Companies of the scale of HSBC work differently. They have stringent processes and timelines. User experience is their primary competitive advantage. Making even a minor change on the web page requires significant deliberation. In this talk, Sigi will take you through setting up an optimization function and enabling a team to operate. Making use of his experience (ex-Google and ex-Adobe) and his present role leading Optimization at HSBC, Sigi will share what has worked for him.

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The Crawl-Walk-Run of Optimisation
The building blocks making optimisation a child’s play
Sigi Bessesen | Optimisation Lead

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What we’ll cover today
▪ Our optimisation journey;
▪ A brief history
▪ Crawl-Walk-Run explained
▪ Team structure and roles
▪ Optimisation building blocks

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Optimisation Journey: The Start (Pre-2016)
3
0 tests
0 team members
Optimisation owned by marketing
team
Standard brochure ware website

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Optimisation Kicks Off (2016)
4
0 tests
0 team members
120 tests
7 team members
HSBC started to focus on digital
Optimisation started in earnest
Induction of the Optimisation team
#$*%! Politics to sort out
Some incredible ‘wins’ early on
Optimisation as own entity
Formed our optimization framework

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Testing Framework: Introducing “Crawl Walk Run”
5
Crawl Walk Run
Objectives:
• Establish governance and culture
• Ensuring Optimisation team members are enabled to do their job
Quote
“You will only get
learnings through
volume. You get volume
through process.
Through process you
get consistency - and
consistency is key to
developing
momentum.”
Approach
• Exclusion – ‘Which elements are needed for this type of page?’
• Positioning – ‘Are elements placed correctly?’
• Presentation – ‘Is the appearance of the elements optimised?’
• Function – ‘Do elements behave as they should?’
• Copy – ‘Is the copy relevant for the page?

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A Use Case from our Crawl phase
PUBLIC
19.7
80.7
86.7
96.7 99.7
113.7
133.7
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
580 698 425 186 297 60 599
Accummulative lift in App starts throughout test series
Cumm %
lift per test
Total lift = 115% -
actually was cumulative
across all the other
tests completed
Test IDs

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Moving Beyond Low-Hanging Fruit (2017)
7
0 tests
0 team members
120 tests
7 team members
480 tests
18 team members
Established governance and culture
Blown all our targets to smithereens
We were asked to double the team
Internal Learning Hub established

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Moving from Crawl to Walk
Objectives:
• Instill a data-driven approach
Approach
• Segmentation
• Full utilisation of customer data
• Automated personalisation
• Authenticated space
PUBLIC
Quote
Pros use process. Not tips. Not tactics.
Not “best-practices”. Process.
Crawl Walk Run
Tools
• Adobe Target
• Adobe Analytics
• Adobe Audience Manager

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A Use Case from our Walk phase
PUBLIC
Total lift = 63%
comparing clicks on
targeted to that of non-
targeted experiences

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0 tests
0 team members
120 tests
7 team members
480 tests
18 team members
1200 tests
18 team members
Fully embracing segmentation
Starting to look at long-tail approaches
HSBC’s Optimisation Journey: The Support Wheels are Off (2018)

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Moving from Walk to Run
PUBLIC
Crawl Walk Run
Objectives:
• Establish a ‘best-in-breed’ approach to Optimisation
• Truly become an Optimisation Organisation
Approach
• Fully automated optimisation and personalisation
• Advocate Optimisation internally and externally
Achievement is
largely the product of
steadily raising one's
level of aspiration
and expectation
~ Jack Nicklaus
Quote

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0 tests
0 team members
120 tests
7 team members
480 tests
18 team members
1200 tests
18 team members
Maturing in data-driven approach
Moving from product to needs based
Now we’re doing it (2019)

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Team structure
PUBLIC
Manager
Specialist
Analyst
Analyst
Specialist
Analyst
Analyst
Specialist
Analyst
Analyst
Specialist
Analyst
Analyst
Specialist
Analyst
Analyst
Lead

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Team tasks
PUBLIC

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Building blocks of an optimisation program
PUBLIC
▪ Secure the right buy in
▪ Establish process and governance
▪ Hire right (learn-it-all vs know-it-all – personally, I value curiosity and personality)
▪ Enable team (tools, training, ownership)
▪ Prepare to do some stealth work
▪ Give team members a long leash
▪ Shout about your wins

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When I’ve seen optimisation succeed
▪ One (or more) optimisation ‘drivers’ are present
▪ Have full operational autonomy (ownership and trust)
▪ Have a structured approach
▪ Hire with diversity in mind

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Optimisation aspirations
PUBLIC
▪ Be an internal driver for positive change
▪ Gain full trust on Optimisation/testing
▪ Fully utilize all available tools
▪ Become an Optimsation organisation
▪ For HSBC to be considered best-in-breed on Optimisation
▪ Eliminate the need for an Optimisation team

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