Author: AB Tasty

AB Tasty is a complete tool for website and conversion rate optimization. We serve as your digital lab, equipped with everything you need to create experiments that will help you to better understand your users and customer journeys so that you can create the clearest and most engaging user experience possible, ensuring your website performs well and yields the maximum results.

Article

Dec 15, 2025

10min read

How to Optimize Your Customer Experience Strategy?

AB Tasty

Customer experience optimization (EXO) used to be your secret weapon. Go the extra mile, win the customer. Simple. But the game has changed, and now everyone’s optimizing. It’s no longer about gaining an edge; it’s about staying relevant in a market where a solid customer experience strategy isn’t just nice to have, it’s the baseline for survival.

What does that actually mean? It means shaping every interaction a customer has with your brand across all touchpoints, from website browsing and mobile app experiences to in-store interactions, chatbot conversations, and tablet interfaces. Every touchpoint matters because these interactions don’t just influence purchasing decisions; they shape loyalty, trust, and whether someone comes back or walks away for good.

Why Does EXO Matter Now More Than Ever ?

Deliver solid experiences, and you’ll build a reputation that sticks. Conversion rates climb. Customer loyalty strengthens. But here’s the catch: you can’t stop moving. Stand still, and you’ll get overtaken. Fast. So what does it take to stay ahead?

You need to:

Figure out what your customers actually want – not what you think they want
Find the sweet spot between their needs and what you offer
Keep evolving your interactions on an ongoing basis

That’s where superior experiences live. That’s where business success happens.

Optimization isn’t a one-time project. It’s the bare minimum. To stay competitive and stay ahead, the work never stops.

You need a continuous feedback loop:

Test hypotheses
Gather behavioral data
Analyze results
Iterate improvements

This is how you maximize customer experience and hold onto your edge. Not through one big launch. Through brave, ongoing iteration.

Why Must You Optimize Your CX Strategy Continuously ?

Technology shifts every second, and customer attitudes evolve even faster. The only way to keep pace is by adapting continuously. Your optimization practices need to respond to customer demands in real time—unlocking value, building loyalty, and staying relevant.

When teams work together, everything clicks. Living and breathing this approach means your teams collaborate seamlessly:

Marketing teams understand user behavior
Product teams prioritize features that matter
Tech teams implement changes efficiently

They share the same mission. They work from the same experimentation roadmap. And when they do resources unlock, improvements roll out at the right time and, most importantly, your business stays on the road to success.

Why Is Digital Customer Experience Optimization Essential?

At the core, every business—no matter the product or sales channel—tries to satisfy customers. Customer centricity isn’t new.

But customer experience optimization really took flight when technology advanced and brand touchpoints multiplied. Add in the fact that data is everywhere—collectible, analyzable, actionable—and suddenly you have the means to understand your customers better than they understand themselves.

Still not convinced it matters? The numbers tell the story. According to PwC’s Customer Experience Survey and Future of CX research:

One in three consumers will walk away from a brand after just one bad experience
73% of consumers say their experience with a brand is a major factor in purchasing decisions
Customers will pay up to 16% more for products and services from brands that deliver better experiences

Think about your own habits. Pause for a moment. Think about your own online shopping:

Which brands do you gravitate toward? Which ones leave you cold?
Do they see you as a person—or just another transaction?

It only takes a second to realize: optimizing customer experiences isn’t just important. It’s essential.

How to improve digital customer experience: 10 Proven Strategies

Improving digital customer experience isn’t a one-and-done project—it’s an ongoing commitment to making every online interaction better. Whether you’re optimizing your website, mobile app, or omnichannel strategy, these proven tactics will help you deliver seamless, personalized experiences that keep customers coming back.

1. Map the Digital Customer Journey

Start by understanding every touchpoint your customers encounter—from discovery to purchase and beyond. Customer journey mapping helps you identify pain points, friction, and opportunities to improve the experience.

