A roundup of all the things to help you maintain a competitive edge in experience design and conversion optimisation. With examples of companies putting this stuff together, the tools they are using and their project management approaches, this presentation delves deeper into the cultural aspects of CRO.
12. #1 : Fix your broken Analytics!
@OptimiseOrDie
13. #1 : Fix your broken Analytics!
@OptimiseOrDie
14. #1 : Common problems (GA)
• Dual purpose goal page
– One page used by two outcomes – and not split
• Cross domain tracking
– Where you jump between sites, this borks the data
• Filters not correctly set up
– Your office, agencies, developers are skewing data
• Code missing or double code
– Causes visit splitting, double pageviews, skews bounce rate
• Campaign, Social, Email tracking etc.
– External links you generate are not setup to record properly
• Errors not tracked (404, 5xx, Other)
– You are unaware of error volumes, locations and impact
• Dual flow funnels
– Flows join in the middle of a funnel or loop internally
• Event tracking skews bounce rate
– If an event is set to be „interactive‟ – it can skew bounce rate (example)
@OptimiseOrDie
15. #1 : Solutions
• Get a Health Check for your Analytics
– Try @prwd, @danbarker, @peter_oneill or ask me!
• Invest continually in instrumentation
– Aim for at least 5% of dev time to fix + improve
• Stop shrugging : plug your insight gaps
– Change „I don‟t know‟ to „I‟ll find out‟
• Look at event tracking (Google Analytics)
– If set up correctly, you get wonderful insights
• Would you use paper instead of a till?
– You wouldn‟t do it in retail so stop doing it online!
• How do you win F1 races?
– With the wrong performance data, you won‟t
@OptimiseOrDie
16. #2 : Get the right inputs
Insight - Inputs
Opinion
Cherished
notions
Marketing
whims
Cosmic rays
Not ‘on
brand’
enough
Ego
IT
inflexibility
Panic
Internal
company
needs
#FAIL
Competitor
change
An article
the CEO
read
Some
dumbass
consultant
Competitor
copying
Dice rolling
Guessing
Knee jerk
reactons
Shiny
feature
blindness
@OptimiseOrDie
17. #2 : Get the right inputs
Insight - Inputs
Usability
testing
Forms
analytics
Search
analytics
Voice of
Customer
Market
research
Eye tracking
Customer
contact
A/B and
MVT testing
Big &
unstructured
data
Insight
Social
analytics
Session
Replay
Web
analytics
Segmentation
Sales and
Call Centre
Surveys
Customer
services
Competitor
evals
@OptimiseOrDie
18. #2 : Solutions
• Usability testing and User Centred design
– If you‟re not doing this properly, you‟re hosed
• Champion UX+ - with added numbers
– (Re)designing without inputs + numbers is
guessing
• You need one team on this, not silos
– Stop handing round the baby (I‟ll come back to
this)
• Ego, Opinion, Cherished notions – fill gaps
– Fill these vacuums with insights and data
• Champion the users
– Someone needs to take their side!
• You need multiple tool inputs
– Let me show you my shortlist…
@OptimiseOrDie
19. #3 : Get the right tools
Insight - Inputs
@OptimiseOrDie
20. 3.1 - Session Replay
•
•
•
•
•
Vital for optimisers & fills in a ‘missing link’ for insight
Rich source of data on visitor experiences
Segment by browser, visitor type, behaviour, errors
Forms Analytics (when instrumented) are awesome
Can be used to optimise in real time!
