There are many factors you need to consider in a conversion optimization process.

To keep things simple, I like to solely focus on answering this question:

“Where are you going to run your next A/B test?”

After reading this post you have a much better understanding about finding pages that matter for CRO.

Participation Metrics

First of all it is important that you understand the term “participation metrics”. Chances are that you haven’t heard about this term before.

Let’s do a search in Google:You can see that “participation metrics” is a term that is often used in relation to Omniture/Adobe Sitecatalyst.

As a frequent user of both Google Analytics as well as Adobe Analytics, I can state that both packages can help you out here.

In the rest of this post I will concentrate on Google Analytics since it is probably used by most of you.

A few things to know about participation metrics:

• Participation metrics help you to define the importance of your pages in relation to one or more conversions.
• Participation metrics are closely related to attribution analysis.
• Participation metrics can be defined on the session or user level.
• As (most often) A/B tests are judged on the user level, I prefer to use user level metrics.
• Participation metrics can be used on both ecommerce as well as non-ecommerce sites.
• Participation metrics are less useful for low volume and/or low conversion website (< 10K users and < 1K conversion p/month)

How it Works

Usually a website visitor sees a couple of pages before she converts.

Don’t think that the path to conversion is always a straight line. This is sometimes the case for highly goal-oriented website visitors.

For example, if a visitor sees six pages before purchasing your product, the conversion credit is distributed among those six pages.

You can choose to either work with “real” values or use relative values. It’s up to you.

This is the same as when you are setting up your goal values in Google Analytics.

Case Study Example

In this chapter I will explain about how to work with participation metrics in Google Analytics. As an example I use one of my websites that I built a few years ago.

Website

• http://bestproteinpowdertips.com/.

Macro Conversion (Primary Goal)

• Send website visitors to Amazon.com (click on Affiliate link).
• Measured as event and recorded as goal 1.
• Active goal on almost every website page.

Measurement Period

• 1st June 2014 to 31th August 2014.

By now you have some background information on this website and it’s purpose.

Custom Report

I already explained that I like to focus on user level metrics. This is why I need to build a custom report:

The actual reports looks like this:

As expected, on the user level the numbers are the lowest and on the pageview level the highest.

The blue number tells you how many users saw a certain page.

Now I will show you the same report with a segment on converters (sessions where a click to Amazon.com was recorded in Google Analytics).

Now let’s combine the information:

Learn how to build this segment and other segments with this in-depth guide on Google Analytics segmentation.

Data Interpretation

In this case there are a few things to take note of:

• Huge difference in users that converted (clicked on Amazon affiliate link) between different longtail keywords/pages in top 10.
• Partly related to organic ranking differences at that time.
• Extremely high converted users percentage on “organic protein powder” and “sugar free protein powder” page.

Make sure to always interpret the data in context.

Normally a high percentage of converters in combination with a high absolute number of users on the page, suggests that the page is a good option to further optimize (with A/B testing).

However, in this case on almost every page there is a goal conversion possibility (click through link(s) to Amazon).

CR is directly linked to rankings in Google. Since most conversions happen directly on the landing page.

Action Steps

• Outreach and effective content strategy to rank higher on different protein powder pages.
• A/B test on top 8 pages (except organic and sugar free protein powder page).
• A/B test on template level to increase CR on all deeper product detail affiliate pages.

Fictional Example

The calculation behind page level user conversions is the same if you are dealing with a website that has one macro goal on just one spot.

In this context you can think about:

• Blog website with one newsletter subscriber box.
• Ecommerce website with one “thank you” conversion page.
• Leadgeneration website with one “thank you” page after leadgen form.

Example of users that converted against website page type or funnel step:

It’s quite logical that the absolute number of users that convert is higher if you get closer to the conversion point.

I hear you think, but why should we calculate this metric. We know upfront that we should test in the booking funnel right?

Well to be honest this is just one of the steps of a more complicated process that I use to determine pages for A/B testing.

Create Your Own Magical Formula

I will give you a few more tips here to get you going.

You need to think in two directions:

• How much can I win here (gain of A/B testing)?
• How much does it take to test here (ease of A/B testing)?

Always Look at an Aggregated View

If your website counts 1.000 product detail pages (on same template), you should aggregate these pages in your analysis. Content grouping is a good option here.

Distance to Conversion

Another factor to take into account is distance to conversion. You can use relative percentages (0 – 100%) to map out your pages.

Political Barriers

Pages get less attractive if there are a lot of political barriers for testing this page. On the other hand, if there are no political obstacles it is more easy to test on a certain page.

Technical Barriers

Is it hard to implement a winner on a page or almost impossible? Take this into account in your A/B testing plan.

Calculation Period

You should base your calculation on a period of approximately two to four weeks. Best practice is to keep your participation metrics calculations within your A/B test period range.

This is it for now. I hope you have learned a few new things again.

Do you have a (data) process in place for selecting your A/B test pages? Happy to hear your thoughts!

The post Case Study: How to Leverage Participation Metrics for CRO appeared first on Online Metrics.

It’s a must to have a proper process and the right resources in place. Stay away from tactics, and focus on a smart process instead.

Brian Dean has put together a great list of CRO techniques I recommend to check out. Especially helpful for those who are new to A/B Testing.

However, don’t take things for granted.

Remember to always test so-called best practices. What works on website A doesn’t have to work on website B.

In this post I reveal five important questions to answer before setting up your next A/B Test.

Paying close attention to each of these questions dramatically enhances the chances of success in your A/B Test efforts.

1. Where Should I Run My Next A/B Test?

Think twice before you start A/B Testing without a pre analysis first. Your success lies in your preparation.

In order to make a clear impact on your bottom line, you need enough traffic and conversions.

Do you run a website with less than 10.000 visitors each month and no more than 200 conversions? In general these numbers are too low for A/B Testing.

Focus on growing your website first. Expert reviews can help you to get the basics right.

“In general, the higher your monthly number of visitors and conversions, the more A/B Tests you can run.”

A few subquestions to ask first:

1. What is the macro conversion that I want to optimize?
2. What do my traffic numbers look like?
3. How many conversions do I get in a month?
4. What’s my current conversion rate and how does it differ per (landing) page?
5. On what pages can I make the most impact?
6. Are there any political constraints I need to keep in mind?
7. What about technical issues that are present?

Make sure to start with a thorough data analysis first before moving to the next step.

At a minimum, use your quantitative website data to find great spots for future testing.

It’s a best practice to focus on pages that many people visit before they convert.

At first I recommend to start with one page tests (more easy to set up and analyze).

If you are more experienced, you can start running tests on multiple pages or site-wide tests as well.

They can deliver a great ROI, but might take more time to develop and analyze.

2. What Elements Are Involved?

You could literally test thousands of different things.

However, it’s crucial that you have a reason behind the elements you run your tests on.

Simply changing a color from red to green doesn’t make sense.

The “What” is closely related to the “Why”. Something I will talk about soon.

The more elements you add/remove/change in one test, the more difficult it is to learn from it. Interpreting results can get really difficult or simply impossible.

At least you have to make sure that all changes are in line with the same hypothesis.

Stick with running A/B tests first and run multivariate tests later on if you wish to.

3. Why are You Running This Test?

Running A/B Tests without asking this “Why” question is not a smart thing to do. It’s actually very stupid. :-)

It’s time to define your hypothesis:

“A tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test its logical or empirical consequences.”

The more research and data you have to base your hypothesis on, the better it will be.

Logical sense can definitely help, but don’t think you have all the solutions right in your head.

Your visitors will proof you wrong.

How to come up with an effective hypothesis?

1. Carefully analyze your quantitative data (e.g. Google Analytics)
2. Use Hotjar (heatmaps, video recordings, form and funnel analysis)
3. Run qualitative surveys
4. Talk to customer service department
5. Involve your colleagues (psychologists can be a great help!)
6. Visit competitor websites
7. Read through prior research reports
8. Study prior A/B Tests results
9. Keep your end goal in mind
10. Learn from peers (never take best practices from granted, always test them)

There are many more actions you can take to enhance the chances of succes.

