Chapter 7 - Simple Testing Concepts

[Diamond Website Conversion]

Will A/B or multivariate testing be more effective in optimizing your website?

While there are plenty of proponents on both sides of the fence, this really isn’t the right question to ask. It displays a misunderstanding of the nature of testing by pitting tools designed to accomplish different tasks against each other.

A better question might be “Given the goals of my website optimization strategy, which tool will help me accomplish those goals most effectively?”

While the difference is subtle, it’s important to realize that the two types of testing are not diametrically opposed to one another. Instead, they are tools designed to perform different jobs.

Neither one can be 100% effective in every situation. Your choice of tools will depend on what your optimization goals are, what you know and don’t know, and what information you need to propel you forward. How should this shift in thinking affect the way your marketing team approaches website optimization and the testing options discussed in this chapter?

[Anne]

This reminds me of the saying about 1/2 of advertising working, just what half was not known.

I like how this addresses the need to work on what you know as most of us think we do, and more importantly what we do not know. Why do people buy from this web page and not this one? When we optimize this page it works, for the other page it does not work.

Yes, the method(s) of testing will certainly play a big factor in what we are trying to determine, and most importantly how we intend to replicate it for website optimization.