Use tools and frameworks to visualize each phase of the journey, then prioritize the touchpoints that matter most to your audience. Resources like AB Tasty’s Digital Customer Journey Kit offer practical guidance for mapping and optimizing these paths.

2. Personalize Every Interaction

Personalization is the foundation of exceptional digital CX. In fact, 66% of consumers say they’ll stop buying from a brand if their experience isn’t personalized. Use behavioral data, preferences, and analytics to tailor content, product recommendations, and messaging to individual users.

Advanced segmentation—including emotional and behavioral insights—can help you address different customer needs and motivations more effectively. Learn how AI-powered personalization works in AB Tasty’s EmotionsAI case studies.

3. Optimize UX Across All Devices

Your website and app should be intuitive, visually appealing, and easy to navigate—especially on mobile. Mobile optimization is non-negotiable, as more customers interact with brands on smartphones than ever before.

Streamline navigation, simplify checkout processes, and remove any friction points that slow users down. A well-optimized UX directly impacts conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

4. Test, Learn, and Iterate Continuously

A/B testing and experimentation are essential for digital customer experience optimization. Continuously test different layouts, messaging, CTAs, and features to discover what resonates best with your audience.

Use the results to refine your digital experiences over time. Remember: even small improvements can lead to big wins in engagement and conversions.

5. Ensure Omnichannel Consistency

Provide a unified, seamless experience whether customers engage via desktop, mobile, app, social media, or chat. Omnichannel customer experience builds trust and makes transitions between channels effortless.

Consistency in branding, messaging, and service quality across all digital touchpoints is critical for customer retention and loyalty.

6. Leverage AI and Automation

AI-powered tools can transform how you deliver digital experiences. Use AI to automate personalization, product recommendations, and customer support—boosting both efficiency and satisfaction.

Automation frees up your team to focus on higher-value activities while ensuring customers get fast, relevant responses at every stage of their journey.

7. Collect and Act on Customer Feedback

Regularly gather feedback through surveys, reviews, and direct interactions. Use tools like Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), and Customer Effort Score (CES) to measure digital CX performance.

More importantly, act on what you learn. Customer feedback is one of the most valuable resources for continuous improvement.

8. Simplify Processes and Reduce Friction

Make every process—from sign-up to checkout to support—as simple and fast as possible. Reducing friction means removing unnecessary steps, providing clear guidance, and ensuring smooth, intuitive flows.

Speed and ease of use are non-negotiable for modern customers. The easier you make it, the more likely they are to convert and return.

9. Use Data and Analytics to Drive Decisions

Data-driven insights are critical for shaping exceptional digital customer experiences. Track user behavior, conversion funnels, and engagement metrics using tools like Google Analytics and heatmaps.

Analyze performance regularly, identify trends, and use these insights to inform your optimization strategy.

10. Foster a Customer-Centric Culture

Improving digital CX isn’t just the job of one team—it requires cross-functional collaboration. Share data, insights, and goals across departments to align everyone around the mission of delivering better experiences.

When customer experience becomes an organization-wide priority, the results speak for themselves: higher satisfaction, stronger loyalty, and sustained growth.

Read our strategies and tips on EXO →

3 Key Ingredients to Supercharge Your Customer Experience Optimization Strategy

1. Optimize Your User Experience (UX)

Know your customer journey—and dial it up. When a customer lands on your site, they’re on a mission: searching for products, comparing options, learning more about features, and making purchase decisions.

Each step they take is part of a path—one filled with opportunities and pitfalls. The more you understand that journey and remove friction along the purchase funnel, the better your site performs.

Here’s how to make it happen:

Gather data about customer behavior and preferences
Run experiments using A/B testing to find the optimal setup
Test everything – calls-to-action, landing page configurations, product images, navigation structure, form length

Not sure if your CTAs have the best wording? Test them. Trying to nail the perfect landing page? Run an experiment. Debating whether product images should be cropped or full body? We can examine that too.