These 10 points will definitely be a great help for you to formulate effective hypothesis.

4. When will My Test Run?

Tests, timing and planning are more crucial than you probably think.

There are a few things you need to keep in mind here.

1. Set your test length before you start running your A/B test (one week as a minimum)
2. Always run a test with full week cycles
3. Keep in mind the conversion cycle
4. Don’t let your test period interfere with (major) website changes
5. Run a pre-test
6. Run a post-test
7. Calculate your numbers upfront (how much traffic do you expect, uplift needed for statistical significance)
8. Don’t let your tests run for months (approximately four weeks as a maximum)

These tips will help you to set the testing period right and boost your chances of running successful A/B Tests.

5. Who is Involved in This Test?

I like to talk about two aspects here:

• Target audience of your test (“pre-segmentation”)
• Post-segmentation (segments you will analyze after the test is finished)

Target Audience

Do you want to test on all devices or just on desktop and tablet?

There are many reasons why you should want to test on mobile and desktop separately:

1. Different things work (or might not work) per device
2. Difference in traffic volumes
3. Difference in mobile traffic (iPhone vs Android)
4. Optimize for different outcome
5. More tests and in a faster way

In general I recommend to start with the device type where you can make the most impact on your bottom line.

In addition, in some cases you only want to target specific traffic sources.

And if you have lots of traffic and conversions, you don’t have to run the test on 100% of your traffic.

This will save traffic for running multiple experiments at the same time!

Post-segmentation

I recommend to define your segments upfront. This instead of searching for a significant effect within a specific segment afterwards.

After you have done a lot of testing and get more experience, you know there is always a significant effect to be found.

As long as you keep on digging your data you can come up with something.

However, this is not how A/B testing works.

This is it for now. In future posts I will dive in much more detail in each of those areas.

Do you have any tips about effective A/B Testing that you like to share?

The post Improve Your A/B Tests with Five Simple Questions appeared first on Online Metrics.

Over the last years I have seen many companies run A/B tests via Optimizely, VWO, Test & Target or even directly in GTM.

One crucial thing that I have learned: integrate your testing tool with a web analytics tool.

Last week I read this article on the Convert blog.

Will Google Optimize be the future of A/B testing? We will see.

In this post I reveal five steps in Google Analytics that are a tremendous help in analyzing and optimizing on the outcome of your A/B tests.

For the purpose of the article, I use the integration of Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics as an example.

Step 0: Prepare Your Test

Step zero: prepare your test set up first.

At least take into account the following points:

• Find conversion-focused pages for your next A/B test.
• Create a smart hypothesis based on data and psychology.
• Determine the sample size and find out how long the test needs to run.
• Discuss about power (false negative) and significance level (false positive).

Source: Wikipedia 

• Design one or more test variations.
• Code your test variations.
• Test your set up.

Step 1: Capture A/B Test Data with GTM

As a first step you need to make sure to integrate your testing tool and/or Google Tag Manager with Google Analytics.

A very efficient way is to use the event tracking feature in Google Analytics.

Last year I was at the conference Conversion Hotel.

Analytics & Optimization Expert Jules gave a great presentation on how to get this to work.

Check it out below:

Do you use Optimizely for running your A/B tests? Read this guide on integating Optimizely with Google Analytics via Custom Dimensions.

VWO has a similar guide on this topic you could check out as well.

Step 2: Check Your Real-Time Reports

You can see within minutes after you start your A/B test whether things work smoothly or not. Head over to real-time reports and take a look under events:

It depends on how you have named your variations, but this is where you should quickly see data showing up.

Here is a suggestion on how to name your events:

• Event category = AB-Test
• Event action = [name of variation]
• Event label = either 0 (default) or 1 (variation)

Make sure to use naming conventions when you set this up.

Step 3: Build Powerful Custom Reports

On default, events are shown within the event report. An example is given below:

The problem here is that you are not evaluating your A/B test on the user level. You are looking at “plain” events.

Building a custom report is a great solution here.

A few things to note here:

• Use goals instead of transactions if you are optimizing on a non-ecommerce site.
• In case of a non-ecommerce site forget about revenue.
• Add a title that suits your test.
• Changing the report table is optional.
• Add a filter on the event action that is connected to your test.
• Decide on adding this custom report to one or more reporting views.

An actual report based on users and transactions looks like this:

You are not there yet.

If you want to evaluate on number of buyers instead of transactions, you need to transform the transactions into a user based metric.

Add one extra segment to accomplish this: sessions with transactions.

Note: read this in-depth post on segmentation if you are not familiar with segments.

The report looks like this after you add the segment sessions with transactions:

Results:

• Default: 36.349 users and 483 transactions.
• Variation B: 35.613 users and 475 transactions.

Statistical evaluation of a test is something for a future post, but this test looks inconclusive! :-)

Step 4: Dig Deeper via Segments

It depends on the actual test and context on which segments you want to drill deeper.

Here is an example of further segmenting on device category:

Now it’s possible to judge your test performance on multiple devices.

Note: don’t draw conclusions on very low numbers. Keep 300 to 500 transactions per variation per segment as a minimum.

Other segments/dimensions that are interesting to analyze:

• Traffic source
• Landing page
• Type of user (new or returning)
• Recency (days since last visit)
• Region (cultural differences)

Tip: use sequential segments to analyze navigational behavior differences.

Step 5: Leverage Shortcuts

Let’s assume you have created a few custom reports and applied segmentation.

What if you want to review these reports (including applied segments) at a later stage?

Shortcuts are the solution here.

It is clearly explained how to set this up on the support pages of Google:

You can find your shortcuts in the reporting interface:

Well, I hope you are inspired to analyze your next A/B tests at a deeper level after reading this post!

Do you already integrate your A/B tests with a web analytics tool and how? Happy to hear your thoughts!

The post Five Steps to Effectively Analyze A/B Tests in Google Analytics appeared first on Online Metrics.

I recommend you to re-evaluate your budget for upcoming year if you fall in this group.

Investing time and money in conversion optimization can definitely pay off big, especially in the long run.

That’s why I recommend working on your knowledge and skills in the CRO field as a top priority.

“You need to acquire the right type of traffic, use your data wisely, combine it with psychology and transform it into smart experiments to ultimately lift your ROI.”

I have evaluated the best conversion optimization blogs that are currently out there and distilled my top 15 favorites list.

1. Bryan Eisenberg

The Eisenberg brothers, well-known in the CRO field.

Bryan and Jeffrey are recognized authorities and pioneers in online marketing, improving online conversion rates, Persuasion Architecture, marketing tools, web analytics,  big data and persona marketing.

Although they don’t publish every week, their articles are pure gold. Make sure to subscribe to their blog.

Here are a few additional books you might want to check out as well.

2. Conversion Rate Experts

Conversion Rate Experts is one of the global companies in the conversion optimization field.

Consultants are active from all over the world.

Every now and then they add new interesting articles to their article base. It’s good to stay in touch with them!

3. Conversioner

Are you not only interested in conversion tips, but also in emotional/psychological persuasion tactics? This is the blog to visit!

Talia Wolf is owner of Conversioner and does a great job in spreading her knowledge.

You can meet her at international conferences where she is often invited to speak.

She and her colleagues provide you with actionable, in-depth articles that are definitely worth to read.

4. ConversionXL

ConversionXL is judged by many as the best CRO blog that is out there today and I have to admit they publish great content.

In the early days Peep Laja wrote most content by himself. By today many other top notch CRO specialists attribute to the ConversionXL blog.

Subscribe to his newsletter if you want to learn a lot of new things about CRO.

5. Convert

Convert is known as an affordable A/B testing tool. Although I cannot say anything about the quality of their product (never used it), their blog contains quite interesting posts every now and then.

I would advice to scan through their posts and to find some valuable tips on your conversion rate optimization journey!

6. Invesp

With more than 10.000 subscribers and a solid blog, Invesp is definitely worth to pay a visit.

On top of their blog posts, there are interesting webinars on topics related to CRO.

