There is a widespread belief in e-commerce today that website testing pays off. Customer expectations of e-shopping continue to escalate, so merchants must continuously improve the shopping experience in order to stay competitive. The best way to do that is through conversion rate optimization. And yet, many retailers continue to struggle in the early stages of their testing plans.
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There are a number of steps these e-businesses can take in order to capture a greater return on investment from their websites. Testing is the tool to achieve this goal, but its success requires a culture that believes in the value of testing. In order to capture higher revenue and the conversion rates they seek, e-businesses need to embrace testing fully.
Here is a simple, quick list of items to review:
Prepare fully before you start.
- Clearly identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) you wish to track and spell out the internal metrics you'll use to measure the effect of changes to your website.
- List the challenges your business faces and locate the places where you need improvement. Maybe your conversion rates are unacceptable to your team, or you wish to increase revenue per visit. Whatever your situation, make sure everyone on the team agrees on the short- and long-term goals before you begin testing.
- Pull together your team, your testing tools, and a timeline. If you can appoint an enthusiastic testing cheerleader, all the better.
Go for easy wins first and build on each successful test.
- The most glaring problems on your website are probably the ones that will be easiest to fix first. For example, identify where you are experiencing the highest abandonment rate. Put your first testing efforts on that page.
- Simplicity is best, especially at the beginning. If you design complex initial tests, you could derail enthusiasm and threaten the testing culture you need to build for long-term success. The goal at this stage is to capture wins that will build internal excitement. To best accomplish this, start with clear A/B split tests.
- The point of testing is to gain information to influence wider marketing initiatives. Therefore, don't make too many alterations to your website at one time. Isolate each change so you can determine its effect and use that data to inform future tests.
Make the most of your web analytics data.
- Mine the data you already have for information about your site that could influence testing. Where are your highest bounce rates? Which areas of the site are underperforming?
- Learn all you can about your user groups. Whatever data you already have on your targets should be used to determine which groups are most important in terms of KPIs.
- Segment your users and test accordingly. The test you run for one region, for example, might differ from the one you use to gain insight into another.
Site optimization is on the minds of most marketers today -- as it should be. In order to reap the greatest return on testing investments, e-businesses need a clear understanding of their goals, as well as internal dedication to pursuing those ambitions. To build your e-commerce marketing strategy on a testing foundation, start looking at testing as a primary means of informing all critical marketing decisions. When you create a culture that fully embraces testing, you will quickly log measurable successes that improve revenue metrics, increase conversion rates, and boost customer satisfaction.
Pete Olson is the vice president of enterprise solutions at Amadesa.
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