Alan Morte: Making Conversion Rate Your B**** With Google Analytics

@AlanMorte @ThreeVentureshttps://threeventures.com
Making Conversion Rate Your
B**** With
Google Analytics

Alan Morte
Director of Analytics
3rd Time At SOS

Brag file…

What you’ll learn today…

How to to find web test ideas with out of the box Google
Analytics data & common sense
How to present test ideas to clients / boss & get them
approved
How to use Google Analytics content experiments &
avoid common pitfalls
1
2
3

Why am I presenting?

I have an issue with conversion rate…

A lot A little
Talked about Actually delivered

Why is it actually delivered a little?

Unrealistic expectations…

You can’t deliver results…

I forgot we’re in Dallas…

How do you combat this?

If a client has unrealistic expectations…

Respectfully show them why…

How do you do that?

How expectations are set
Acknowledge that clients get unreasonable
expectations from somewhere
Get clients to get real, use data and facts to support
your claims
Be ready for them to be upset… don’t give in
1
2
3

What if they don’t listen?

Do a better job explaining.

If it still doesn’t work…

Fire them!

If you still have them as a client…

What about clients with reasonable expectations?

What do you do now?

Talk less… do more…

Not that type of more…

This type…

Step 1:
STEP 2 :
STEP 3 :
STEP 4 :
STEP 5 :
What is
valued
Identify
problem,
solutions
Present
ideas
Plan,
execute
test Measure,
learn,
repeat

Excuses for why you can’t do that…

Client doesn’t have the right data…

I don’t control the website, landing pages…

The client doesn’t listen to me…

Excuses are why conversion rate is delivered…

A little

And…

Let’s break the process down…

Step 1

What is valued?

Users
Leads
TransactionsAd revenue

Step 2

Identify the problem…

Step 1 Step 2 Step 4
Step3
What is
valued
Which is user flow… always.

Identify the solution…

Step 1 Step 2 Step 4Step 3
What is
valued
Fix the user flow…

Step 3

Present the idea by…

Step3
What is
valued
Identifying the issue…

And deliver a…

What is
valued
Solution…

Step 1 Step 2 Step 4Step 3B
What is
valued
Step 1 Step 2 Step 4Step 3C
What is
valued
Step 1 Step 2 Step 4Step 3A
What is
valued
Or solutions…

Step 4

Plan, execute the test…

How do we test?
How do we implement the
solutions?
How do we build the solutions?
THE
PLAN

Step 5

What’s
valued
Identify
problem,
solution
Present
solution
Plan,
execute
test
Measure,
learn,
repeat
The
Process

Alan, that’s great…

Reality check…
But we need how to…

Not philosophical bullshit…

I was hoping you would say that…

Here’s what you’ll need to know...

What’s valued Problem & solutions Present Plan & execute Learn & repeat
What’s the
metric?
How to
A/B Test?
How to
pitch?
How to
improve it?
How to
iterate?

What’s the metric?

Remember this…

Remember this…
Users
Leads
TransactionsAd revenue

The main web KPIs are mostly that.

But ask your client / boss…

What is the most important to them?

Test to improve that.

Or have a DAMN good reason why not.

How do you improve the metric?

Define user flows for the site without data
Determine if users follow the defined flows
Identify why users don’t follow flows
1
2
3

How do you define a user flow for a site?1

Ask yourself, why does the site exist?

It exists for a user to take some action(s)…

What are those actions?

HINT: anything that’s a revenue generation opportunity…

Write those actions down.

Now for each action…

What path does the user take to complete it?

HINT: it’s the exact order of pages visited to complete the action

Perfect, write down the exact order of pages for each action….

Now you should have something like…

Homepage User Flow Landing Page User FlowLanding Page User Flow
Metric - Lead
1. Starts on homepage
2. Goes to contact page
3. Fills out form, sent to
thank you page
Metric - Lead
1. Starts on landing page
2. Fills out form, sent to thank
you page
Metric - Transaction
1. Starts on landing page
2. Completes checkout steps
Metric - Transaction
1. Starts on homepage
2. Goes to product page
3. Completes checkout steps
Blog Post User Flow
Metric - Lead
1. Lands on blog post
2. Signs up for newsletter at
bottom of post, sent to
thank you page.
Homepage User Flow

Alright!

No.

Not yet…

Select a user flow you defined…

Go to the Google Analytics user flow report…

Time to see if people actually follow the flow…2

Here’s a video…

We’ll review a real homepage user flow…

Not many users get to step two…

If you didn’t see it…

Let me help you visualize it…

1
2

See the issue?

See the opportunity?

How do we identify why users don’t follow flows?3

Start at the problem step…

Step3
What is
valued

Answer five specific on-page questions…

All above
the fold?
Are explicit
instructions
present?
Are there
button(s) to
the next step?
Is there a
clear
explaination of
the product or
service?
Are there any
stop words or
negative tone?

Let’s review the page with issues!

Are explicit instructions present?

Do we tell the user
exactly what to do?

Nope.

What’s the
solution?

Select the color
Select the size
Check delivery options
Click buy now
1
2
3
4

Don’t assume the
user knows what to
do…

Are there buttons to the next step?

Yes.

Good, users like to
click on buttons…

Why? Let’s drunk user
test to find out…

The button is the only thing that sticks out...