7. KISSmetrics

Neil Patel, co-founder of KISSmetrics (until the end of 2014) is the driving force behind the growth of the KISSmetrics product.

They effectively use content marketing (great quality content) to further increase their customer base.

And you can find great in-depth posts on conversion and related topics. I have found real gems on their blog:

Here is an extra link to KISSmetrics’ testing related blog posts.

8. Marketing Experiments

It’s not the typical blog you would expect in this list. They write posts on many different topics.

On average your will find two to three new articles in their analytics & testing category each month.

And it’s definitely worth it to check it out.

I really like how well researched most blog posts are, just judge by yourself!

9. Neuromarketing

CRO, Psychology and Neuromarketing are closely related. And one doesn’t go without the other.

Roger Dooley does a tremendous job bringing these disciplines together on his popular blog.

That’s one of the reasons why I have added this one to my list:

If you aim to get a broader understanding of conversion rate optimization, you should definitely check this one out.

10. Optimizely

Optimizely is one of the most popular testing tools that is available on the market today.

In addition to that they run a very popular blog. Both focused on items related to testing with Optimizely, as well as fresh evergreen content in the field of conversion optimization.

That’s why they deserve a spot in my top 15 conversion optimization blog list.

11. Rich Page

Rich Page, who is this guy? A question some or even many of you might ask.

Already back in 2012 he wrote a book named “Website Optimization: An Hour a Day“.

A book filled with information on CRO related topics. With a foreword written by Bryan Eisenberg, it’s one the books that should be on your bookshelves.

Although he doesn’t write that often, I definitely recommend to consider reading his posts.

One more tip: Rich Page’s Free Conversion Rate Optimization Toolbox.

12. SiteTuners

Tim Ash, CEO of SiteTuners, is leading a great CRO company. The company is known as one of the trusted companies in the field.

Do you want to benefit from their expertise for free?

Their blog contains a range of interesting posts on conversion optimization and directly related topics.

I recommend to read this very popular book as well.

13. Unbounce

Unbounce provides solid tools for building landing pages that convert. They are a great name in the world of A/B landing page testing.

Rick Perreault is the CEO, but the “face” of Unbounce is Oli Gardner. A few months ago Michael Aagaard joined their team.

They both can deliver a great performance on stage!

And their blog is a great read as well. Go check them out:

14. VWO

VWO positions themselves as the A/B testing software for marketers.

For less than $50 per month you can give their tool a try.

Add their blog to you list if you like to get some practical tips and insights on testing related topics on a weekly basis.

15. WiderFunnel

Chris Goward is the CRO of WiderFunnel and one the recognized experts in the world of marketing optimization.

He is also the author of “You Should Test That!“, a popular book on conversion optimization.

I have hesitated long whether to add them to my list or not. This since they haven’t published many posts of late.

However, there is a ton of evergreen content on their blog. It’s definitely worth going through their blog archive.

I am happy to share this list with you and I hope this helps you on your journey to become an expert in CRO.

Actively reading and engaging at popular conversion rate optimization blogs is the first step. Don’t forget to put things in practice as well.

What are your most popular CRO blogs? Do you have any tips to share?

The post Top 15 Conversion Optimization Blogs appeared first on Online Metrics.

And you might wonder, what information should I include in my A/B test report?

Do you already have a report framework in place? Great, I expect you to learn a few things here on how to further improve it.

You don’t have a framework yet? No problem, you’ll walk away with practical tips on how to build your next A/B test report.

In my experience there are 10 elements you should consider to include in your report. Always keep in mind who is actually going to read it and change the structure if needed.

And don’t overdo it; most often 10 slides is more than enough to communicate the outcome of your A/B test.

1. Test Period

It might sound like a no-brainer to you, but make sure to always include the test period and exact dates of when the test did run.

Did it run for one week, two weeks, three weeks or even longer?

As a general rule you want to run your test for full weeks and include at least one conversion cycle.

This is what Ton Wesseling (CRO expert) had to say about this topic on the ConversionXL blog:

2. Pre-Analysis

Testing without any pre-analysis is like playing roulette in the casino.

You might win or you might lose, most often it is just a lucky shot if you win.

Quantitative and qualitative data analysis – with tools like Google Analytics, Hotjar, Qualaroo – should be done before you start with A/B testing.

These analysis will feed you with possible test ideas. What leaking buckets do I need to fix first?

It is a best practice to include the pre-analysis findings that are directly related to your test in your A/B test report.

3. A/B Test Variations

Let’s keep it simple here. You decide to test your original (default) homepage against one variation: variation B.

Anyone who receives your report needs to know what you have actually tested.

Make sure to visually show your A/B test variations on one page.

Are you in doubt about whether people can really see the differences? Use some additional comments or zoom in to make things really clear. You don’t want your audience to guess what the changes are.

4. Hypothesis

I strongly recommend to never A/B test without a proper hypothesis. You clearly need to describe the reasoning behind a test.

This is a tip of Michael Aagard, who joined Unbounce on 1st July, on formulating a hypothesis:

This format will help you to easier come up with a good hypothesis.

And make sure to back up your hypothesis with reliable data, both quantitative as well as qualitative.I can say that I fully agree with him. Invest extra time in your data analysis  and you have a better chance in finding winning A/B test hypothesis.

It will pay off big, trust me!

5. Most Important Results

In theory you could run an A/B test with a micro or macro goal in mind.

Most companies run their tests on one or more of their main conversion points (macro goals):

• An ecommerce site could aim for more sales and a higher average order value
• A leadgen site tries to expand their lead database
• A hotel site wants to sell more hotel rooms (and would benefit from selling more higher-priced rooms and rooms that include breakfast as well)

No matter what your exact goal is, you always want to include the results in your A/B test report.

At a minimum aim for:

• Number of visitors in each variation (default and variation B)
• Number of conversions for each variation
• Conversion rate for each variation
• Conversion rate uplift (positive or negative)
• Significance level of your test (p-values)

Remember to define upfront which segments you are going to look at after your test:

• Overall
• User type (new, returning)
• Channel (SEO, SEA etc.)
• …

Why? If you segment long enough, you will always find a winner within a specific segment.

Unfortunately most A/B test winners are illusionary, find out why:

6. Relevant Side Analysis

Don’t just throw in extra numbers without a good reason. It should benefit the story you are trying to get across.

Let’s look at an example:

Imagine you are in charge of this amazing hotel located on a beautiful, healthy island Okinawa in Japan.

Your job is to get more bookings through conversion rate optimization.

You have decided to test this page against another page with less distractions. This variation includes:

• Less navigational elements
• More focus on the search box
• A few more small tweaks

You are happy to report that you found a significant increase in conversion rate of 8,6%!

Besides that you saw in your data that bounce rate and exit rate decreased and the average time on this page (compared to the default) is dramatically lower.

Well, in this case you might want to include these stats in your report. It could indicate that people more quickly make their decision because of less distraction on the page.

I hope you get my point here! Only include a side analysis if it adds value to your story.

7. Predicted Uplift in Revenue or Margin

You have found a winner, great news and now what?

Well, don’t stop at the conversion rate uplift. Your boss or client is interested in $$$, trust me.

Do the math and discover the extra revenue or margin that is expected if your company or client implements the winning variation.

You could say, after 1 month or 3 months we expect the extra revenue or margin to be this much.

Tip: include a confidence interval as well.

In other words, the expected extra revenue will be between x and x $$$.

8. Conclusion

I will explain this part of the A/B test report with a fictional hypothesis:

“By removing the navigation bar on the booking step page, visitors are less distracted and as an result more visitors will place an order.”

Let’s assume that a significant uplift of 6,4% is found. Your conclusion would be as follows:

“Removing the navigation bar on the booking step page has a (measured) positive effect on conversion rate.

Things to keep in mind:

• An A/B test has two possible outcomes: there is a measured positive effect or there is no measured positive effect
• You need to run multiple tests to confirm or reject a more general hypothesis

9. Learnings

Where a conclusion is a general statement attached to your hypothesis, learnings are more concrete, validated take aways from your experiment.