Session replay tools
• Clicktale (Client)
• SessionCam (Client)
• Mouseflow (Client)
• Ghostrec (Client)
• Usabilla (Client)
• Tealeaf (Hybrid)
• UserReplay (Server)
www.clicktale.com
www.sessioncam.com
www.mouseflow.com
www.ghostrec.com
www.usabilla.com
www.tealeaf.com
www.userreplay.com
@OptimiseOrDie
23. 3.2 - Feedback / VOC tools
•
•
•
•
Anything that allows immediate realtime onpage feedback
Comments on elements, pages and overall site & service
Can be used for behavioural triggered feedback
Tip! : Take the Call Centre for beers
• Kampyle
www.kampyle.com
• Qualaroo
www.qualaroo.com
• 4Q
4q.iperceptions.com
• Usabilla
www.usabilla.com
24. 3.3 - Survey Tools
• Surveymonkey
• Zoomerang
• SurveyGizmo
www.surveymonkey.com
www.zoomerang.com
www.surveygizmo.com
(1/5)
(3/5)
(5/5)
• For surveys, web forms, checkouts, lead gen – anything with
form filling – you have to read these two:
Caroline Jarrett (@cjforms)
Luke Wroblewski (@lukew)
• With their work and copywriting from @stickycontent, I
managed to get a survey with a 35% clickthrough from email
and a whopping 94% form completion rate.
• Their awesome insights are the killer app I have when
optimising forms and funnel processes for clients.
@OptimiseOrDie
25. 3.4 - UX Crowd tools
Som, feedback
Remote UX tools (P=Panel, S=Site recruited, B=Both)
Usertesting (B)
www.usertesting.com
Userlytics (B)
www.userlytics.com
Userzoom (S)
www.userzoom.com
Intuition HQ (S)
www.intuitionhq.com
Mechanical turk (S)
www.mechanicalturk.com
Loop11 (S)
www.loop11.com
Open Hallway (S)
www.openhallway.com
What Users Do (P)
www.whatusersdo.com
Feedback army (P)
www.feedbackarmy.com
User feel (P)
www.userfeel.com
Ethnio (For Recruiting)
www.ethnio.com
Feedback on Prototypes / Mockups
Pidoco
Verify from Zurb
Five second test
Conceptshare
Usabilla
www.pidoco.com
www.verifyapp.com
www.fivesecondtest.com
www.conceptshare.com
www.usabilla.com
25
37. 3.7 – Split test funnies
• Many tests fail due to QA or browser bugs
– Always do cross browser QA testing – see resources
• Don’t rely on developers saying ‘yes’
– Use your analytics to define the list to test
• Cross instrument your analytics
– You need this to check the test software works
• Store the variant(s) seen in analytics
– Compare people who saw A/B/A vs. A/B/B
• Segment your data to find variances
– Failed tests usually show differences for segments
• Watch the test and analytics CLOSELY
– After you go live, religiously check both
– Read this article : stanford.io/15UYov0
@OptimiseOrDie
38. #3 : Summary – the minimum!
• Session replay tools
– Clicktale, Tealeaf, Sessioncam and more…
• Cheap / Crowdsourced usability testing
– See the list in this deck
• Voice of Customer / Feedback tools
– 4Q, Kampyle, Qualaroo, Usabilla and
more…
• A/B and Multivariate testing
– Optimizely, Google Content Experiments,
VWO
• Email, Browser and Mobile Device Testing
– You don‟t know if it works unless you check
@OptimiseOrDie
40. Methodologies - Lean UX
“The application of UX design methods into product
development, tailored to fit Build-Measure-Learn cycles.”
Positive
–
–
–
–
–
–
Lightweight and very fast methods
Realtime or rapid improvements
Documentation light, value high
Low on wastage and frippery
Fast time to market, then optimise
Allows you to pivot into new areas
Negative
– Often needs user test feedback to
steer the development, as data not
enough
– Bosses distrust stuff where the
outcome isn’t known
@OptimiseOrDie
41. Agile UX / UCD / Collaborative Design
“An integration of User Experience Design and Agile*
Software Development Methodologies”
*Sometimes
Research
Positive
– User centric
– Goals met substantially
– Rapid time to market (especially when
using Agile iterations)
Negative
– Without quant data, user goals can
drive the show – missing the business
sweet spot
– Some people find it hard to integrate
with siloed teams
– Doesn’t’ work with waterfall IMHO
Wireframe
Concept
Analyse
Prototype
Test
@OptimiseOrDie
43. Lean Conversion Optimisation
“A blend of User Experience Design, Agile PM, Rapid Lean UX
Build-Measure-Learn cycles, triangulated data sources, triage
and prioritisation.”