Are there any stop words or negative tone?

Like “Not ready to buy?”...

Don’t give users a reason to think they’re not ready...

Is there a clear explaination of the product or service?

Yes. See the title?

Now, is all that above the fold?

You just found a bunch of ways to improve...

But before we can test...

How do you pitch the improvements?

Before you request a meeting...

Rank the improvements you just found...

Here’s the one from my example...

Add numeric instructions above fold
Place button above the fold on all devices
1
2

Now for each improvement...

Make a visual representation...

You’ll need this in the pitch...

Here’s how to pitch...

No phone calls...

Virtual or in-person meetings only...

Or else this happens...

So when you’re in the meeting...

What do you do?

Step3
What is
valued
Identify the problem…

1
2
Prove it with the user flow data!

What is
valued
Present your top ranking solution to…

1
2
Seize the opportunity!

Don’t forget the visual representation you made...

The person your pitching needs to SEE IT!

Now...

If they don’t like the solution...

Discuss one they like...

And then you can test both...

Either way the person agrees with you.

How do you test the improvements?

Define who’s building the solution(s)
Review the solutions once they’re built
Setup a Google Analytics content experiment
1
2
3

When defining who’s building the solution(s)...1

Give EXPLICIT instructions for the changes
Provide the visual representation you created
Ask for a completion date
Marketing or I.T. responsible?

When reviewing the solution(s)...2

Were the EXPLICIT instructions followed?
Does it match the visual representation?
Check on mobile, tablet, desktop…

Set up a Google Analytics content experiment...3

Follow three steps...

Choose an objective
Configure the experiment
Set the experiment code, start the test
1
2
3

Choosing an objective...1

A
B
C
D

The objective is the metric you’re trying to improve.

The percentage of traffic should be...

More for sites with less visitors
Less for sites with more visitors

And turn email notifications on!

Configuring an experiment2

A
B

Name the original variation “Control”...

Name the test variation with what’s being tested...

Should you consolidate the experiment for reports?

I don’t like to because then the...

Control page isn’t impacted in the base reports by the test.

Set the experiment code, start test3

The code goes on the original page ONLY...

Must be hardcoded in <head>, before base GA code!

Now start the test by...

Couple of things to note about validation...

It can’t verify anything in Google Tag Manager
Don’t place test code with tag management!

After you’ve started the test...

Wait 48 hours...

Make sure the test is recording data.

When setting your test up, be aware of...

The multi-armed bandit test…

What is a multi-armed bandit test?

It’s a testing algorythm to...

Reach
significance
faster
Minimize
conversion loss
Use less traffic
to
test

Which sends more traffic to the best test variations...

In order to reach statistical significance quicker.

But it has a flaw...

It can’t account for market influences...

Like if you get featured of the homepage of Reddit...

Which HEAVILY skews your test data...

By over / under stating conversions for a variation...

So to combat this...

You can test on 50% of your traffic...

Which leaves two control samples for test analysis...

One control sample that is part of the test...

And one that is not...

Or if you have A LOT of traffic...

Just turn the shit off...

Go back to step 1...

Click ‘advanced options’...

How to analyze test results, iterate the process?

Analyze results at the test minimum length
Assess the test results at test end
1
2
3 Log the results and assessment

Analyze results at the test minimum length1

Look for the following...

Is a variation is winning by 100’s of %’s?

Is a variation is losing by 50% +?

If yes to either...

Check the pages in the test...

Make sure nothing went wrong...

If something has changed...

Stop the test, fix the issue, and restart.

If everything is fine...

But the test variation is losing bad...

Turn that shit off!

Why?

You want to minimize any conversion loss...

So what if everything looks normal?

Assess your test results at test end2

Assess how the test variation(s) did...

Did they perform how you thought they would?

Why, or why not?

Now setup a virtual or in-person meeting...

With your client or boss...

Review the results and assessment together...

Do they agree with the assessment of the test?

If they disagree...

Collaborate....

Agree upon an assessment of the test...

Here’s an example...

The test increased conversions because *Assessment*...

Or...

The test failed because of *Assessment* and...

Our next test is to improve *Assessment*...

Whatever the assessment is...

Log the results and assessment3

Like this...

This way you record everything you learn...

And the results...

Now repeat the process...

What’s
valued
Identify
problem,
solution
Present
solution
Plan &
execute
test
Measure,
learn,
repeat
The
Process

Over time...

If you follow the process in this deck...

You can use the test log to show...

Monthly results...

Quarterly results...

Yearly results...

And if you’re doing good...

(Because you followed the process in this deck)...

You can pitch the client for more $$$...

Or your boss for a raise...

Or put in a proposal for a...

New site design for the client...

That features everything you’ve learned on the site.

So does this process really work?

Here’s three case studies...

Client A, ecommerce...

45.48% increase in conversion rate...

1,290 more transactions...

Client B, lead generation...

800 more leads...

Client C, ecommerce...

819 more transactions...

QA, Resource Links

Download link for a testing playbook, log, and...

This deck...

threev.co/state-of-search-15

Go and make conversion rate your b****!

Q A&
@AlanMorte
amorte@threeventures.com
linkedin.com/in/alanmorte

Alan Morte: Making Conversion Rate Your B**** With Google Analytics

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