Learnings can be formulated on the overall level, but on a deeper segment as well.

Examples of learnings:

• Using a self-efficacy technique – by adding green checkmarks if visitors have filled in a form step correctly – leads to a higher conversion rate on tablet
• Adding positive, cheerful pictures on the homepage, leads to more repeat visitors booking a hostel
• Visitors from search convert better if the ad message is replicated on the landing page

10. Recommendations

You have almost finished your report and there is one important thing left: the recommendations or next steps.

What is your advice based on the A/B test outcome?

I will make it simple for you. In general there are four possible routes to take:

1. Do nothing (if there was no significant positive effect measured)
2. Re-test your findings (example: you test with a 90% significance level -> 1 out of 10 test winners is a false positive. Since the implementation is expensive you want to re-test your findings to become more certain that you have found a winner)
3. Implement winning variation (via your A/B testtool you could temporarily sent all traffic to the winner)
4. Site-wide test (you think that the message, design or other change is not just bounded to the tested template. You decide to test it on other parts of the website as well)

I am happy you stayed here with me to the end. Put these things in practice and contact me if you need any help!

Do you have any tips about how to best structure an A/B test report? Happy to hear any comments.

The post 10 Tips for Your Next A/B Test Report appeared first on Online Metrics.

Although I read many books, I don’t write these types of posts that often.

The reason behind this post is simple:

“Optimizing your own daily activities first will save you plenty of time to optimize online businesses as well.”

At the end you might realize this article is even more valuable than some of the other in-depth Analytics or Conversion posts I love to publish.

In this article you will get some great ideas on how to manage and optimize your day-to-day activities. This is beneficial to you, your company and your clients.

I have translated the most important elements of a 200+ page book into this framework:

Routine

Having your own daily routines will help to reduce stress. Making decisions – big and small – requires emotional and mental energy.

Developing routines lowers the number of decisions you need to make throughout your day.

It results in less stress, greater productivity and more energy for the tasks that are most important to you and your company.

1. Frequency

Imagine you are working as an optimization consultant.

Your company has promised to boost the ROI of your clients to a significant higher level. So you feel the need to devote all your time to help your clients reach their goals.

Whether it is 15, 30 or 60 minutes, make sure to set apart this timeframe every day to work on a side project!

You will be astonished what you can accomplish even with 15 minutes a day. And don’t start complaining you can’t find these minutes.

I recommend to fire your boss if that’s the case. ;-)

2. Renewal

Are you eating behind your desk and taking almost no breaks on a day?

You will be far more creative and productive if you take a few necessary breaks on a day.

Inspiration is needed when you dive into the web analytics data to find actionable insights.

Setting up A/B tests requires knowledge and experience. Don’t forget to mix in enough energy and creativity!

So take some short breaks every now and then. Chat with your colleagues about non-work related things and go for a well-deserved lunch walk.

3. Solitude

One easy way to practice solitude is performing a meditation session each day.

I have written earlier post on top web analytics skills and how to advance your analytics career. I should have mentioned the importance of being in solitude as well.

It helps you on all levels. The 15 or maybe 30 minutes that you spend each day in silence will have a positive impact on the other 23 hours of the day.

You can present the results of your analytics deep dive or A/B test with more clarity, a positive tone of voice and a lot more persuasiveness.

Meditation has been shown to have mental benefits, such as improved focus, happiness, memory, self-control, academic performance and more.

Every employer would benefit if you take the time for a daily meditation practice.

Focus

Keep your attention to work that really matters. Distractions are everywhere and in every moment.

Do your best to minimize these distractions and you will get the job done with less effort and in a shorther amount of time.

4. Daily Focus Blocks

Is your daily life taken away by meetings, meetings and even more meetings?

My tip: plan some time in your daily schedule where you are in control and fully decide what activities you focus on.

Make sure to plan ahead so that no one can “steal” your time!

In most companies there are too many meetings that don’t make sense.

5. Multitasking Myth

Do you believe you can analyze your A/B test results while reading your email? Think again!

Do you know how hard it is to focus on one thing for 60 minutes? 99% of the people on earth can’t do this. Let alone doing two or three things at a time; I guarantee this doesn’t work.

Concentrate on just one thing at a time to have less mental stress and produce greater results for your company.

Btw, multitasking is a myth for both men and women!

6. Distractive Elements

You are building an astonishing report in Excel.

While being busy your new email messages keep on popping up, your cell phone is ringing all the time and your new social apps bring a lot of joy.

Forget it! This doesn’t work.

Get rid of any distractive elements when you are trying to produce something at work. Does it matter if you don’t read my email just a few seconds after I send it?

Come on, bring some focus and get rid of any elements that can distract you!

7. Mindless and Mindful Work

If you are an analytics consultant you might have some reporting stuff to do, but you love it more to derive great insights from your data and testing efforts.

Well, I do agree that you should refrain from just sending reports.

However, sometimes it is good to make a few simple reports to make your colleagues happy.

For this simple reason that reports can often be made on the automatic pilot (mindless work). It is good to combine your brainy work with easier tasks every now and then.

By doing this you will save mental energy for your most difficult tasks and every one in your organization will benefit from it!

Tools

Do you enjoy this technological era? From one side I feel it is great to have so many helpful tools, but on the hand it doesn’t really help us a lot.

A great read that many of you might benefit from: There is No App for Happiness from yoga teacher Max Strom.

8. Complex Goals

I recommend to set a few very important (complex) goals every few months.

An example:

Imagine you are working as a conversion optimization specialist. One of your clients wants to sell more shoes online and they have the wish to improve their overall conversion rate to 4% before the end of the year. For the sake of this example there are no seasonality effects.

It’s 2% at the beginning of the year, so you want it to be 3% at the end of June.

You might undertake many different activities to accomplish this goal. Look at this 3% CR as a complex goal.

Why? It will help you to focus your activities for this client on what really matters to accomplish this complex goal in the long run.

9. Social and Mindful

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, they can all deliver terrible experiences If used in the wrong way.

Most people are controlled by their Social accounts. Does Facebook like you to enjoy time with your friends or your company’s brand to grow? Well, for a small part, maybe. But most importantly, they are just counting their money like (almost) every company does! And of course they should keep you happy to stay in business.

Take advantage of your Social apps in your working career, but make sure to use them in a mindful way. You will thank me for that!

10. Screen Apnea

Eight or more hours working behind a computer, watching television at night and checking emails again.

Those screens are a nightmare for our health. Especially combined with us sitting all day long.

Here is what I suggest to minimize the negative impact:

• Take regular short walking breaks
• Need to think or call: stand up from your chair!
• Don’t use an elevator all the time
• Refrain from too much screen activity at night
• Sit straight in your chair and pay attention to your breathing

These are my tips to optimize your daily activities. It will benefit your career and life!

As promised, the name of the book: Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind. Have fun reading it!

Now it’s your turn. Let me know what you think. Do you have any tips I haven’t shared yet?

The post A/B Testing: 10 Tips to Optimize Your Daily Activities First appeared first on Online Metrics.

With conversion rates far above market averages, they easily turn an ordinary website visitor into a customer.

Tons of A/B tests every year. A great team of online minded professionals. It’s time to show you how Booking.com actually persuades you to book!

Image: Booking.com

In this post I will guide your through my Booking.com journey and reveal 33 great persuasion and optimization insights you really love to read.

I will stay away from explaining the theories behind (difficult persuasion terminology).

Practical insights is what you will get! 

It might drive you crazy if you find out with your own real eyes how they are persuading you to book.

Test and replicate one or more of these persuasive elements on your own website(s) and your business will grow.

My focus is on the following areas/pages on their website:

Your actual journey/experience might be a bit different from mine.

Booking.com are masters at applying behavioral targeting based on the elements/drivers that work the best to make you book.

I recommend you to read the entire article. This way you derive the greatest learnings and test ideas for your own business.

However, simply click on one of the links below if you are only interested in specific areas. You will automatically navigate to that specific part.

