The best practice framework proposes a straightforward five-step best practices approach for Digital Optimization (specifically Multivariate Testing). The beauty of the approach is that you need not use it in a completely linear fashion. For example if you have a well designed and well thought out site or landing page, you may be able to skip steps 1 and 3 and proceed directly to step 4 .

1. 5 Steps to effective optimization
Author: Kanishka Surana

2. Optimization is crucial to stay in the Digital era and can
be structured in 5 Stages
Prioritize
Define customer Assess current
Define objectives optimization Measure success
segments capabilities
actions
• Determine • Prioritize customer • Perform qualitative • Define improve- • Outline tools and
high- level analysis
business objective segments ment areas sources for
– Usability vs.
of the Web site customer needs (Hypothesis measuring KPIs
• Understand – Usability vs. generation)
• Identify KPIs customer needs competitors • Modify, test,
vis-à-vis your Web • Prioritize measure as an
site (behaviour) • Perform detailed according to: iterative process
qualitative and – Impact
• Understand quantitative – Feasibility
customer needs analysis – Strategy
vis-à-vis – Web analytics
channel, like – Online surveys • Identify “big
Earned/Social – Social Media picture”
Media (Attitudinal) analytics improvements at
wireframe level

3. Website can be efficiently optimized via MVT
Description Output Tips / Best Practices Comments
• More than one • It determines which • Create a hypothesis • When used
component of a content or creative for testing (e.g., one correctly, it
Web site (display variation produces linking to users’ delivers significant
Multivariate
Testing (MVT) ads, landing the best improvement behaviour) improvements in a
pages, e- in the defined goals fast manner
mails, call-to- of a Web site. • Create a page for
action) may be each experimental
tested in a live • It also determines run
environment which
component, color, im • Segment test
age, headline, conten participants to
t, call-to-action etc. Is increase relevance
the largest contributor of results
to your success of
the Test initiative • Establish complex
success metrics to
evaluate
performance (use
KPIs rather than
click-through or
conversion alone)

4. MVT identifies the combination of website elements with
highest impact
• Improving conversion rates, after an online
Purpose sales funnel revealed that over 90% of
LetsTalk’s visitors were abandoning the
sales process prior to completing an order
• Testing different elements on their site in a
wide variety of inventory and offer
combinations
• Develop a test plan which included 10
Method variables and 74 different values
• Based on the test plan, the solution engine
identified and generated over
1 billion possible permutations of the page
• Multivariable tests were conducted on a
subset of these possible permutations of the
test page (Taguchi method)
• The winning creative resulted in a 7.7%
Result increase in order completion which translated
to an increase in annual online revenue of
over $2 million
Source: Adobe Test and Target

5. Questions: @ksurana