don't stop testing until you have optimized the site - and look to the customer for advice!

October 6, 2009 by Gregg Larson

If the ultimate goal of site optimization testing is to generate the maximum conversion rate, which I believe it is, then every site optimization task should be carried out until the optimum conversion rate has been discovered.  When you have determined there is an area of your web site that you would like to optimize for conversion rates, it can at times be like trying to find a new job:  a  bunch of failures before you finally get a break.  You don't send your resume out once, and if you don't get the job consider your job search a failure.  Instead, you learn from feedback how to update your resume, qualifications, interviews, etc.  Site Optimization is the same way:  when a test doesn't increase conversion rates, you don't give up and say "well, they must be optimized", instead, you look for feedback, more than likely from your customers, about what would work from them.  Therefore, my first test design is my best attempt at understanding what would create the optimum conversion rate, but I accept that I may not have figured it out, and am open for suggestions until I do.  My process surrounding understanding what the optimum conversion rate looks like is to determine what our customers require, and benchmarking successful companies.  

When your tests come back as inconclusive or insignificant ,  it more than likely is what not you are testing, rather, it is what you are not testing!  When it comes to testing changes to a User Interface, often times we get so muddled in our conversion rates that we forget that we may have we missed the variability that will drive up conversion rates the highest.   That is the key reason to step back after every test and rethink the strategy: I consider the voice of the customer research and benchmarking to be tools that allow me to think outside the current testing environment.   If you truly want to find the highest conversion rate, and you will find it within the opinion of your customers.

Permalink