• Homepage Booking.com
• City overview page
• Property page
• Single property page
• Booking funnel
• Learnings

Note: I have booked here before but I am in no way affiliated with Booking.com.

Enjoy the journey!

Homepage Booking.com

Here we go (what do I see above the fold):

At a glance I can see they serve new as well as returning visitors in a smart way.

New Visitors

1. Half a Million Hotels

At the upper left corner you can read: 586.000+ hotels, apartments, villas and more …

If their “assortment” is so big, it won’t be difficult to find a great place to stay.

In my eyes, this makes it easy to compare and make a rational decision in where and what to book.

The beautiful pictures on the right trigger my emotional part of the brain. I simply get in the mood to book by looking at those nice views.

2. Message: FREE cancellation on most rooms!

No need to worry here. I am not 100% sure whether I can make it on that date. Who cares?

I can always cancel my booking. It sounds so easy.

This helps me (and Booking.com) in two ways:

• I don’t have to worry about things coming up in the meantime after I book
• I am more willing to book directly (feel less need to compare with competitor sites)

Based on experience I can say this is a great USP to place on the homepage. In most cases it works with real products as well.

3. Just booked Widget

They are smart over there! This is fantastic.

This widget refreshes real-time and shows the country of origin of the person who has booked and to what destination.

I can say, at least it refreshes every few seconds. If this contains all of their bookings your can even calculate how many bookings they have on a day!

More importantly, it brings trust. If so many people book and from a lot of different countries, why would I …

4. Secret Deals (upper right corner, second window)

People simply love great deals, so this grabs my attention. If I hit the button, this pop-up appears:

Another newsletter? But hey, wait. Discounts of 20% or more! That sounds quite interesting. Let’s take a look at the right side.

• Very best deals, negotiated with thousands of hotel
• Free deals and personalized
• Instantly get a link to our Deal Finder
• Email address is safe

I don’t say everybody will subscribe here, but they apply smart words to persuade me to subscribe. This is great, since potential customers are more easily caught if they subscribe. Well done guys!

5. Search Box

Both for new as well as returning customer the search box definitely appeals.

Very simple, I need to fill in a few basic things and can choose additional search options if I like.

And the big Search button cannot be missed. I am sure on “deeper” pages they will try to persuade me to book.

Five features/messages that pull new visitors into their website.

Returning Visitors

Booking.com does a great job as well for returning visitors. There are a few things I like to show you here.

6. Message: Welcome Back! Sign in to See Member Deals

Yeah, they recognize me again! Member deals, I can’t wait to see what they have to offer me.

It’s a great way to motivate returning visitors (customers) to find another great deal and book (again).

Booking hotels, vacations etc. does have a rational part, but an emotial part as well.

7. My Lists

I was just browsing yesterday and today I want to book!

So it’s great I could save my list of favourite destinations and make my booking today.

Another great way to help returning (but also new visitors) with their booking.

On the other hand (persuasive side) it might deplete my rational part of the brain. I don’t want a list, come on, let’s book.

8. The Envelope: One Message

The envelope persuades me to click and to sign in as a member or to make an account as a potential customer.

It is smart; they might persuade you to book again or get information of potential new customers.

And when you are logged in, they have more information (because they will recognize you) to persuade you with specific elements that have worked in the past.

9. Welcome

A big welcome to new as well as returning visitors. With a main focus on members, they also target new customers:

Sign in or sign up. They simply want to pull you into there persuasion/buying funnel as soon as possible.

And even two call to actions for new customers: sign up or Start here (at the bottom).

I could go on for a while, but I think these nine points give you a lot of stuff to think about.

What can you implement on your website to attract and convert more new and returning visitors?

One more important thing: make sure to test every strategy that you want to implement on your website. What works on Booking.com, doesn’t have to work on your website.

Test everything!

Here is a great article you should read: When Conversion Optimization Best Practices Fail.

City Overview Page

Booking.com owns great positons in Google. Their ads often show up at # 1. On the organic side they have nice positions as well.

This causes you to land deeper on their website if you do a relevant search in Google.

I have used the following query in Google.com:

Here is the corresponding landing page:

We have talked about a lot of things already so I will only concentrate on the new elements here.

10. The Number of Properties (4956)

Again they show that they have a lot of accommodations to offer.

It actually corresponds very well with their ad message which says: “4900 Hotels in Rome”. I am sure they have automated this part of their advertising business.

The most important thing is that people have a choice. It will be rather easy to find a nice place to stay in a desired price range.

11. Search Box Rome

It seems they have two target groups: business and leisure. I can understand it is a good way to split your (potential) customers.

In general, business people have other standards than others.

Besides that there is a Lowest price guarantee statement! Ok, this is nice.

I would recommend to show a link to an underlying page / pop-up that back-ups this claim. And of course they do: here is the link.

12. Popular in Rome

This is another great feature.

They made a list with the most popular elements attached to specific accommodations. So it aids in finding my accommodation quicker.

Example: if I want to stay very close to the Central Station, I can hit that button to directly go to suitable places.

13. Deals, Deals, Deals

What do I see here, three great deal messages:

• Welcome back. We’ve unlocked the best deals for you – grab one now!
• Save money in Rome with Get deals button
• Save at least 20% in Rome pop-up (it is shown on mouse exit)

Price is such an important consideration for people to book.

I can understand that this message (repeating at a few spots) helps them to convert more visitors into bookers.

Property Overview Page

Here is the Rome property overview page (filtered on Central Station accommodations):

14. Filter by:

The “filter by” area is a great option for those who know what kind of property they like and it helps to easily drill down to just a few suitable options.

15. Great List of Filter Criteria

First of all they have added a clickable overview of the property types and the numbers of properties available in each category.

Then they have separate filter criteria:

• Recommended (social proof)
• Stars
• Location
• Review score

Actually, a lot of aspects are connected to social proof elements.

And they know how to play with scarcity as well.

16. Hurry, Hurry (Scarcity)

Do you see the message: “There are X people looking at this hotel.”

Accompanied by: “Latest booking: X minutes ago.”

This works so well in making us want to book instead of waiting.

Please note that it doesn’t tell us that the bookings took place in the same period you are looking to book. Smart guys. ;-)

I won’t mention it as a separate point, but the “love numbers” do well I think (social trust):

17. Trust Labels

There is difference between people that quickly book and people that need more time and information before they book.

In general I belong to the first category since I am a quick decision maker. :-)

For those that need more trust, Booking.com puts a few smart features on the left side:

Awards and a lot of good reviews bring trust. They do a good job here to also help people that need more trust signs.

In general, these messages are placed a bit lower on the page.

We are getting closer to the actual booking funnel. but let’s take a look at the single property page first.

Single Property Page (First Part of Booking Funnel)

Let’s assume I am interested in one property called Best Western Hotel Universo:

18. Hurry, Hurry (Scarcity)

And again, we see this message: “There are X people looking at this hotel.”

Accompanied by: “Most recent booking for this property was X minutes ago from X.”

19. Credibility and Trust

At the upper left corner we see a trust symbol. Always good to make us feel comfortable by showing trust signs.

20. Social Proof

There is a carousel-like overview of testimonials. Very handy to find out what people think about a specific hotel. What is good about this place and what are the concerns?

You can click-through to see more reviews and to read them per target group (e.g. couple, family, group of friends).

On the social side they allow you to share this hotel on Google+, Facebook and Twitter. In this industry it is rather common that people share so it’s a good thing to add.

Above the fold it is easy to get an impression of the hotel and whether it might suit your needs.

Big, beautiful pictures attract your emotional brain part.

You have the option to scroll down yourself or to click on the “Reserve” button. By doing so you will automatically scroll down to the rooms that are available:

And again, lots of different elements here. FREE cancellation in green, nice!

21. Message: No booking or credit card fees

Prices play an important role in the booking decision. So this definitely adds value here. And good to tell this upfront so people don’t have to worry about added costs later on.

We all want to book the best hotel for the lowest price.

Then they advertise with Today’s price and put a discount in place. It makes you think the prices might be higher tomorrow.

