Let’s start with The Experimentation Wheel.
The wheel, of course, has no start or end. It’s made up however of well structured frameworks. Generate a testable hypothesis. Run disciplined experiments. Learn meaningful insights from analysis. Review prior data and research. Brainstorm ideas. Looking at all the measurable performance metrics. Always asking the questions; can we test it? Can we measure it?
Understanding what doesn’t work with your website is as important as learning what does
In a recent A/B test we were running for a company, we increased the form conversion rate by 22% with a confidence of 99.2% (high fives all round). Well hold on, fortunately we were also tracking the calls which we found had dropped by 32% with 100% confidence. If we hadn’t run a test (and hadn’t been measuring lots of metrics), we wouldn’t have known the damage putting the new form live would have had. For a company spending nearly 5 digits a day on Ads, this could have had a major impact.
The form looked so much better than the original, and of course, did a lot better. However, the company valued leads from calls more than forms. Needless to say, we rejected the test and followed up by eventually creating 5 iterations of the design.
Did we “Win” the first test? Not at all, but did we lose? No way! In running the experiment, we found some very useful insights. One of the takeaways here is that understanding what doesn’t work is as important as learning what does. This is why you should be experimenting with elements on your website and not blindly pushing changes live that could be having a major impact on your business.
This is where people can miss the point of CRO. Conversion rate optimisation is as much about learning and understanding as it is about winning.
5 reasons to experiment
If that’s not enough of a reason why you should be experimenting with website updates, here are 5 other reasons:
1. Not all audiences are the same
Why users come to your website and buy from you is probably much different from your competitor. Even the most experienced person in the team can’t say for certain what changes will make your conversions better. Just look up the story of Ron Johnson of
Apple.
2. User behaviour is constantly changing
The lockdown was an extreme example of this. Buying habits and what users expect continues to evolve.
3. Technology updates
Chrome and other browsers are constantly making updates, so are the likes of Apple and Microsoft.
4. You will make your business better
By running tests you gain a much better understanding of your users. This then can be rolled out across the whole business and influence your marketing.
5. While others are deciding what to do, you’re improving
Some companies spend months deciding on designs and having a big long spirit list. By continually learning and improving, you are staying ahead of the game.
If you would like help with improving your website and landing page conversions, get in touch with us today to talk to conversion rate optimisation.