Positive
– A blend of several techniques
– Multiple sources of Qual and Quant data aids triangulation
– CRO analytics focus drives unearned value inside all
products
Negative
– Needs a one team approach with a strong PM who is a
Polymath (Commercial, Analytics, UX, Technical)
– Only works if your teams can take the pace – you might be
surprised though!
@OptimiseOrDie
45. #4 : Solutions – Agile
• Design your own methodology
Experiment and optimise with your team
• Don’t be a slave
The methodology is the slave, not your master
• Ask me later…
Questions – see me on Twitter, G+ or ask by mail
• Collaborative working
– Harvard study into teams – it‟s an „all the time’
thing
@OptimiseOrDie
46. #5 : Build a volume testing culture
@OptimiseOrDie
47. #5 : Common issues
• How many tests do you complete a month?
– Without volume, you won‟t get as much attention or traction
• Vanity testing takes hold
– Getting one test done a quarter? Still showing it a year later?
• Not enough resource
– You MUST hire, invest and ringfence time and staff for CRO
• Testing has gone to sleep
– Some vendors have a „rescue‟ team for these accounts
• You keep testing without buyin at C-Level
– If nobody sees the flower, was it there?
• You haven’t got a process – just a plugin
– Insight, Brainstorm, Wireframe, Design, Build, QA test, Monitor,
Analyse. Tools, Process, People, Time -> INVEST
• IT or release barriers slow down work
– Circumvent with tagging tools
– Develop ways around the innovation barrier
@OptimiseOrDie
48. #5 : Testing Culture tips
• Gamble in the office
– Encourage betting in the office
– Get people to make a prediction, get them hooked
• Put BIG pictures on the wall
– Make people stop and ask questions
– Encourage betting in the office
• Market the results like a pro
– Market this stuff internally like a PR agency
– Send emails around, put on the intranet, optimise internally
• Offer a company wide prize
–
–
–
–
–
Offer a prize for best hypothesis that makes it to a test
Do a monthly or quarterly award – make it visible
A great incentive to come up with provable, winning ideas
Do NOT limit to the testing team
Run a TESTATHON to generate bulk ideas
@OptimiseOrDie
50. #6 : Execution problems
• Silo Mentality means pass the product
– No „one team‟ approach means no „one product‟
• The process is badly designed
– It‟s set up to introduce delays or loops of tweaking
• People mistake hypotheses for finals
– Endless argument, tweaking means NO TESTING – let the
test decide, please!
• No clarity : authority or decision making
– You need a strong leader to get things decided
• Signoff takes far too long
– Signoff by committee is a velocity killer – the CUSTOMER
and the NUMBERS are the signoff
• You set your target too low
– Aim for a high target and keep increasing it
@OptimiseOrDie
51. #6 : Execution solutions
• Agile, One Team approach
– Everyone works on the lifecycle, together
• Hire Polymaths
– T-shaped or just multi-skilled, I hire them a lot
• Use Collaborative Tools, not meetings
– Speeds up time to decide, iterate, resolve, remove defects
• Smash down silos – a special mission
–
–
–
–
Involve the worst offenders in the hypothesis team
“Hold your friends close, and your enemies closer”
Work WITH the developers to find solutions
Ask Developers and IT for solutions, not apologies
@OptimiseOrDie
52. #6 : Product cycles are too
long
Conversion
0
6
12
18
Months
@OptimiseOrDie
53. #6 : Solutions
• Give Priority Boarding for opportunities
– The best seats reserved for metric shifters
• Release more often to close the gap
– More testing resource helps, analytics „hawk eye‟
• Kaizen – continuous improvement
– Others call it JFDI (just f***ing do it)
• Make changes AS WELL as tests, basically!
– These small things add up
• RUSH Hair booking – Over 100 changes
– No functional changes at all – 37% improvement
• Inbetween product lifecycles?
