WEEK 2: Testing for success
This week through the reading for Chatham University's Graduate class, Global Marketing, I was most impressed with the myriad of ways that user
experience may be tested and tracked. Four methods were discussed in Stokes
chapter 15.4:
- A/B split testing: a business may test one variable at a time to gauge success and traffic is randomly routed to one page or another-will it affect the ultimate conversion rate if I move the “Donate Now!” button from center to the right hand side? It is interesting to imagine the small changes that you might encounter when visiting a site from different IP addresses or browsers.
- Multivariate testing: Lots of changes may be tested at the same time. Tracking for significance of these alterations may necessitate the assistance of an outside vendor.
- Listening Labs: Watch, listen & learn how users interact with your site. It may not be the experience you envision it to be…
- Single page heat maps: This fascinating tool allows a business to have a true mapping of a consumer’s journey through their web site, page by page. Each touch is mapped.
The two most fascinating to me are the Listening Labs and
the Heat Maps. My initial thought regarding an in house listening lab is that
the experience may not yield real world results. Will consumers or employees
act as they would in their own homes? Are the results unbiased? In his book, “Don’t Make Me Think” Steve
Krug (Steve Krug, New Riders, 2014) reveals that we (users) do not act
logically, we scan, we do not make the best (logical) choices and we do not
always work to figure out how things work. Krug’s observations have revealed lessons
to be incorporated into success for site design. Heat Maps are visual, this has great appeal
to those of us who’s eyes glaze over when there is a bit too much technical
talk floating around….This would be a great tool for those who have GOMC
clients who’s web site home pages are one long scrolling page. Where do
visitors stop scrolling?
Most helpful this session was the Google videos (202:Tools
to Build Ads and Advanced Ad types) that focused on troubleshooting- what if I
cannot see my ad? What if it isn’t running-why is that happening? As I have not
begun to actually play with Google Adwords, it seems incredibly complicated to
the uninitiated. Having this tool to attempt diagnosis is helpful as are the
tools referenced in 302: Bidding Tools and Adwords Campaign Experiments. This
section gives some great tips for those times when you are simply overwhelmed
with the possibilities of optimization. Google provides suggestions related to
topics such as keywords, budget, and competition comparison.
My goals from the last writing focused on client goals. The
expert presentation that began the week, Sara Peduzzi from Lunametrics,
had some targeted questions to keep this in the forefront as I go forward. What
are the client’s goals? This would determine what would define a conversion. Who
are their customers? What patterns of behavior do their customers exhibit? This
will determine the ad’s optimal time of day in running and geo-location
targeting. My additional goal is to play with AdWords until it no longer scares
me!
Web Sources:
Stokes, R and the Minds of Quirk, EMarketing: The essential Guide to Online Marketing, v 1.0
Web site, Advanced Common Sense, Don't Make Me Think, Krug, S, Chapter 2 http://www.sensible.com/chapter.html
UX Booth by Redd Horrocks, 10 Usability Lessons from Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think, http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/10-usability-lessons-from-steve-krug%E2%80%99s-dont-make-me-think/
UTube video, Crazy Egg Explainer video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3f-2WG7ONc
Lunametrics web site, http://www.lunametrics.com/#sr=g&m=o&cp=or&ct=-tmc&st=(opu%20qspwjefe)&ts=1391294624
GOMC Digital Marketing Courses, https://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/dmc/dmc-seo.html
Gabrielle the idea of heat maps and providing a visual understanding of how you can improve your page is awesome! For me I am a visual learned to say the least, if you throw a ton of data at me I can figure it out, but realistically did I learn anything from it, sometimes. A “heat map” hits right home for me and actually gives you the visualization you need to see. I can’t imagine how crucial of a tool this would be for third parties who have customers who asking questions like how can I improve my customer’s online experience? This type of tool is truly amazing to me and an innovation to say the least. I wonder how many organizations are taking advantage of this type of tool and how many are missing out? I’m surprised there are not more businesses involved with just this specific technique as I was not familiar with it prior to this course.
ReplyDeleteGabrielle i totally agree with you about the "Tools to Build Ads and Advanced Ad types". i have felt so lost with so many things with this project and having a troubleshooting function your fingertips really reduces the confusion. I also mentioned A/B split testing in my post. All of these different types of tests are going to be so helpful within our own campaigns to track what the visitor is doing and using that to modify our campaigns. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHello Gabrielle, I as well used the concepts of testing in my blog. It is very interesting comparing and contrasting our opinions on testing variants of user experience. You did a great job at exploring the different options of testing! I did not read Steve Krug's book but viewed his mention in the book. Did you read further materials on his concept? His ideas and assumptions of users are very interesting but i am not sure i entirely agree on his theory of lack of logic in a consumer. All in all, awesome post!
ReplyDeleteThank you Gabrielle for your awesome discussions of the videos!
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