In a world where customer expectations are constantly on the rise and marketplace competition is heating up, websites have an important role to play in delivering a great customer experience (CX). The ability to experiment with many different ideas and gain insights quickly, is becoming increasingly important in building a strong and competitive digital presence that connects with visitors and customers.
The main question for teams today is how to migrate from the testing tools and analytics approach currently used in favor of more advanced experimentation that keeps pace with change?
1. Compare A/B Testing to AI-Driven Optimization
Split the traffic
Not convinced that artificial intelligence (AI) can do better than years of a testing team’s combined analytics and marketing expertise? Prove it in the same arena by splitting between the two the traffic and testing sample.
Compete head-to-head
Run 50% of the sample through traditional A/B testing tools and the other 50% through AI-driven optimization. One of the main benefits is that it starts out on an even playing field. It makes it easy to see how each approach contributes to success and, in the case of AI-driven optimization, more traffic can be routed in real time as winners get discovered.
2. Test Different Elements
Don’t be afraid of progress
Many companies are wary of simply discarding decades of tried and tested methodologies in favor of new technologies. It can be seen as too risky. Especially if a company has large growth targets to reach, because it means there is little margin for error.
A solution is to select separate elements of the website to optimize and use the different testing tools and technologies to experiment on each. For example: One of the product description pages (PDP) can be channeled through AI-driven optimization, while another is analyzed using traditional A/B testing methodologies. Running experiments side-by-side over a period of 3 months will demonstrate which produces more meaningful insights and which generates a return on investment (ROI).
Speed is of the essence
A consideration that is often overlooked is the time it takes to generate results and the value in gaining insights quickly. In today’s dynamic marketplace where customer preferences are constantly changing and competitors are working hard to create more engaging digital experiences, time is a valuable commodity. Having the ability to respond to customer’s changing needs quickly, helps companies generate more personalized experiences that are more likely to win customers over and get them to buy.
3. Put A/B Testing on Steroids
AI brings scale
A/B testing has stood the test of time and for the better part of two decades has afforded marketers a limited glimpse into understanding which ideas customers prefer. As a baseline, it forms the foundation for even the most advanced experimentation solutions driven by AI. The difference is that AI-driven optimization exponentially increases the effectiveness of A/B testing by enabling companies to experiment with thousands of ideas in hundreds of combinations instead of just one or two, even ideating tens of thousands of possible experiences to serve up to customers.
AI also brings agility
It is exactly what is needed to create digital experiences that are more personalized, more engaging, and more likely to convert. Plus using AI to iterate the experiments results in much faster analysis than any human could ever perform. The insights generated include identifying the top performing ideas and then ideating on how to improve them even further and faster. This means generating an ROI as it optimizes based on real customer feedback.
Optimize websites without having to sacrifice ideas
To see the difference that AI-driven optimization can make, it’s possible to fold existing tests into Evolv AI’s experimentation solution and significantly mature testing efforts. This enables broader experimentation with more ideas in more combinations and shows which ideas website visitors are responding to. Teams no longer have to spend time debating which ideas warrant testing. AI-driven optimization ideates based on previous learnings and has the capacity to experiment with thousands of ideas and variations.
Testing Takeaway
Website optimization has evolved and testing efforts need to scale and mature if they are to keep pace with customer expectations and changing market dynamics. AI technology offers an advantage to marketers they didn’t have before and it’s proving to be a very worthwhile investment for early adopters. AI delivers the ability to improve digital experiences and deliver meaningful insights quickly so that websites are optimized with the customer in mind. It’s proven that improving CX delivers growth and AI-driven experimentation is the technology that can make it happen faster.
