Comments on: Website Optimization Starts With a Hypothesis

By: promotional merchandise

promotional merchandise — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:37:13 +0000

I am just getting our website updated at the moment and this post has given me some great ideas to approach the web designers with. Thanks for the information.

By: canadian bodybuilding

canadian bodybuilding — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:01:53 +0000

great article.

By: Landing page optimization « Chinalytics Longmarch Blog

Landing page optimization « Chinalytics Longmarch Blog — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:19:42 +0000

[...] will serve well as a starting point. For more details about a good hypothesis take a look at “Website Optimization Starts With a Hypothesis” over at [...]

By: Future Now’s GrokDotCom / Marketing Optimization Blog » Top 5 Tips for Optimizing Low-Traffic Websites

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:40:42 +0000

[...] Know what you’re looking for — Make sure you know how to get a hypothesis worth testing. In other words, you should know ahead of time how to interpret the results. [...]

By: "What Should I Test?" Free Google + Future Now Webinar

"What Should I Test?" Free Google + Future Now Webinar — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:50:06 +0000

[...] from people who want to know the secret. They've read a few posts on website optimization testing, but they're disillusioned. Their tests haven't been effective — meanwhile, Future [...]

By: Meredith

Meredith — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:59:11 +0000

That’s good advice. One thing designers forget that sometimes feelings about new tools change all the time. Something can seem great at first and then later on people realize it’s not so great. Or what works for some may not in fact be working for a lot of other people. Being able to constantly check for information about what is and isn’t working is always a good thing.

By: Ron Patiro

Ron Patiro — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:21:17 +0000

Just a quick note since many of you will be interested: We're teaming up with Google for a free webinar on Tuesday March 11th on how to get the most out of Google Website Optimizer. Hope you can make it!

By: Webinar: Website Optimizer, What Should I Test?

Webinar: Website Optimizer, What Should I Test? — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:39:48 +0000

[...] test. Without a clear hypothesis, it's easy to get hung up on your own guesswork. Knowing how to get a hypothesis is critical. So, by popular demand after many Website Optimizer users asked for more insight on [...]

By: Hidden Secrets of the Amazon Shopping Cart

Hidden Secrets of the Amazon Shopping Cart — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:20:28 +0000

[...] ugly, but what Bezos realized early on is that, to be a successful online merchant, you need to get a hypothesis and test it if you want something that [...]

By: Mark Zagari

Mark Zagari — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:16:30 +0000

Amen Dr. Pete!
After a very recent experience – I think the most important sentence in this blog:
It’s the most common problem we see among companies that don’t outsource their testing: They don’t really know what to test.

Last year my web folks sold us a bill of goods – testing multiple scenarios of pages, click thru, etc. And in the end – all the results were totally inconclusive. Now my personal cynicism aside about corporate politics, procedures, (and all other excuses I can think of) – Please learn from my mistake…
Get involved from the idea conception – don’t leave it up to just the designers. Not knowing what to test proved to be a big waste of internal resources and $$$’s. For me it was like ‘letting fox watch the chickens’ – Sure it looked good on their dept’s yr end objectives, but it impacted my product ZERO. (sorry – had to vent)

By: Dr. Pete

Dr. Pete — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:55:31 +0000

Great points. One of the things that’s really starting to concern me about the way that people use testing is how we treat it like magic. Pick a Version A and Version B, test it, and do whatever the test outcome says. The problem with that approach is, even if that were always reliable (and data does lie on occasion), you don’t learn anything that you can use in other situations.

Having a hypothesis means you drive testing, thoughtfully and purposefully, instead of letting testing drive you.

By: Robyn Lewis

Robyn Lewis — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:55:44 +0000

We are in the process of a site update right now, and this is very timely. Outsourcing and building testing into the reconstruction seems the way to go. However there are a large number of variables that could (and should) be tested; the issue is finding (and testing) those likely to give the highest returns. Smaller companies often do not have the resources for full-scale testing so determining what these might be is imperative.

Your point is extemely valid: “Recycling random variations of a page just to see what works often yields a much smaller return on investment than hiring a website optimization firm”.

By: David Jacques-Louis

David Jacques-Louis — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:26:28 +0000

It’s today I was thinking the same thought. Will use it to make my new site.

By: Pages tagged "random"

Pages tagged "random" — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:54:42 +0000

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By: Talking Website

Talking Website — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:39:13 +0000

Thanks for the great advice. Very helpful.