1.
The AB Testing Hype Cycle
Budapest - Netbooster – 11 Nov 2015
@OptimiseOrDie
It’s a Wrap!
#CH2015

2.
How was your trip to Texel, dear?
@OptimiseOrDie

3.
• Genres – Facebook Poll
• 3-4 Sets
• Spotify Playlist
• Outline set
• Feedback
• Mix live!
Music Optimisation
@OptimiseOrDie

4.
Peep Laja
@OptimiseOrDie
• Peeeeep - A car sound
• Pap - Common blog problem
• Peahp - Texan pipe
• Peppie - Food for small dogs
• Payp - Micro payment system

5.
World CRO Dude Dickens Character
PE
PPIP

6.
Peep Laja – Points to note
@OptimiseOrDie
6 key pillars
• Heuristic analysis & walkthrough
• Session Replay / Mouse Tracking / Scroll / Click
• Technical (compatibility & performance)
• Web Analytics
• User Testing
• Qualitative Surveys

7.
“Stop copying your competitors. They may not
know what the f*** they are doing either.”
“We need better data, not more data”
“Use a process – not 100 tactics. Discover what
actually matters and lift heavy ass weights.”
Peep Laja – Quotes
@OptimiseOrDie

8.
Chris Stucchio
@OptimiseOrDie

9.
@OptimiseOrDie
STATS
FOR
A/B
TESTING

10.
Chris Stucchio – Quotes
@OptimiseOrDie
“Misinterpretations of Significance.”
“Bayesian statisticians can never agree to
disagree.”
“CRO is more like trading – the goal is to get more
conversions.”

11.
• The unconference session feedback!
• This stuff isn’t easy
• It’s about decision making though
• Do we keep control, deploy challenger or test
further?
• We can’t educate the world easily but we can build
tools and process that avoids or minimises poor
decision making.
Chris Stucchio – Points to note
@OptimiseOrDie

12.
@OptimiseOrDie
4. If you have 4 hours
PLUS
• Snap interviews (Sales, Customer Services, Tech
Support)
• Run a quick poll or survey (See my tools slides)
Less
Bullshit!

13.
Oli Gardner – Quotes
@OptimiseOrDie
“Shitting marketing pisses me off…”
“Delight should be the default, not the exception.”
“Every page has one primary goal.”
“Personalisation or targeting is still a hypothesis
until it’s tested”

14.
• NSAMCWADLP – Never Start a Marketing
Campaign Without a Dedicated Landing Page
• 4 corners – Copy, Design, Interaction, Psychology
• A multi-faceted approach is required
Oli Gardner – Points to note
@OptimiseOrDie

15.
“ Affordance is the ability of a user to perceive
that some action is possible”
– like a door handle or push plate!
Affordance isn’t about stuff that can’t be inferred
(for example, hover states, feedback messages,
hidden interactions)
http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/affordances_and.html
Affordance
@OptimiseOrDie

16.
“Best Practices don’t work”
“The best optimisation champions integrate both yin
and yang into their work.”
“You need a qual and quant mindset”
“Don’t start with tactics. Process is critical but
framework thinking is the best way.”
“Optimise the Optimisation”
“It’s about understanding buyers through testing”
Chris Goward – Quotes
@OptimiseOrDie

17.
• Marketing + Scientific process – CRO
• UX, Analytics, Persuasion Principles,
Business Context and your Prior test results
– are all part of your testing framework
• NPS is vital (Lovefilm example)
• Measure NPS service metrics over time!
• Continuous Improvement – not SLEDD*
Chris Goward – Points to note
@OptimiseOrDie

18.
Brent Dykes
@OptimiseOrDie

19.
Brent Dykes
@OptimiseOrDie

20.
@OptimiseOrDie

21.
• “Stories beat Statistics”
• Storytelling is vital to our work
“We saw this, so checked that and found this, which taught us that”
• We use persuasion on customers but not
internally within our company?
• “Show their digital journey”
Brent Dykes – Points to note
@OptimiseOrDie

22.
Jorden Lentze
@OptimiseOrDie
bit.ly/urinalux

23.
Jorden Lentze
@OptimiseOrDie

24.
“Use the collective brain”
“The Mixing of ideas and unexpected
encounters through unplanned meetings”
“The most important thing is the insights that
you learn”
Jorden Lentze – Quotes
@OptimiseOrDie

25.
• Note the core team – CRO, Dev, Psychologist,
Product, UX, Analyst, Copywriter
• Explore the problem domain, focus on the problem
at hand, incubate, get insights, follow through!
• LISTEN to customers, MAKE incremental changes
AND big ideas, AB Test and Measure impact
• Sliders can work but most implementations suck!
Jorden Lentze – Points to note
@OptimiseOrDie

