A decade ago, only the most innovative companies had the skills and resources to optimize their websites based on customer data. Since then, vendors have entered the space with a range of solutions, from self-service testing to professional managed services that take the burden off the organization entirely. This white paper discusses the pros and cons of each model, and explains why a hybrid solution that offers the best of both is the wisest choice for agility, testing quality, and the greatest return.

The Case for a Hybrid Web Optimization StrategyCombining the best of managed services and self-service

Table of Contents

Combining the Best of Managed Services and Self-Service . . . . . . . . 3

Considerations When Creating a Web Optimization Strategy . . . . . 3

Should I Do It All Myself? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Am I Better off with a Managed Service Approach? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The Benefits of a Hybrid Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

About Optimost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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THE CASE FOR A HYBRID WEB OPTIMIZATION STRATEGY

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Today’s companies are capitalizing on the power and value of web optimization by making it a standard practice in the website lifecycle. They are implementing web optimization programs that allow them to increase ROI on website traffic, deliver more engaging and personalized customer experiences, and increase revenue dramatically.

There are different approaches to building a web optimization program. Some organizations rely on software that allows them to perform simple tests themselves. These solutions promise a fast start, but limit testing complexity, level of analysis, and even the size and diversity of data that can be used. They also don’t address where and how to start. For instance, some organizations need to incorporate web analytics reports, survey results, and offline customer data. Self-service solutions may not have an easy on-ramp to incorporate these pools of information into the testing process.

Other organizations turn to full-service vendors who handle the program A to Z. Some of these offerings also include a self-service capability that allows you to conduct in-house tests that round out the full testing program; for instance, when the business requires quick, simple tests or you want to extend established ideas across smaller web properties.

Considerations When Creating a Web Optimization Strategy

As you weigh the benefits and drawbacks of choosing the right web optimization solution for your organization—whether it’s a self-service, managed service, or hybrid approach—consider the goals of the program: what are you really trying to achieve for your business?

You should also consider the level of technical expertise you’ll need, which will vary based on your strategy and the complexity of your websites. For example, if you are only planning to run basic A/B tests on simple pages, you will need much less expertise on your team than if you are planning to run multivariate tests (MVT), implement dynamic pages, change layouts or functionality, or test across a series of pages, such as a checkout funnel. Without the expertise in-house to carry out more complicated tests, you will likely find you are limited to keeping it simple.

Depending on your organization’s core competencies, it could make sense to develop an in-house web optimization team with expert-level skill. Or a managed services team might be a more efficient way to gain the structured guidance, planning, and deep industry sector experience needed for long-term success.

Should I Do It All Myself?

In self-service environments, you have the flexibility to conduct tests quickly to meet urgent needs. There’s little wait time and simple tests can be created and pushed out within hours. While the best solutions provide all the tools you need, a poorly thought out test hypothesis or rollout can disrupt your customer’s experience or give you false confidence in incorrect conclusions. Success requires taking the time to create a disciplined testing strategy. It also requires staff with optimization expertise and it can be hard to quickly fill the resource gap with existing marketers or analysts. Even marketers with enough knowledge to manage ad hoc A/B requests from the business often struggle to achieve significant long-term results to the bottom line because shifting business priorities often interrupt the continuous improvement mindset required.

Average online conversion rates are as low as 1% to 2%, proving that most marketers are not reaping the true potential of their efforts and spend.HTTP://INDEX.FIRECLICK.COM

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THE CASE FOR A HYBRID WEB OPTIMIZATION STRATEGY

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Am I Better off with a Managed Service Approach?

You should consider how much help you need with strategic and technical expertise, as outlined below.

StrategyGuidance and best practices

If your organization is lean on in-house digital marketing expertise, the guidance and best practices input of a managed services team can fill the gaps. This approach can also save you time and money by avoiding tests that don’t necessarily bring back the data you need.

The most significant area of value of a Managed Services team is the industry experience, best practices, and methodology that they bring from years of experience with hundreds of clients. This enables them to help you understand what you can do with your data. During the initial stages of an engagement, a managed services team will work with your marketing team to understand your business goals and objectives.

They will suggest the kind of data to analyze, incorporating any information such as usability and analytics, advise on interpreting the data, and develop a strategic optimization roadmap. Once that roadmap has been created and used to build consensus for the steps ahead, they can help you develop test recommendations and put it in a test plan. They also know how to analyze test results and figure out what to do next.

Collective expertise

Working with an experienced third party gives you the advantage of leveraging that vendor’s collective experience, gleaned from working with other customers in your indus-try and across other industries. Managed services teams can not only assist you with knowledge about your particular industry, but can help you monitor existing tests, identify and push traffic to winning variations, create case studies to summarize test learnings, and recommend next steps that complement each test outcome.

Industry benchmarking

While every business is unique, peer data can help you find out where you stack up alongside your competition. Working with a knowledgeable vendor can give you access to this type of information and help you understand where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow.

