The leading conference in conversion optimisation returns for its third year with an impressive line up of guest speakers. CONVERSION ELITE offers a jam-packed day of learning on all things CRO and beyond. We sent some of our Koozians on the ground at this year’s conference for the low down; here’s what we learned:
Creating an Optimisation Culture
Guido Jansen – @guido – Randstad
Encourage curiosity and a culture of experimentation within your team – a direct quote from Guido was “establishing a culture of optimisation really starts with having an attitude of never being satisfied”
If you can’t make the case to change something, for example brand colours, make the case to at least test it
Although Randstad is an established company with rigid processes and ways of working, in some ways, they have allocated budget to a “moonshot” project. Experimentation is permitted, encouraged and most importantly, funded. Experiments need to have the appropriate budget allocated to succeed
Using Storytelling to Create Experiences That Convert
Anna Dahlstrom – @annadahlstrom – UX Fika
Anna likened the user journey to the seven principles of good storytelling:
Plot
Character
Idea
Speed
Chorus
Décor
Spectacle
Principles of storytelling/dramaturgy can be directly applied to the user journey – setup – confrontation – resolution vs awareness – consideration – action
Website owners no longer control the user journey, or the user messaging. There are too many variables. Google/Search engines and Social Media play a major part in guiding the narrative
Creating a Framework for Advanced Personalisation
Stephen Pavlovich – @pav – Conversion.com
Personalisation is overrated, it has been a “priority” in digital marketing for the last five years, however there are numerous cases of it being done badly
Simple equation for Conversion optimisation: find out why people aren’t converting – fix it. For personalisation the equation is: find out why some people aren’t converting – fix it for them
Repeated interactions – frequent interactions – diverse audience: these things are all needed if you are considering using personalisation
Use the following hypothesis framework when you are conducting a user experiment: we believe that be doing (A) for (B = people/segment) we will make (C = outcome) happen. We will know this when we observe (D = data) and / or obtain (E = feedback)
All4 found that designs with a hero banner were generating less clicks to the first show featured on a page, as users were viewing it as an ad, or an (unwanted) promotion. They were able to get the hero image to feel less ad-like with a change in design, a “takeover” style design rather than a carousel or banner.
Keep a test book – a log of all of the experiments you have run.
Analytics – Identifying and Forecasting Opportunities for CRO
Anna reminded us of the Avinash Kaushik quote: “All data in aggregate is crap”. You must segment your data to gain meaningful insights from it
Anna also endorsed the use of ProfitGrid to see at a glance how users are behaving across locations, devices, browsers etc.
Measure EVERYTHING with Event Tracking. Analyse your site’s micro conversions as well as the macro conversions.
The 15 Minute Model for Optimising Cross Device Experiences
Craig Sullivan – @optimiseordie – Optimal Visit
Craig outlined a web user’s hierarchy of needs:
Does it work on customer devices?
Does it load and run quickly?
Can customers use it?
Can customers read it?
Bad user experience is like “dog mess in a retail store”, you might have the best products in the world but users will think your store is defective
All Analytics implementations are broken, there is always something that can be improved to enhance your data integrity
Biometrics: The Evolution of Optimisation
Neil McKay – @njmckay – Endless Gain
Many legacy changes to websites have been made based on people’s opinions (most frequently the HiPPo – Highest Paid Person)
Every human decision is driven by an emotion. The four main emotions (that you don’t really want your website to provoke) are anger, surprise, sadness and disgust
Certain events trigger positive emotions like pride and confidence. Design experiences that make your customers feel like a winner, rather than a loser
Agile Optimisation – or How we Learned to Stop Worrying and Love our Developers
Simon Elsworth – Sky
We, as an industry, need to move away from being driven by gut, to driven by data
Simple framework for digital work: Ideate > Create > measure or Build it > run it > test it. These are the same principles as Agile development
Using customer feedback to determine development priorities: “If one person calls to complain about it, it’s probably bad. If five people call to complain, it’s probably f*****”
If, as part of your optimisation process, you have to think about discounting your product, you are probably missing something
The Psychology & Ethics of Converting Brains into Buyers
Bart Schutz – @BartS – Online Dialogue
The brain uses two types of thinking – System 1 and system 2 thinking. System 1 is evolution/emotion and system 2 is rational/logic. Your brain will always have an automated response to a stimulus, and a rational one
System 1 makes emotional associations with things. WYSIATI (from the Daniel Kahneman book: Thinking, Fast and Slow). This is why people are continually influenced by prices that appear to have been discounted
System 2 has limited capacity and requires attention. Humans can only focus on one thing at a time. Bart argued that some website experiences “deplete” people and that some frustrating web experiences can result in a conversion due to this phenomenon.
Natalie is the type of person that you want on your pub quiz team, particularly if it’s music-related, as not only is she fanatical about 80s and 90s pop, she studied popular music at degree level. *Frantically searches for karaoke machine*. She’s also into maps – which is handy, considering how much she likes to travel and hike.
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