Chris Goward's Blog, page 15

How Sport Chek is getting more value out of its value proposition

Reading Time: 2 minutes

TL;DR Canada’s largest sporting goods retailer has a multi-faceted optimization program, but two recent tests revealed impactful insights about the company’s ‘Free Shipping’ value proposition. Read the full case study here.

The Company

Sport Chek is Canada’s largest national retailer of sporting goods, footwear and apparel. We partnered with Sport Chek just over a year ago and have been working together to optimize their e-commerce experiences, with the goal of increasi...

The top 3 mistakes that make your A/B test results invalid

Reading Time: 9 minutesA few weeks ago, a Fortune 500 company asked that I review their A/B testing strategy.

The results were good, the hypotheses strong, everything seemed to be in order… until I looked at the log of changes in their testing tool.

I noticed several blunders: in some experiments, they had adjusted the traffic allocation for the variations mid-experiment; some variations had been paused for a few days, then resumed; and experiments were stopped as soon as statistical signific...

How to navigate the murky waters of marketing ROI

Reading Time: 6 minutes“What are the best marketing channels to invest in for my business?”

As a marketer, this is a question you’ve probably mulled over, over and over again.

And it all comes down to Return on Investment (ROI). You should spend your marketing dollars on the strategy or strategies that you can prove will get you the biggest bang for your buck.

Yes, yesterday’s CMO was about communications, branding, and advertising. Today, the CMO is a strategic partner to the CEO, someone e...

A day in the life of an optimization champion

Reading Time: 9 minutesHow do you make conversion optimization a priority within a global organization?

Especially, when there are so many other things you could spend your marketing dollars on?

And how do you keep multiple marketing teams aligned when it comes to your optimization efforts?

These are some of the challenges facing Jose Uzcategui, Global Analytics and Ecommerce Conversion Lead at ASICS, and Sarah Breen, Global Ecommerce Product Lead at ASICS.

ASICS, a global sporting goods ret...

I feel, therefore I buy: How your users make buying decisions

Reading Time: 6 minutes

On Sunday, June 19, the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The franchise, founded in 1970, had never won an NBA championship.

A few weeks after the Cavs’ victory, Nike released a spot called “Worth the Wait”.

As of this article being published, the video on YouTube has over 5.6 million views.

Every time I watch this video, my throat tightens and I tear up a little. I’m not from Ohio (in fact, I’m from a notorious rival state...

The one segment you probably aren’t (but should be) looking at

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Let’s say you’re segmenting traffic to your website.

You’re segmenting traffic because, in a digital world brimming over with messages, you want to make sure that the messaging on your site is Relevant to the right user at the right time.

And segmentation allows for personalization.

You believe that a more customized user experience will lead to more orders, demo requests, phone calls etc. So, you have structures in place to deliver appropriate messages to your differe...

How to be a heavy hitter in enterprise e-commerce CRO

Reading Time: 8 minutesThere was a time when simply launching an A/B test was a big deal.

I remember my first test. It was a lead gen form. I completely redesigned it. I learned nothing. And it felt like I was on top of the world.

Today, things are different, especially if you’re a major e-commerce company doing high-volume conversion optimization in a team setting. The demands have shifted; the expectations are far greater. New tools are being created to solve new problems.

So what does it...

Tips and tactics for A/B testing on AngularJS apps

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Alright, folks, this week we’re getting technical.

This post is geared toward Web Developers who’re working in conversion optimization, specifically those who are testing on AngularJS (or who are trying to test on AngularJS).

Angular, while allowing for more dynamic web applications, presents a problem for optimization on the development side.

It basically throws a wrench in the whole “I’m trying to show you a variation instead of the original webpage without you kno...

59 words and phrases that convert (and how to use ’em)

Reading Time: 17 minutesLet’s talk about words that convert users.

It’s what every marketer is after, after all: those magic beans…err…words that transform visitors into customers.

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Hold up. Did you click that banner? Because I’d like to take a look at that call-to-action (CTA).

“You should take our free Optimization Maturity Quiz instantly because it’s new!”

Theoretically, the above call-to-action should get a zillion clicks because it includes the 5 most persuasive words in the English lang...

How to A/B test for long-term success (don’t underestimate insights!)

Reading Time: 6 minutesImagine you’re a factory manager.

You’re under pressure from your new boss to produce big results this quarter. (Results were underwhelming last quarter). You have a good team with high-end equipment, and can meet her demands if you ramp up your production speed over the coming months.

You’re eager to impress her and you know if you reduce the time you spend on machine maintenance you can make up for the lacklustre results from last quarter.

Flash forward: The end of...