Patricia Hader

I recently completed Market Motive’s “Conversion Optimization Master Certification” program led by Bryan Eisenberg (@thegrok).  As part of the program, I volunteered to perform a comprehensive conversion optimization analysis and provide testing recommendations (100+ A/B test recommendations) for The New York Public Library.  

Furthermore, I also had to run an A/B test.  Together with Johannes Neuer (@johannesneuer) from The New York Public Library we selected the newsletter sign up page for the experiment.

We actually ran two tests, but here’s the overview of the second test:

What we tested: Simplification of the newsletter sign-up page

• Remove newsletter options
• Shorten Privacy messaging
• Show thumbnail with link of newsletter sample
• Keep first test changes:

– Remove unnecessary information fields (first/last name)
– Stronger, benefit oriented headline
– Add unique value proposition points
– Clicking on “privacy policy” should open up new window

Control

Variation

 Did you guess it right?

…because “continuous improvement comes from continuous testing and optimization, not one-time research” (from Greg Burningham, President of MarketingExperiments). 

What other reasons do you need?  How else do you think you’ll improve if not through trial and error?  Bottom line, you won’t know what works and what doesn’t, unless you test.

It can be quite challenging to get your management’s buy-in on measurement strategy, analytics resources, and the need for optimization.  Though it’s almost 2010, we still have Avinash Kaushik evangelizing web analytics and Bryan Eisenberg advocating for the need to test and optimize (and rightfully so!), not to mention the many analytics and optimization sessions offered at Marketing Conferences. 

Fact is, a lot of companies need desperate help, don’t get it yet, or don’t realize the missed opportunity.   And here you are, trying to sell them on everything you believe in…  So, how do you get your management on board?  There are obviously several ways to get them on board (e.g. “Stragegies for Embarrassing your Organization”, Avinash Kaushik, Web Analytics 2.0, p. 429), but another way to get their attention quickly may be to give them a reality check on where your organization stands. 

Use the [x+1] Digital Marketing Maturity Model to assess the maturity level of your organization.   The [x+1] Digital Marketing Maturity Model defines the capabilities required to convert prospects to customers through an integrated marketing experience.

 Pillars of Digital Performance-Based Marketing consist of
• Target Market
• Offer
• Creative
• Analytics
• Marketing Integration
• People / Skills

Are you a broadcast marketer or a value validator?   Do you know any organizations that are channel champions?  I can tell you that when I worked at AOL back in 2003, we were between value validators and channel champions.  Pretty impressive, given that it was 2003!  But, aside from smart marketers, we also had management support.

 
Another source to help you assess your digital marketing maturity would be Webtrends’ Digital Marketing Maturity Model (DM3).

The DM3 (beta) provides a framework for assessing and building digital marketing maturity over time in six core areas:
• Measurement strategy
• Analytics resources and domain expertise
• Data integration and visualization
• Data analysis and insight
• Adoption and governance
• Ongoing optimization

So, how mature is your digital marketing?  And, what are you going to do to take your organization to the next level?

“Testing is the biggest no-brainer, and the killer of most stupid ideas… Testing is great because you can get the most important person’s opinion: The Customer’s.”  –Avinash Kaushik, Occam’s Razor

Site Optimization: No More Guesses – ClickZ.

Oldie (January 2009), but goodie.   Obviously… I’m a big advocate for testing and optimization.   I don’t get why companies, in this day and age are still basing decisions and changes on someone’s gut-feel, opinion or guess (especially when you have free options available like Google Website Optimizer).   That someone may guess wrong and lead your performance to decline instead of improve.  So, why are companies gambling with potential success and missing out on improvement opportunities?   And, if you’re not optimizing, what is your excuse?

There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Conversion Rate | FutureNow’s GrokDotCom / Marketing Optimization Blog.
Amen! I’ve always been saying that there are no one-size-fits all average conversion rates. Your goal should be to increase your current rates and do so by optimizing your efforts. And you need to take a look at your rates individually (traffic source, etc.) versus in aggregate.

What’s the Best Way to Improve Conversions? eMarketer, October 29, 2009

I can’t say it any better than eMarketer — it’s through testing and analysis.  

According to an Econsultancy study, companies considered “A/B testing as the most valuable way to improve conversion, with more than one-half of companies saying it was highly valuable and another 42% saying it was quite valuable”, while agency-side respondents considered cart abandonment analysis as the  most valuable way to increase conversions. 

I agree with both.  While you can probably drive your biggest, immediate impact by determining why shoppers are abandoning your shopping cart (assuming you make immediate fixes), you should also test. 

Where do they drop off?  And why?  Are they surprised at the shipping costs, which aren’t revealed until the second page in the cart?  Is it a legal disclaimer that’s causing folks to abandon your cart?  Do you have too many steps in the process? 

You won’t know until you investigate.  And you won’t know what (and which change) works best, unless you test it.   Look at your web analytics to determine where the highest drop off points are.  Launch a shopping cart abandonment survey to get more insights (real customer feedback).  And if you’re making changes, test them to determine what will get you the highest conversion rate. 

I’ve run shopping cart abandonment surveys in the past, which uncovered issues we didn’t know existed (thanks to shoppers).   We also provided the “abandonner” with the option to be contacted by our customer service team, which was then able to reach out, provide immediate support (while the site issue was being addressed) and close the sale over the phone.   Of course we also ran tests to determine which changes would yield highest conversion rates.

And to quote Bryan Eisenberg in Always Be Testing:
“It verges on insanity to look at the success of a company such as Amazon.com and still hold out hope that avoiding testing will produce the results that are well within your grasp… Through testing, you empower customers to collectively decide what works best for them… Intelligent testing removes opinion, guesswork, and faulty assumption from the marketing equation. It gives you truly meaningful results upon which you can act.”