Again, it keeps you in the mood to quickly book your favourite destination.

22. Scarcity Messages

“We have only X left” and “Just booked”. Again, this helps to persuade people in a quick way and make them book at the first visit.

You don’t want your favourite hotel to be fully booked so please hurry up.

23. Message: Confirmation is immediate

Next to the important call-to-action “Reserve” you see the “Confirmation is immediate” text.

It brings some comfort, because then I know for sure that the hotel will be mine!

For the rest they do a great job with colors to show you the difference between the rooms that are available and for what prices.

There is another important element to share with you.

24. Why to Choose Best Western Hotel Universo

It is common and a best practice to place persuasive elements on top of each page. These three reasons help people who hesitate still to convert.

Three extra reasons to book: great prices, easy communication and reviews that matter. It will help to convince some of the hesitators that are among us.

Let’s assume you want to book and you select one of their accommodations:

Oh man, here we go again. Please see the right side:

• You got the best price! -> it makes me think I am great
• Confirmation is immediate
• FREE cancellation before 8 mar 2015 (just one or two days before my departure, no worries)
• Breakfast included (yeah!)

A complete package, why shouldn’t I book?

So this page has many “triggers” that improve the chances that you will book.

As you can see, they do a great job to completely persuade you to book in an early stage.

If I take a look at the next steps, we could conclude that they see “Room selection” as the first step in the booking funnel.

Booking Funnel

By now you are probably already persuaded to make a booking. Let’s continue with the last part of our booking journey.

Step 2: Enter Your Details

This page is full of persuading messages to make you convert. I will summarize the main points here.

25. Three Messages on The Left

• This property is in a good location. Guests have rated it 8.6!
• You’ve selected a hotel with a guest review score of 8.1
• 87 guests from the Netherlands have made a booking in the last 5 minutes

These messages are really convincing for a lot of people. Reviews are great, a lot of people from my home country do book via this website. It makes me feel good. It looks like I make the right choice if I book.

The chances that you will book are growing…

26. Message: No payment needed today.

It is great to know that today you don’t have to pay any money. On purpose they show this message in green. It lowers the possible friction level.

27. Your Booking Includes:

Three main USPs from this hotel:

• Breakfast
• Free WIFI
• FREE cancellation

If you can cancel (until the day before departure) for free, there are no worries. People are more easy to make the booking decision.

Of course Booking.com knows that in general the percentage of cancellations is below X percent. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I am sure it is on the lower end.

28. Few More Convincing Lines

• Your secure booking starts here – it only takes 2 minutes! // convenience and feeling secure
• No payment needed today. You’ll pay during your stay. // this is what a lot of people like
• FREE cancellation before 8 March 2015 // I am really at ease now

29. Exit Pop-Up

Even if I dare to leave they do their utmost to keep me in the funnel. This message appears if I hover to the navigation bar:

Another smart action here to keep me in the booking funnel. These 33 people are probably not looking to book in the same period. But does everybody know this? ;-)

It creates urgency.

So this message in combination with the last two lines causes anxiety for people that hesitate. What if I don’t book today? Is there still a chance tomorrow?

A few more things:

• You can sign in if you already have an account or sign up
• Sign up: they give you a reason to leave your email address and a password
• Online access to your booking for FREE -> easy way to change or cancel your booking

Step 3: Confirm Your Reservation

This is the final page. It looks almost the same as step 2. This part is different and very important:

It’s worth checking out these new elements.

30. Authority

“Booking.com is one of the largest and most valuable companies in Amsterdam.” – Het PAROOL.

Authority can definitely be a great persuasion technique.

31. Change of Plans?

Again, Booking.com puts you at ease. You can modify your booking or even cancel it at no cost. Why should I worry, right.

32. No Charge of Your Credit Card

There are two similar messages here: they need your CC information to secure the booking.

And your card will not be charged.

33. Faster Future Bookings

They like you to add the CC information to your account. Of course, they tell you it is for your convenience.

On the other hand, they just know there is less friction the next time when you want to book.

There is simply no problem if you left your Credit Card at another place. Still possible to book then.

By people ticking this box, they will improve the CR of returning customers. I am sure about that!

And finally you hit:

Go ahead to make your booking if you want to see the “thank you page”.

One more happy customer! :-)

This is my experience on the Booking.com website. I hope you have enjoyed my journey as much as I did.

10 Important Learnings

• Booking.com does a tremendous job in persuading you to book.
• Their homepage combines attractive elements for both new as well as returning visitors/customers.
• No matter where you enter the website, they know which persuasive elements work and which don’t.
• They build up a profile of all their customers and use it for future targeting efforts.
• Behavioural targeting on the individual level requires you to “recognize” your website visitors -> learn how to implement user IDs in Google Analytics).
• Additionally, they make effective use of on exit pop-ups to keep you on the website / in the funnel.
• Attractive prices in combination with FREE cancellation are the most prominent persuasive elements they use on the website.
• The most important elements are repeated on almost every page in the booking process.
• You never have the best version of your website live; always keep on testing!
• Don’t overly concentrate on investing in traffic, optimize your website and conversions as well.

In short, Booking.com provides you with valuable lessons on what to optimize, why, where and how.

Remember to test everything and don’t simply replicate what another company does.

The post Case Study Booking.com: 33 Persuasion and Optimization Tricks appeared first on Online Metrics.

It can be different.

Just one week ago I attended a great conference in The Netherlands: Conversion Hotel! It was held on an island to make sure no one would dare to leave in between the sessions and parties. ;-)

The speakers, organization, audience and parties were awesome.

Watch this short intro video to get an impression of this event:

I combine the insights of this conference with some additional tips from my side.

Seven Great Speakers and Keynotes

A short overview of the talks in chronological order:
(including links to speaker’s Twitter profiles (must-follow) and Slideshare presentations)

1. Angie Schottmuller – How to convert SEO traffic?
2. Michael Aagaard – CRO+ by tweaking your copy
3. Brian Massey – Define and understand your visitors
4. Craig Sullivan – These A/B-tests appear to be bullshit
5. Bart Schutz – Brain attention & motivation
6. Karl Gilis – Growth hacking tips that work
7. Stephen Anderson – From Paths to Sandboxes

Learnings from Angie Schottmuller

A great woman from the US who knows her stuff and loves Star Wars. :-)

1. Dive into Webmaster Tools for Valuable Data

We all know that our keywords are not visible anymore in Google Analytics.

By looking at your Webmaster Tools data you can find out things like:

• What pages drive the highest CTR (what works and what doesn’t work) and learn from that
• What pages need a lift (pages that rank around # 11 or 12 in the SERPs; CTR boost to rank them on page 1)

2. Optimize Your Organic Search Conversion Funnel as a Whole

All too often people optimize organic search on just one or two spots. Learn to optimize for the complete conversion funnel at the user’s/keyword query level:

And of course, start of with your main keyword phrases.

3. Focus on Valuable Metrics

A while ago I wrote two posts on “great metrics” you might want to check out:

– 8 SEO metrics that matter
– 7 Tips to Discover Great Metrics for Your Business

Too often I come across companies that include useless metrics on their KPI list.

Check Angie’s slide deck and this quote from Ben Yoskovitz:

“If a metric won’t change the way you behave, then it’s a BAD metric.”

And please be honest to yourself when deciding about your metrics.

4. Think Beyond the Funnel

This slide from Bryan Eisenberg (tip: Buyer Legends) really nails it:

So think about what your visitors like to achieve before counting the money!

The good old 4Q survey is a great place to start and derive great insights.

5. Apply Adjusted Bounce Rate Measures

In the past I wrote a post about bounce rates and rough industry standards on this metric.

This post was focused on the standard metric in Google Analytics. If people bounce, it means:

“They came, they puked, they left – with no measured interaction on your site”

Angie did a great job and shared that this metric actually doesn’t tell the complete story. On default Google Analytics count bounces independent of time on page, scrolling behavior etc.

Make sure to grap this piece of code to implement adjusted bounce rate on your website.

It will help you to get a more accurate view about the performance of your website.

