tweaks & positioning of elements

• Text amends• Buttons - size, colour, style,

labels & icons• Removal of particular elements

Focus on:

• Optimizing what is already working for you

HOW MOST PEOPLE A/B TESTButtons: Colors, shape, fonts…

Layouts

Photos

… AND CONVERSIONS WENT UP BY 4%!

Can you do any better?

ALTERNATIVE FOR BIG WINS

Testing random elements is very inefficient. We won’t find the big wins this way.

Red vs Green buttons doesn’t help us understand our customers.

WE FIRST NEED QUALITATIVE DATA,AND USE OTHER SOURCES OF DATA TO GET A

BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS WANT

WE’LL FOCUS ON THE RIGHT TESTS AND INCREASE OUR CONVERSIONS

A LOT FASTER

TESTING PROCESS

1. GET QUALITATIVE INSIGHTS

2. PREDICT HOW TO IMPROVE

3. CONFIRM PREDICTION WITH A/B AND MVT TESTS

WHERE IS THE QUALITATIVE DATA?

1. Surveys (Survey software + 1 question surveys)

2. Feedback (Email, Customer Service, Call Center Sales Team...)

3. Reach out (Get customers on the phone)

4. Web Analytics (GA) or other Web Analytics Software

5. Usability Tests (recorded sessions, Craigslist users+Amazon’s Mechanical Turk+UserTesting.com)

6. Data Warehouse

WHAT CAN BE TESTED?

• Does having a special price for upgraders yield higher overall sales than a flat pricing model?

• Does Geo-Targeted pages convert at a higher rate?

• What is the optimal placement and copy for CTAs

• How many pages in the buy-flow is optimal?

• How effective and efficient is proactive chat in boosting overall conversions

• How many CTAs and / or featured offerings are optimal on the home page?

• Are bullet points or prose styles are more effective on landing page?

• Do promos perform better as %s or as $s off?

• Does a certain messaging approach consistently outperform another regardless of specifics? ...

FUNDAMENTALS

1. Landing Pages ≠ Websites but might get more complex

2. Stop sending traffic to Home Pages

3. Landing pages are campaign source specific

4. Landing pages are campaign specific (keyword-targeted landing pages)

5. Landing pages need to be constantly updated (seasonality, design trends, offers…)

6. Optimization for Mobile landing pages

7. Localization (Geo-targeted landing pages)

8. Traffic Segmentation

PRIORITIZATION

PLANNING

EFFICIENT LANDING PAGES = MAJOR PPC SAVINGS

Google also integrate best practices for landing pages into the “quality score” formula:

- The historical CTR of the keyword and the matched ad on Google- Your account history, measured by the CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account- The historical CTR of the display URLs in the ad group- The quality of your landing page- The relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group- The relevance of the keyword and the matched ad to the search query- Your account's performance in the geographical region where the ad will be shown

GOOGLE Guidelines:1/ Relevance and original content: - Users should be able to easily find what your ad promises. - Link to the page that provides the most useful information about the product/service. For instance, direct users to the page where they can buy the advertised product, rather than to a page with a description of several products (or home page).- Feature unique content that cannot be found on another site- Provide substantial information

EFFICIENT LANDING PAGES = MAJOR PPC SAVINGS

2/ Transparency: - Business info (About Us, Privacy Policy, Newsletter Opt Out, Registration explanation)- Honor the deals and offers you promote in your ad- Deliver products and services as promised (clearly mention up/X sales)- Avoid altering users' browser settings (i.e back button or browser window size)

3/ Navigability: - Provide a short and easy path for users to purchase the product or offer in your ad. - Avoid excessive use of pop-ups, pop-unders, and other blocking elements- Make sure that your landing page loads quickly (Keynote).

LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION FORMULA

C = 4M + 3V + 2(I-F) – 2A

C = PROBABILITY OF CONVERSIONM = MOTIVATION OF USER

V = CLARITY OF THE VALUE PROPOSITIONI = INCENTIVE TO TAKE ACTION

F = FRICTION ELEMENTS OF PROCESSA = ANXIETY ABOUT ENTERING

INFORMATION

CAPTOLOGY

Urgency

ValueCredibility

TrustLimited time offersCountdownsLimited Quantities

Free ContentDiscount/SavingsFree ConsultationFree Trials

TestimonialsSocial ProofAwards…

DesignMedia LogoVerificationMemberships

BEST PRACTICES

1. Nothing is sacred. Questions all assumptions

2. Less is more, reduce choices

3. Words matter. Focus on your calls-to-action

4. Define quantifiable success metrics

5. Some experiments must fail in order for you to learn from them

TOOLS

Things to Consider:

- Conversion data is a must- Developer time- Test on two different pages (real regular expressions)- Event-based activation (wordpress, copy/paste)- Wysiwyg Editor- 1 JS script

NEW DELIVERY PROCESS

RESOURCES

TESTING TASK FORCE (TECHNICAL, QA, ANALYTICS)

POWER USERS (CREATIVE, PRODUCTION)

DRIVERS (STRATEGY, ANALYTICS):

MARKETING TEAM + SENIOR ANALYST

PHASE 1: PILOTPHASE 2: TEST LEAD

PRE-REQUIREMENTS

CONVERSION DATA

TESTING PLAN

TRAINING SESSIONS

TESTING IDEA CONTESTS

COMMUNICATION PLAN

AGILE METHODOLOGY (15MN STANDUPS)

PROCESS ALIGNED WITH OTHER BUSINESS UNITSAND GO-TO-MARKET STRATEGY