26.
Marketing?
Variation
Heritability
of good
ideas Selection
based on
death

27.
Harry Brignull
@OptimiseOrDie

28.
• Ethics are a vital and ongoing debate
• It’s all about intent for me
• Read these articles – very good
www.measuringu.com/blog/ethical-treatment.php
www.twitter.com/search?q=optimiseordie%20ethics&src=typd
Harry Brignull – Points to note
@OptimiseOrDie

29.
Talia Wolf
@OptimiseOrDie

30.
“We like to think of ourselves as rational people”
“We’re basically buying better versions of ourselves”
“Don’t talk about yourself – make it about them”
“It’s about testing concepts, not elements or tactics.
You can’t learn anything from these kind of tests”
“It’s about the strategy and knowledge you acquire”
Talia Wolf – Quotes
@OptimiseOrDie

31.
The 3 pillars:
• “Make it about the customer”
• “Show it, don’t just say it”
• “Test concepts – not elements or tactics”]
Cycle: Research, Strategy, Hypothesis,
Prioritisation, Design, Align team, Launch,
QA, Run, Analyse
Talia Wolf – Points to note
@OptimiseOrDie

32.
The AB Testing Hype Cycle
Budapest - Netbooster – 11 Nov 2015
@OptimiseOrDie
It’s a Wrap!
#CH2015

33.
What About the Organisation?
@OptimiseOrDie

34.
@OptimiseOrDie
Burn Down the Silos
• Non agile, non iterative design
• Silos work on product separately
• No ‘One Team’ per product/theme
• Large teams, unwieldy coordination
• Pass the product around
• More PMs and BAs than a
conference
• Endless sucking signoff
• AB testing done the same way!

35.
@OptimiseOrDie
FT, Booking, Skyscanner, ABN, Expedia + more
• Small teams (6-15) with direct access to publish
• Ability to set and get metrics data directly
• Tools, Autonomy, Lack of interference
• No Project Managers or Business Analysts
• Business defines ‘outcomes’ – teams deliver
• No long signoff chain
• No pesky meddling fools
• 18 Month projects over budget?

36.
@OptimiseOrDie
FT Example
• 100s of releases a day!
• Iterative MVP approach
• Launch as alpha, beta,
pilot, phased rollout
• Like getting in a shower
• Read more at labs.ft.com

37.
CRO
46

38.
@OptimiseOrDie
10. Positive Attributes
• Rapid, Iterative, User Centred & Agile
Design. No Silos.
• Small empowered autonomous teams
• Polymaths and Overlap
• Toolkit & Analytics investment
• Persuasive copywriting & Psychology
• Great Testing & Optimisation Tools

39.
@OptimiseOrDie
• Agile, Lean, Iterative x silo teams
• Ability to get and set metrics
• Autonomy, Control, Velocity
• Iterative MVP approach
• Work on outcomes, not features
!
Burn Down the Silos!

40.
49
Time
ROI

41.
50

42.
Summary Grid
@OptimiseOrDie
Do Your Research Prioritise Hypothesise
• Heuristic analysis
• Usability testing
• Heatmap tools
• Session replay
• Web Analytics
• Qualitative surveys
• Polls
• Chat & Text analysis
• Interviews
• Device compatibility
• Performance
• Use TIR or PIE
• Prioritise around
opportunity vs. cost
• Estimate political
difficulty or friction as
well as resource costs
• There is no best
practice on prioritisation
• Continually re-prioritise
against new discoveries
• Use the collective brain
• Assemble and circulate
your research
• Set clear goals and
have a process for
sketching
• Sketch the Hypothesis
• Build W/F or mockup
• Set ONE primary
(possibly one
secondary) success KPI

43.
Summary Grid
@OptimiseOrDie
Pre Flight Checks Run Analyse & Report
• QA testing
• Device & Browser
compatibility
• Analytics tracking
• Ecommerce tracking
• Launch
• Set your test length with
a calculator
• Run it, stop it, analyse it
• Don’t run over time
unless your sample is
smaller than expected
• Learn about the
statistics
• Watch tests closely!
• Wash up analysis
• Share findings widely
• Don’t share useless
stuff
• What is useful across
the organisation?
• Store in knowledgebase
• Intellectual Property
• Use as training!

44.
DISCOVERY CYCLE
@OptimiseOrDie
Discover
Ideas
Priori/se
Build
&
QA
Test
or
Live
Measure
Data
Learn

45.
TEST CYCLE
@OptimiseOrDie
Hypothesis
Design
Sketch
Wire
Frame
Mockup
/
Prototype
Signoff
(mul/ple)
Build
QA
SoH
and
Hard
Launch
Analyse
&
Publish
Learn

46.
What did I learn personally?
@OptimiseOrDie
• That best practice is emerging
• It’s about how you can do this properly!
• Methodology & Frameworks – not tactics
• Shared mindset across CRO practitioners
• Stories beat statistics, Data beats opinion
• I always have lots to learn
• “Hold strong opinions, but loosely”

47.
Go Forth and Optimise!
Email me sullivac@gmail.com
Slides Will be mailed to you!
Linkedin linkd.in/pvrg14