Some measures/events to track with this include:

• 5 Seconds+ sessions
• 15 Seconds+ sessions
• Scrolls beyond the fold
• Scrolls to bottom

A big thanks to Angie for putting this together!

Learnings from Michael Aagaard

An energetic, inspiring copy and test junkie from Denmark, terrific speaker!

6. Focus on Optimizing Decisions – Not Web Copy

Michael has shown some great examples on newsletter effectiveness.

How often do you read:

Join over 5.000 subscribers and that’s it! Ok it shows (claims) there are already a lot of readers there.

But what’s in it for me?

So why not say Join over 5.000 subscribers and get FREE Optimization Tips every week.

A lot more powerful right?

Make sure to always test your value propostion. Don’t take for granted that something will work better.

7. Know Your Conversion Goals

Or course you like people to buy your products or apply for your services.

However, there is more. There is a lot more going on on your website so carefully define your conversion goals.

This post about macro and micro goals might come in handy for you.

8. Perform No Test Without Hypothesizing

If you are running an A/B test, you need to know why you are doing it.

Do some solid quantitative and qualitative research to form a valid hypothesis.

If you own a small website with low traffic, qualitative research is even more important.

Tip for now or later, watch this interview of Aartjan van Arkel with Michael Aagaard:

1. By changing … into … I can get more prospects to … and thus increase … .
2. By adding … , I can get more prospects to … and thus increase … .
3. By removing … , I can get more prospects to … and thus increase … .

9. Increase Clarity to Persuade

It’s ok to be creative when designing your landing pages. However, very often clarity beats creativity. If something is not completely clear, a lot of people won’t convert on your website.

This is how Michael thinks about Conversion Copywriting:

So find the right balance I would say!

10. Let the Data Tell You What to Test

From one side quantitative tools like Google Analytics will reveal the spots on your website where you should test. In general high traffic pages that are important to your conversion goals are a great place to start.

If you are running an Ecommerce site, you could test this segment:

Dig into the pages (besides your sales funnel) that drive conversions and optimize them with A/B testing.

On the other hand, use different qualitative tools to derive great ideas for your testing.

Important take away: don’t try to guess what/where to test by yourself. Every once in a while that’s ok, but trust reliable data sources most of the time.

Read this post about the trilogy of Analytics tools if you are more interested about combining different data sources to extract insights.

Learnings from Brian Massey

Well, I will always remember Brian as the lab coat guy and conversion scientist. Just check out a short video from him on Unbounce.com to see how he performs in his white coat.

Enough about that, let’s continue with some learnings.

11. Design Your Website With Different People in Mind

Consumers are all different. Some people see one page and buy; others view many pages and come back three times before they eventually decide to buy.

This matrix shows different personalities (“persona” types):

In easy words:

• Competitive: people that take a very short time and view a couple of pages before they decide to buy from you or not
• Spontaneous: people that very quickly decide (often already on the landing page) whether they buy or not
• Methodical: people who take a long time (lots of research and comparisons) before they decide whether they should buy
• Humanist: people whose actions are mainly driven on emotional factors (reviews, social aspects) and like to find the information on the landing page

So, it is important to keep these segments in mind when designing your website and landing pages. Your copy should suit them all.

12. Different Browser Segments Need Different Attention

What I mean here is that browser versions can often be tied to a particular group of people.

• Chrome and Firefox users: often characterized as more technically savvy
• Safari users; tend to have a higher than average income
• Internet Explorer users: older people :-)

This is just a simple rule of thumb. And beware things might change in the future.

What does this have to do with Conversion Optimization?

Well, sometimes it might be better to show different variants of your pages to different browser segments. This can lead to higher returns in the end.

13. Test Your Internal Site Search Effectiveness

Very often there is a correlation between site search and conversion rate.

People who use the internal site search box tend to convert better than people who don’t.

The question is:

“Do site searchers buy more or do buyers search more?”

Brian had some interesting cases where persuading more site visitors to search led to higher conversions overall.

My advice: run some split tests yourself!

Learnings from Craig Sullivan

A great personality from the UK. A smart, funny person who has a great deal of knowledge and can spin some great tracks at night parties. :-)

Read his Conversion Hotel review here.

And we have learned a lot from him.

14. Make a Money Model

Both if you are working as a consultant or simply as a Conversion Expert for one particular company this point makes sense.

Before starting a test it is a good thing to calculate the possible impact of your testing efforts. And test it against resources needed and difficulty of implementation.

It does make a huge difference whether a landing page drives 100 visitors per day or 1.000 visitors a day.

If the latter is the case, you could drive a huge amount of extra revenue with a relatively small uplift in conversion rate.

His tip on this one: think like a store owner.

15. Gather Your Insights From Many Different Places

There is always a time vs money debate, but in general the more trustworthy sources upon which you formulate your hypothesis the better.

A nice framework shows you different data environments to think about:

Besides this make sure to brainstorm your test ideas with a wide range of people in the organization. Don’t just focus on usability experts or simply online minded people.

16. Integrate Your Test Tool with Analytics

There are many different test tools that are used nowadays.

In my experience two great tools on A/B testing are:

• Visual Website Optimizer (learn how to integrate with Google Analytics)
• Optimizely (learn how to integrate with Google Analytics)

An Analytics integration helps to:

• Investigate test problems
• Segment your results (traffic source, visitor type, country, browser, device type)
• Uncover the averages of your test results

17. Calculate Your Test Length Up Front

If you only receive 100 visitors on your website a day you should refrain from running quantitave A/B tests. It will simply take too long to get a reliable winner.

Two resources that help you to calculate A/B split test duration:

• VWO A/B split test duration
• A/B test guide calculator

18. Don’t Call Your Test Too Early

95% Significance and (almost) every test tool will send you a message: you’ve got a winner. Oh boy, this is very bad actually.

Many times you don’t have enough conversions per variant yet. As a rule of thumb, 250 conversions per variant (segment) as a minimum.

Significance level = related to false positives (you conclude you have a winner, but it is not the truth)
Power level = related to false negatives (there is a winner, but you don’t recognize it)

Well, better to have false negatives than false positives. However, you should try to minimize the chances on both.

I highly recommend to use this online calculator (click on image to go to A/B Testguide website):

Four related great articles that are worth reading:

• Conversion XL (Statistical Significance Does Not Equal Validity)
• A clear picture of power and significance in A/B tests
• Understanding the Cycles in your site
• Why every Internet Marketer Should be a Statiscian

19. Eight Stopping Rules

• Minimum test duration is two business cycles and one purchase cycle
• Minimum 250 conversions per variant
• More conversions are needed when relative difference is small
• Always test full weeks (so don’t start a test on Monday and stop on Friday)
• Run a test length calculator
• Set your run test time
• Analyse the data
• Run over when you don’t have enough data

20. Carefully Segment Your Results

On the overall level it might happen that your test doesn’t show a winner.

However, if you haven’t segmented your test upfront, you really should dive into your Analytics (segments).

Segments might cancel each other out -> result: no visible winner!

Read Craig’s slideshare to derive some more insights!

Learnings from Bart Schutz

Bart, what a guy and from The Netherlands as well! What about him? Well, he knows a LOT about consumer psychology and Conversion Optimization and… he went swimming in the ocean at five (or was it six?) in the morning.

But what a performance!

21. Human Have a Dual Processing Brain

We have two different systems of which one is more active at certain times than the other and vice versa. You should know how to deal with them to make someone convert.

In short a comparison between both systems:

System 1 (emotional)

• Fast and always on
• Subconscious
• Large capacity
• Effortless
• Automatic

System 2 (rational)

• Slow and lazy
• Conscious
• Requires attention
• Effortful
• Control

22. Square of Intoxication

Bart shares some really great stuff on Wheel of Persuasion (must-read) and built a variant on this one for his #CH2014 presentation:

In short, in each unique situation you need a different method (based on system 1 or 2 or combined) to persuade a visitor to a desired action (next step, subscription, buying decision).

Make sure to check out this podcast interview with Bart to learn more about his famous tactics.