– The added lift for 10 days work, worth 360k
@OptimiseOrDie
55. #7 – Get Experienced
•
Persuasion / Influence /
Direction / Explanation
•
Helps people process
information and stories
•
Vital to sell an
„experience‟
•
Helps people recognise
and discriminate
between things
•
Supports Scanning Visitors
•
Drives emotional
response
short.cx/YrBczl
24 Jan 2012
56. Photo UX
•
Very powerful and under-estimated area
•
I‟ve done over 20M visitor tests with people
images for a service industry – some tips:
•
The person, pose, eye gaze, facial
expressions and body language – cause
visceral emotional reactions and big
changes in behaviour
•
Eye gaze crucial – to engage you or to
„point‟
24 Jan 2012
57. Photo UX
• Negative body language is a turnoff
• Uniforms and branding a positive (ball cap)
• Hands are hard to handle – use a prop to
help
• For Ecommerce – tip! test bigger images!
• Autoglass and Belron always use real
people
• In most countries (out of 33) with strong
female and male images in test, female
wins
• Smile and authenticity in these examples is
absolutely vital
• So, I have a question for you
@OptimiseOrDie
62. #8 : Get Multichannel
• Not using call tracking
– Look at Infinity Tracking (UK)
– Get Google keyword level call volumes!
• You don’t measure channel switchers
– People who bail a funnel and call
– People who use chat, go to store, use ringback, email etc.
• You ‘forget’ mobile & tablet journeys
– Walk the path from search -> ppc/seo -> site
– Optimise for all your device mix & journeys
• You’re responsive
– Testing may now bleed across device platforms
– Changing in one place may impact many others
– QA, Device and Browser testing even more vital
@OptimiseOrDie
63. #8 : Multichannel – cross device
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
One reason conversion is lower is channel jumps
You need to try and glue this together
Don’t rely on amazing analytics promises
If you don’t have a strategy here, you need one
You need to think about identifying the customer
At every touch point and micro or macro interaction
Loyalty, marketing, wifi, incentives, geo, instore = glue
What’s your strategy on post identification?
Do you rewrite the data or just ignore it?
@OptimiseOrDie
64. #9 : Get Segmented on Testing
• Averages lie
– What about new vs. returning visitors?
– What about different keyword groups?
– Landing pages? Routes? Attributes
• Failed tests are just ‘averaged out’
– You must look at segment level data
– You must integrate the analytics + a/b test software
• The downside?
– You‟ll need more test data – to segment
• The upside?
– Helps figure out why test didn‟t perform
– Finds value in failed or „no difference‟ tests
– Drives further testing focus
@OptimiseOrDie
65. #10 : Get stats training
• Many testers & marketing people struggle
–
–
–
–
–
How long will it take to run the test?
Is the test ready?
How long should I keep it running for?
It says it‟s ready after 3 days – is it?
Can we close it now – the numbers look great!
• A/B testing maths for dummies:
– http://bit.ly/15UXLS4
• For more advanced testers:
– Read this : http://bit.ly/1a4iJ1H
• A stats course would be handy:
– A decent guide for testing or marketing pros
– Watch this space…
@OptimiseOrDie
66. #11 : Hire and retain great analysts…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Long topic – mail me for killer questions
Pay above market rates – 10k less is not ROI
Don‟t make them into report monkeys
Find a knowledge sharer and trainer!
Let them solve business problems
Invest in the analytics, people, continually
Pay extra for specialist help
Give staff direct outcome connections
Freedom to grow and learn is vital
Help them fix broken stuff!
