Chapter 11 - Understanding What To Test

[Diamond Website Conversion]

As you read through this recap of the testing cycle presented in Part One, what points stood out to you as having the greatest impact on your current view of testing as opposed to how you viewed the process in the past?

My greatest shift in thinking was understanding that all tests can be valuable, even if the results don’t show me an increase in conversions. The goal is not necessarily to achieve positive results every time, but rather to learn something about my customers and the way they interact with my website, thereby propelling me forward to finding a better way to meet their needs and keep them coming back.

Also, I appreciated the timely reminder to compare apples to apples, enabling test results to show meaningful results that pinpoint precisely what changes will bring about the greatest improvement in overall conversion.

[Anne]

My shift in thinking came about with how the test begins. The goal of your test is critical - what are you trying to learn about your customers?

Similar to many projects - the preparation is a huge part of the job. What nugget of information are you trying to obtain? What do you want to reveal? How do you expect to interpret the results?

Testing with clearly defined goals by spending a lot of time defining your goals in the beginning will help, and save time, when interpreting the results.