23. Visual Cueing

Our brain is so easily influenced, so someone gazing at a call-to-action, special arrows etc. very often lead to higher conversions.

Just test it out!

A good example is shown below:

24. Your Rational System Gets Easily Depleted

If you feed someone’s brain with very difficult information or numbers, that system is most often drained very quickly.

After this happens you can more easily target someone on the emotional side and earn some $$$.

25. Combine The Best of Both Worlds

If you really want to grow your business and not just your conversion rate, you need to focus on two things:

• Digital data (quantitative and qualitative)
• Persuasion psychology (Bart’s website)

Learnings from Karl Gilis

Oh man, he came on stage on Sunday morning after two great night parties. But what a performance, another great speaker and performer!

26. Remove Your Sliders

In his experience sliders are so bad… And only applicable when they are just image sliders without conveying separate messages.

Thank you Karl, just take a look at my homepage, you killed it! :-)

He did a lot of tests and static images tend to outperform sliders, both in clicks as well as conversions!

27. Remove Your Stock Photos

How many website do use stock photos instead of real, suitable pictures? Well, even the big brands use them a lot.

As always, test everything.

In this case, start with your most important landing pages and A/B test your images.

28. Remove Big Headers

Another great tip! A lot of websites do have big headers so that the actual content and/or call-to-action is under the fold.

Small headers are great, but try to avoid the big ones.

Nike is doing a great job; as you can see they use a small header/navigation. In this way users’ attention is drawn upon the product and call-to-action.

However, this image is not supporting their message. So a proper A/B test might bring some additional value and conversions for them!

29. Use Bullet Lists

Many websites and landing pages are cluttered with a lot of content.

Of course there are still people that carefully read the words on your landing page. However, many savvy web visitors scan for words and the most important points on your website.

Guide your visitors through your website with easy-to-scan content.

Bullet lists are a great way to convey your message and USP’s!

30. Remove Clutter in Your Sales Funnel

In general it is a best practice to remove any content that distracts your visitors from their goal.

Especially important in your sales funnel.

Think about it, your audience finally made it to your sales funnel and then they are confronted with lots of useless stuff and get distracted and leave.

Extra tip: be careful with voucher codes. People tend to go looking for them on the web if they don’t have any. They might not come back to your website after their search. Again, you lost one potential customer! And be aware of shady affiliates if you are running an affiliate program.

31. Repeat Your CTA at the End of Your Page

The majority of people who are really interested in your product will scroll down to read more on what you have to offer. Especially when selling high-involvement products people want to consume enough information before deciding to buy.

You do want to make it easy for them to order from you.

I encourage your to navigate to Basecamp.com. There are doing a great job on their website!

Learnings from Stephen Anderson

Stephen shared some great things with us in the last keynote of the conference. It went far beyond A/B testing and primarily addressed the following:

“How can we use psychology to design more fun, engaging and effective interactions”

BONUS 32. Paths and Sandboxes

He really did a great job and made us think about paths and sandboxes. Take your time to read through his presentation; it’s hard to summarize his keynote in a few learnings.

Paths: designed to lead people along, for better and worse. In terms of a conversion: your purchase funnel is a path for sure.

Sandboxes: more like a platform where you can have some paths inside. For example Twitter. You might like to gain more followers, interact with other people about specific topics, just socialize, show what you are doing.

Sometimes you have a goal, sometimes you don’t. There is no clear path.

Sandboxes enhance “playful behaviour” and creativity.

Two questions to ask yourself:

“Are you designing paths or sandboxes?”

“Are you following a path or playing in a sandbox?”

Well, with most things in life I prefer a sandbox, but certainly I do follow some paths.

Enough about me, take some time to think about it.

A few great websites to add to your reading list:

• www.getmentalnotes.com
• www.productpsychology.com

Well, if you came this far, I am very happy! :-)

You have just absorbed 3.099 words that contain tips and learnings from my CRO experience at one of the most beautiful spots in The Netherlands.

If you feel this conference would be a great fit for you, I highly recommend to sign-up for early bird prices notifications of Conversion Hotel here.

Do you have anything to add of say? I am glad to read and respond to your comments.

The post 31 Insights from a Great Conference: Conversion Hotel 2014 appeared first on Online Metrics.

It’s important to realize that a drop is often caused because of more than one reason.

In my experience people often argue about why a conversion drop actually happens.

This article helps you to effectively analyze a conversion rate drop. Step 0, stay calm and keep on breathing! :-)

Step 1: Check Your Tracking

Let’s assume you are using Google Analytics to monitor and analyze website traffic. A minor change to the tracking code can already lead to tracking and data issues.

It’s important to learn how to effectively troubleshoot your tracking code.

Check in with your IT department if you can’t access the code by yourself. Next step is to verify whether your GA is still active on the “thank you” page.

Test with a couple of conversions to make sure everything is working properly.

Step 2: Check Your Configuration

Very often more than one person can “edit” configuration settings. If this is the case, check whether the goal settings are still correct. Did the URL of the “thank you” page change? You need to change the goal settings as well then.

Tip: take a quick look at the “Change History” page:

This page shows you when and what changes have been made to the account settings.

Step 3: Do Your Seasonality Research

Are you in a business with fluctuating conversion rates? For example, many ecommerce shop owners will notice a spike at the end of each year. In January the conversion rate naturally drops.

Look back at your traffic, conversion and conversion rate data over the past few years. Your drop might be partially due to seasonality effects.

Learn more about optimizing for seasonality in PPC.

Step 4: Map Technical and Design Changes

Technical and design changes can definitely effect your conversion rates. Make sure to check whether any changes to your website occurred over the last few months.

Maybe you need to work together with other departments to retrieve this data.

I recommend to use annotations in Google Analytics to keep up with these changes.

Step 5: Dig Through Intelligence Events

Intelligence events help you to better understand what segments might be causing the conversion drop. Is one traffic source causing an overall conversion rate drop? Is your website not yet mobile responsive?

These events are also known as automatic alerts.

It is a good idea to set up your own custom alerts as well. Follow these instructions to get this to work:

1. Navigate to your admin page
2. Select the view for which you like to set up your custom alert
3. Click on custom alerts (it is located under personal tools & assets)
4. Click on new alert
5. Fill in the alert details

Please see an example below:

You have many different options. Let’s look at each of them:

• Custom alerts for one or more views simultaneously
• Period: day, week or month
• Email trigger: email address for login and others if desired
• Text message (United States only)
• Custom alert for all traffic or specific segment
• Six different condition settings
• Compare data for different periods: day, week, month and year

Step 6: Analyze Your Traffic Channels

Is there a huge decline in the number of visitors coming from one channel? If this channel brings highly targeted visitors, it could lead to a drop in conversion rate.

Pay close attention to your traffic sources. And find out whether there is an overall conversion rate drop or not.

It might work well to set up custom reports or intelligence events to easily monitor these conversion rate changes by channel.

Step 7: Segment Your Conversion Rate

Like mentioned before, always drill down and look at a deeper level when a conversion rate suddenly drops.

I tend to look at these reports first:

• Conversion rate and traffic per traffic source
• Conversion rate and traffic for three main devices: mobile, tablet and desktop
• Conversion rate and traffic for top landing pages
• Conversion rate and traffic for top browsers
• Conversion rate and traffic for regions (for international campaigns)

There are several ways to segment your data.

This post might come in handy:

• Advanced segments vs. profile filters

Step 8: Look at Stock Levels

This step is very important if you are running an ecommerce shop. Sending traffic to sold out products is not going to help your conversion rate.

Take a look at your stock levels and see if there is a problem with your stock.

Two ways to deal with this issue:

• Redirect this product page to a similar product page if your product is out of stock for a longer time
• Stop sending paid traffic to this page (organic traffic is more difficult to control)

This is it! I am sure that these steps help you uncover any conversion rate drops. And even more important, the information helps you to get back on track!

How do you deal with a conversion rate drop? Any tips to share?

The post How to Analyze a Conversion Rate Drop in 8 Steps appeared first on Online Metrics.