@OptimiseOrDie
67. SUMMARY : The best Companies….
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
See the Maturity Model in the resource pack
Invest continually in analytics instrumentation, tools, people
Use an Agile, iterative, cross-silo, one team project culture
Prefer collaborative tools to having lots of meetings
Prioritise development based on numbers and insight
Practice real continuous product improvement, not SLED
Source photos and content that support persuasion and utility
Have cross channel, cross device design, testing and QA
Segment their data for valuable insights, every test or change
Continually reduce cycle (iteration) time in their process
Blend ‘long’ design, continuous improvement AND split tests
Make optimisation the engine of change, not the slave of ego
@OptimiseOrDie
68. So you want examples?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Belron
Dell
Shop Direct
Expedia
Schuh
TSR Group
Soundcloud
• Gov.uk
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Ed Colley
Nazli Yuzak
Paul Postance (now with EE)
Oliver Paton
Stuart McMillan
Pete Taylor
Eleftherios Diakomichalis &
Ole Bahlmann
Adam Bailin (now with the BBC)
Read the gov.uk principles : www.gov.uk/designprinciples
And my personal favourites of 2013 – Airbnb and Expensify
#PRWDReveal
69. #12 : Do things that don‟t scale
• World Economic Forum‟s Technology Pioneers 2014
• Zero to $3Bn in 5 years – servicing a Wembley every
night
@OptimiseOrDie
• FREE Professional Photography
72. Do things that don‟t scale:
“It‟s better to have 100
people love you experience
than
Create the perfect
1,000,000 need to do
however you like you” it and
Brian Chesky, CEO, experience.
then scale thatAirbnb
It‟s creating an experience. And
then its multiplying them. Too
many people start with „how
many you sell‟ and then they try
to make it better.
Brian Chesky, CEO, Airbnb
@OptimiseOrDie
73. If it isn‟t working, you‟re not doing it right
@OptimiseOrDie
74. Optimise Or Die
• Unless you have a dominant natural or physical
advantage, the playing field is open to anyone.
• Unfettered customer ratings and comments are here to
stay : Think “Net Promoter Score on Steroids”
• Market leaders like Nokia, Blackberry, Best Buy, Borders,
The Washington Post and Blockbuster all got hit – why
not you?
• One investor asks new startups : “What if Amazon did
your thing?”
• Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, Lovefilm, Spotify and Google
(Analytics) are excellent examples of innovation
competition.
• You must design and scale an amazing customer
experience to win
• If your competitor is doing this stuff, you‟ll have to spend
MUCH more to beat them.
@OptimiseOrDie
79. Level 1
Level 2
Starter Level
Culture
Early maturity
Local Heroes
Small team
Low hanging fruit
Chaotic Good
Level 3
Serious testing
Dedicated team
Volume
opportunities
Level 4
Core business value
Cross silo team
Systematic tests
Level 5
You rock, awesomely
Ninja Team
Testing in the
DNA
________________________________________________________________________
Company wide
Ad Hoc
Well developed
Streamlined
Process
_____________________ _ Outline process
________________________________________________________________________
+Spread tool use
+Funnel
+Cross channel
_______________________+ Multi variate
Guessing
optimisation
testing
Testing
focus
A/B testing
Basic tools
Session replay
No segments
Call tracking
Some segments
Micro testing
Integrated CRO
and analytics
Segmentation
Dynamic adaptive
targeting
Machine learning
Realtime
________________________________________________________________________
Multichannel
+ offline
+
Bounce rates
+ Funnel fixes
________________________Funnel analysis
funnels
integration
Analytics
Low converting
focus
Big volume
landing pages
& High loss pages
Forms analytics
Channel switches
Single channel
picture
Cross channel
synergy
+User Centered
Design
Layered feedback
Mini product tests
scores tied to UX
Rapid iterative
testing and
design
of customer
Driving offline
using online
All promotion
driven by testing
________________________________________________________________________
________________________
+ All channel view
+Regular usability
Analytics
+ Customer sat
Insight
methods
Surveys
Contact Centre
Low budget
usability
testing/research
Prototyping
Session replay
Onsite feedback
_________________________________________________________________________
Continual
79
Get buyin
Scale the testing
Mine value
Mission
_______________________ Prove ROI
improvement
80. 5 - Triage and Triangulation
“This is where the smarts of CRO are – in identifying the
easiest stuff to test or fix that will drive the largest uplift.”
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Starts with the analytics data
Then UX and user journey walkthrough from SERPS -> key paths
Then back to analytics data for a whole range of reports:
Segmented reporting, Traffic sources, Device viewport and
browser, Platform (tablet, mobile, desktop) and many more
We use other tools or insight sources to help form hypotheses
We triangulate with other data where possible
We estimate the potential uplift of fixing/improving something
as well as the difficulty (time/resource/complexity/risk)
A simple quadrant shows the value clusters
We then WORK the highest and easiest scores by…
Turning every opportunity spotted into an OUTCOME
80
81. 5 - The Bucket Methodology
“Helps you to stream actions from the insights and prioritisation work.