Web optimization program planning

As is often the case, not knowing where to start can delay your web optimization efforts. Working with a managed services team helps you define program parameters that make sense, answering questions such as: What is a good program? What should I test? What does “good” look like? How should I interpret the data? Experienced consultants can help you understand the “why,” not just the “what” of the results.

Developing a solid game plan

If you struggle to prioritize testing requests and focus on the highest value tests, getting some assistance in charting your course can increase your effectiveness quickly. A mature web optimization program within your organization cannot be built overnight. It

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THE CASE FOR A HYBRID WEB OPTIMIZATION STRATEGY

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requires years of trial and error to develop a methodology of best practices to ensure success. With a managed services solution, the real savings comes from the significant gains that you can realize by adopting a test-and-learn culture.

Companies that already possess a mature web optimization program either engage a managed services team or have built an in-house equivalent over many years and with significant investment. For companies not ready to scale to this level, managed services can help you to reap the benefits of a full-blown optimization department immediately and without the weighty investment.

Saving time and money

Trial and error can delay you in getting to your desired result. Vendors that bring accumulated expertise and experience know the pitfalls to avoid, saving you the time and cost of discovering them on your own. With an expert team to guide you, you can sidestep some of the difficulties of businesses new to web optimization. For instance, you can avoid launching ad hoc tests that are not part of a larger strategy. And you can rely on a trusted partner to handle responsibilities such as identifying opportunities on the site that will drive success to important metrics, developing strategic roadmaps, examining results, and determining when to conclude a test.

Technical ExpertiseDoing the right work, not just doing the work right

While some solutions can seem easy to use during the selection process, it is common to find that the solution you thought would let you handle web optimization in-house is built more for staff with deeper technical skills or the system may not be flexible or scalable. It is exciting to have the capability to perform multiple tests, but beware of falling into the trap of testing what is “easy” versus what is “right.” Some tests are straightforward and easy to decipher; others may be confusing due to flat results or significant shifts in data. Unless you have dedicated analysts, relying on the statisticians and analysts within a managed services team can take you to the next level with greater efficiency in analyzing test data, summarizing learnings, and developing follow-up tests.

Advanced testing capabilities

With a managed services solution, you have access to more advanced MVT testing capabilities. For instance, you can rely on a team of experts to help you discover variable interactions that are not possible using simple self-service MVT tools or you can have the team perform more advanced tests, such as:

• Performing multi-level or multi-value designs fractionated to accommodate traffic size

• Using a hybrid of factorial, fractional factorial, and orthogonal array designs to achieve optimal experimentation

With a managed services solution, you can perform advanced tests without the need for a developer to code new HTML that incorporates different permutations to be tested. A managed services team includes technical consultants capable of developing complex tests, such as multi-page A/B tests, MVT tests, and personalization tests. As webpages become increasingly complex and visitors expect a flawless web experience, it is crucial that each and every test is developed and launched without interruptions. A good managed services solution will include a quality assurance (QA) team with the expertise, tools, and time to perform cosmetic and functional QA on the pages to ensure that each test is executed without any problems.

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THE CASE FOR A HYBRID WEB OPTIMIZATION STRATEGY

As an example of the benefits of using a managed services solution, let’s say you are responsible for web optimization for a global company with 20 websites, of which only a few have very high traffic and page counts. Because sites with more traffic offer more opportunity for optimization, you can test the impact of design ideas throughout a resign effort. Simple self-service tools are not equipped to handle this scope of testing, making this project more suited for a managed services team of experts. With their help, you can conduct tests to identify the best combination of design elements that maximize your goals, then roll out the new designs across all of your sites.

The Benefits of a Hybrid Approach

As noted above, both self-service and managed services optimization can support a successful optimization program. The most advanced organizations recognize this, and don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. They adopt a hybrid model of managed services with self-service capabilities that enables them to test with confidence when stakes and complexity are highest (managed services), and move quickly on their own when speed is essential (self-service).

About Optimost

OpenText™ Optimost empowers you to deliver more engaging and profitable websites and digital marketing campaigns by optimizing your online presence. Delivered through a hybrid model of managed services and self-service tools, Optimost enables you to test with confidence when the stakes and complexity are highest, and immediately when speed is of the essence.

Get started improving elements of your marketing campaigns to attract the highest value audiences. You can identify optimization opportunities, discover the range of potential improvements, and test changes to deliver websites and campaigns that bring a proven conversion lift, increased sales, and engaged customers. Optimost customers can also identify and serve customer segments with unique content that maximizes customer value for each segment.

Our managed services team helps customers:

• Develop testing strategies, roadmaps, and organizational support, based on customer needs and our proprietary website optimization maturity model.

• See the art of the possible by identifying the most promising changes most likely to improve lift, revenue, or engagement, and use customized multivariate or A/B/n testing to identify the best options, especially when stakes and complexity are highest.

• Segment customers and target the best content to each segment.

Our intuitive and modern SaaS platform:

• Makes it easy to quickly create and run A/B/n tests at scale to further refine the long tail of pages across their online properties through an easy to use, intuitive interface.

• Presents results of the entire testing program any time/anywhere.

Learn more at Optimost.com