Learning about Campaign Optimization

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How to do efficient optimization

A beginner’s mistake is to test every idea with every test. This is the most obvious way of being efficient. If I can test 50 things in a week, why not?
In my experience, efficiency has more to do with careful test design and doing things right the first time, than trying to test [...]

Google Web Optimizer officially launched, no AdWords required

I just got news that Google Web Optimizer is out of beta. In addition, it doesn’t even require an AdWords account to use it anymore. This is great news for the testing industry and for all online marketers. Check it out here. In addition, there now is a dedicated Official Google [...]

1 quick but powerful test design tip

I was going over my testing plans with my boss, Frans Keylard, today and he reminded me of a very powerful rule.
Test if something works before you try variations of it.
In this case, I was testing out two testimonials. They were quite different in the messaging, however, do I even know if testimonials are [...]

Looking forward to 2008

AdAge asked everyone on their Power 150 blog list to contribute a short snippet about “what technology marketers should be paying most attention to in 2008.” I got included in the list and found it a good way to introduce someone to testing. If you have any marketing colleagues that still aren’t sure [...]

3 steps to quickly make a good multivariate test

Having great testing technology puts a lot of power in your hands. You can test anything and everything you want. However, like any other tool, to use it effectively you have to use it right. There’s a lot of best practices and thought that goes into test design, but following these three [...]

What is Taguchi? How does it relate to testing?

Multivariate testing is a buzz word these days, but the buzzword of multivariate testing seems to be Taguchi. However, that term is being abused. Do you know what Taguchi really means? I wasn’t even positive, so to get some background, I did some research and talked with Vladimir (Widemile’s Chief Scientist).
The name and [...]

3 ways to maximize PPC and Landing Page Optimization

Quality PPC and LPO campaigns are key to great conversion rates. If either of them are optimized, you might get good results, but with both of them optimized, your gains are exponential. There are a few pitfalls in optimizing them both though, even with good intentions you may end up confusing your results [...]

Multivariate testing: Let customer actions tell you what’s right

This comic is both hilarious and insightful. Take a second and see if you’ve experienced something similar to this situation:

I came across this before starting my work at Widemile, but stumbled upon it again while browsing Marianina’s Web Analytics Princess blog. Surprisingly, I found it extremely relevant to the multivariate testing I do [...]

Doubling conversion rates: MarketingSherpa case study

MarketingSherpa is giving us a lot of love recently with The Weather Channel case study and now one on Smartsheet. If you were too shy to sign up for our case study on the Widemile website, then please check out the one at MarketingSherpa.
I especially like the last 4 points in the story:

#1. Don’t [...]

Test nothing and get results

Now this is a blog about testing right? So why test nothing? Because nothing is powerful.
I don’t mean don’t test at all, I mean test having less on your page. Those awesome sub headlines your copywriter created? Or those testimonials? Your audience might not care or even look at them.
Best practices [...]