Forces an action for every issue, a counter for every opportunity being lost.”
Test
Instrument
If there is an obvious opportunity to shift behaviour, expose insight or
increase conversion – this bucket is where you place stuff for testing. If
you have traffic and leakage, this is the bucket for that issue.
If an issue is placed in this bucket, it means we need to beef up the
analytics reporting. This can involve fixing, adding or improving tag or
event handling on the analytics configuration. We instrument both
structurally and for insight in the pain points we’ve found.
Hypothesise
This is where we’ve found a page, widget or process that’s just not working
well but we don’t see a clear single solution. Since we need to really shift
the behaviour at this crux point, we’ll brainstorm hypotheses. Driven by
evidence and data, we’ll create test plans to find the answers to the
questions and change the conversion or KPI figure in the desired direction.
Just Do It
JFDI (Just Do It) – is a bucket for issues where a fix is easy to identify or the
change is a no-brainer. Items marked with this flag can either be deployed
in a batch or as part of a controlled test. Stuff in here requires low effort
or are micro-opportunities to increase conversion and should be fixed.
Investigate
You need to do some testing with particular devices or need more
information to triangulate a problem you spotted. If an item is in this
bucket, you need to ask questions or do further digging. 81
82. 5 - Belron example – Funnel replacement
Final
prototype
Usability
issues left
Final changes
Release build
Legal review
kickoff
Instrument
analytics
Signoff
(Legal,
Mktng, CCC)
Test Plan
Marketing
review
Cust services
review kickoff
Instrument
Contact
Centre
Offline
tagging
QA testing
End-End
testing
Launch
90/10%
Go live 100%
Launch
50/50%
Monitor < 1
week
Launch
80/20%
Monitor
Analytics
review
Washup and
actions
New
hypotheses
New test
design
Rinse and
Repeat!
84. END SLIDES
Feel free to steal, re-use, appropriate or otherwise lift
stuff from this deck.
If it was useful to you – email me or tweet me and tell me
why – I’d be DELIGHTED to hear!
Cheers,
Craig.
84
Notes de l'éditeur
“A piece of paper with your design mockup. A customer in a shop or bookstore. Their finger is their mouse, the paper their screen. Where would they click? Do they know what these labels mean? Do they see the major routes out of the page? Any barriers.Congratulations, you just got feedback on your design, before writing a single freaking line of code or asking your developers to keep changing stuff.”
This stuff is important. What do photographs do?Well they help me persuade people, influence their thinking, give them directions or cues and explain things – this is the scanning generation!And they’re very powerful when selling experiences, stories or using the power of social proofThey help people very quickly (more quickly than reading) discriminate, evaluate – work out what stuff is, how it’s organized, what the things are, what’s being shown to you.And most importantly, they drive emotional response in people. Whether you like being soggy, wet and without toilet paper for a 30 mile radius or not, a picture like this gets a RESPONSE! Work it!Lastly, a shout out to James Chudley, who’s book this example comes from.
So this is quite a powerful area – what about people images?I’ve tested quite a few of these – in over 20 countries and over 15 languages. What did I find?Well - the person, pose, eye gaze, facial expressions and body language – cause visceral emotional reactions and big changes in behaviour. The difference between a crappy image and one optimised to get the right response is huge.And one interesting thing Eye gaze is pretty crucial – to engage you, the viewer, or to ‘point’ or draw eye gaze and attention to a product. I’ve tested all angles of viewing and in these people images, the best view is straight at the viewer or slightly away. Any further and the conversion rate drops. It makes a difference I can count.
Add unique phone numbers to all your mobile sites and apps. That’s for starters.Then configure your analytics to collect data when people Click or Tap to make a phone call.Make sure you add other events like ringbacks, email, chat – any web forms or lead gen activity too.
Tomorrow - Go forth and kick their flabby low converting asses