Zen and the Art of Optimization
“Out of Water” Optimization Ideas to up Your Team’s Game
ℹ️ INTENDED READING AUDIENCE – DIRECTORS AND ABOVE
Have you ever read something in a magazine or book, or seen an idea online or on TV, and said to yourself, “That’s a great idea! Why didn’t I think of that??” Or maybe you attended an industry conference recently and heard another company present an idea that seemed so obvious that you couldn’t believe your team is not doing the same thing! Most of us want to be the person bringing in the high impact ideas that move the business needle. And at the same time, we get frustrated when we are not the ones to introduce the idea, and then often think to ourselves, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Well, don’t be too hard on yourself. I have pulled together a list of Optimization ideas, such as leveraging CPD audiences as well as testing an entirely new Registration flow, that could potentially be game changers not only for your business, but more importantly for the value that your Optimization Director and his or her team are adding to the broader organization.
But first, a bit of Zen…
There’s a Zen story that goes something like this. It starts with the question “does a fish know it is in water?” The idea is that fish don’t know that they are in water, mainly because they have known no other condition than being in water. How does this relate to this article? It is not always easy to see these ideas when you are heads down and familiar with everything that is going on around you in your company and with your team. Sometimes we are so busy, we don’t have the time to look outside of our own team’s work! This is the exact water that the Zen analogy above is referencing.
So, let’s dive into the nitty gritty here! Here are “out of water” ideas that you can take to your Director of Optimization and ask:
❓Are we doing this?
❓And if not, when can we start?
And if your team cannot implement these ideas either for some technical limitation or business restriction, then the conversations around these ideas should lead to more ideas!!
I’ll present the ideas below in the following format:
What you read/heard
Desired Outcome
Integrations Required
Level of Effort
Example
CDP AUDIENCES
“I heard about a company that is using CDP audiences to optimize online subscription sales!”
Desired outcome – Increased revenue
Integrations Required – Testing tool, Analytics tool, and CDP platform
Level of Effort – Medium to High depending upon state of CDP integration
Example – Another tool within your company contains subscriber product information. You want to leverage that data to cross-sell additional subscriptions to those audiences.
ALWAYS ON A/B TEST
“I read that I can run an A/B test indefinitely to maximize revenue!”
Desired outcome – Increased revenue
Integrations Required – Testing tool with Auto Allocate feature enabled
Level of Effort – Low
Example – You are running an A/B test with 2 variants, the control which is your current site content and then the test experience. You want to keep the test live for as long as possible and want the testing tool to dynamically update the traffic allocation to the test variant that is performing better.
NEW REGISTRATION FLOW
“I heard a company A/B tested a completely new registration flow online!”
Desired outcome – Increased registrations
Integrations Required – Testing tool, Analytics tool
Level of Effort – Medium
Example – Usability testing has identified gaps in the current online registration flow and you want to A/B test those findings. A new two part registration process contains additional key data inputs as well as removing data inputs that were causing fallouts in the process. This new flow will be A/B tested against the current one page process.
METER/PAYWALL COUNTS
“I was at a conference and overheard a senior leader say that they successfully A/B tested their online meter count for article paywall stops!”
Desired outcome – Increased Revenue
Integrations Required – Testing tool, Analytics tool
Level of Effort – Low
Example – Your site has a current meter of three before the article paywall appears asking with the Subscription call to action. You want to test a meter count of two as you have a hypothesis that states the change will increase subscriptions.
LEVERAGING OFFLINE STORE DATA
“I just found out that one of our competitors uses in-store coupon data for their Optimization program on their website!”
Desired outcome – Increased Revenue
Integrations Required – Testing tool, Analytics tool, 3rd Party Data integration
Level of Effort – High
Example – Your customer data team has collected millions of user profiles including coupons issued in the stores. You want to target those customers by reminding them and making it easier for them to use those coupons while browsing your website.
SITE-WIDE NAVIGATION
“I visited Amazon today, and I swear the navigation is completely different than it was yesterday. What is going on?!”
Desired outcome – Enhanced customer experience
Integrations Required – Testing tool, Analytics tool
Level of Effort – Medium to High
Example – Your team has both usability data and analytics data that is suggested that customers are having issues finding products on the site using the site-wide navigation. You have an idea for a new design and layout for the navigation, and you want to A/B test against the current navigation.
It’s difficult to see outside the box sometimes. We’re extremely busy, not only in our professional lives but also in our personal lives. Taking time to get “out of the water” and look around is extremely valuable. The results will be apparent in no time. You will be bringing impactful ideas to your company which will not only drive business results, it will also make you and your Optimization and Analytics teams even more valuable to your organization.
HIGH LEVEL TAKE AWAYS
Realize that sometimes we are like fish in water at work. It takes diligent effort to look outside the water for other Optimization ideas
Not all impactful Optimization ideas are High LOE
Don’t rule out using 3rd party data and/or CDP audiences
Really pay attention to your browsing and shopping experiences on other sites and look for Optimization ideas – they are plentiful!
When you attend industry conferences, check out what other companies are testing on their site
Last tip – devote 20 minutes a day at the same time everyday to look “outside of the water”
As always, I hope that you were able to take away an idea or two that you can share with your Director of Optimization and his or her team.
Happy Testing!!!
Jason