Ultimately, you’re aiming for one thing: more conversions. Driving UX optimization on an ever-changing customer pathway keeps you ahead.

2. Improve Your Personalization Efforts

Know your customers—and tailor to their needs. Personalizing digital brand interactions builds loyalty and drives repeat business. In the experience economy, you’re not just selling a product—you’re selling the interaction, the purchase moment, the entire journey.

The user experience when acquiring and consuming your product is just as important as what it does. So personalizing these digital exchanges is key to long-term retention.

To understand customers on a personal level:

Build a solid data foundation to collect behavioral insights
Identify their needs through analytics and feedback
Deliver personalized experiences that keep shoppers returning
Iterate based on results to refine your approach

Because personalization is about getting to the root of what customers have shown you they want—and delivering against that.

As with your customer journey, responding to ever-changing desires can be challenging. Knowing your customers intimately is crucial. Get it right, and the impact is huge. So don’t leave any stone unturned when exploring improvement opportunities.

3. Implement Server-Side Testing and Feature Management

Bring in the tech teams to expand your optimization activities. This is where we bring in the heavy hitters.

While A/B testing can be rapidly implemented by marketing teams, server-side experimentation requires the buy-in and expertise of tech teams and developers. Collaboration between the two is essential to deliver seamless customer experiences.

Think of it this way:

The front-end (client-side) lures customers in with compelling design
The back-end (server-side) runs smoothly to ensure effortless shopping

For instance: presenting a promotional offer (front-end) only delivers results if the payment gateway runs glitch-free and page loading times are fast (back-end).

Lukas Vermeer, director of experimentation at Vista, champions testing both sides:

“A lot of the value from experimentation comes from two things: One is not shipping the bad stuff—a huge value point. The other is figuring out strategically, going forward, what you should invest in.”

Server-side testing expert Lukas Vermeer on AB Tasty 1000 Experiments Club Podcast

Listen to the insightful Lukas Vermeer episode on our podcast, The 1000 Experiments Club →

If your business has reached a certain level of maturity, maximizing both client and server-side testing ensures your optimization efforts work as hard as they possibly can.

Customer Experience Optimization Across Industries

E-Commerce Optimization

Drive transactions and boost conversion rates through continuous experimentation. Test and optimize:

Product page layouts
Checkout flow
Cart abandonment recovery
Product recommendations
Search functionality

Goal: A smoother purchasing experience that caters to your users’ every need.

Discover how Ulta Beauty drives results in this experimentation case study →

B2B Lead Generation

Not every website is for purchasing right then and there. Sometimes site visits are the first step on a longer journey.

Optimize for lead generation on big-ticket purchases—automotive, bedroom furniture, holiday rentals—by focusing on:

Site layout and navigation
Call-to-action placement
Access to product information
Store locator functionality
Contact forms and lead capture

Travel and Hospitality

Travel offers a range of solutions—from individual bookings (hotels, transport) to comprehensive packages. When bundling items together, finding that pricing sweet spot is key.

Server-side testing is particularly relevant here. It helps you:

Curate product offerings based on user preferences
Optimize pricing strategies
Test package combinations
Improve booking flow
Increase conversion rates

Check out AB Tasty’s EXO Travel Kit to gain a deeper understanding of our approach →

Conclusion

Experience optimization isn’t optional anymore—it’s how you stay competitive. Every test you run, every insight you uncover, every iteration you make moves you closer to experiences that truly resonate.

The path forward is clear: map your customer journeys, personalize boldly, test continuously, and let data guide your decisions. Whether you’re optimizing e-commerce checkout flows, refining B2B lead generation, or perfecting travel booking experiences, the principles remain the same—understand your customers deeply, remove friction relentlessly, and never stop improving.

Here’s the truth: your competitors are already optimizing. The question isn’t whether to start—it’s how fast you can move and how brave you’re willing to be with your experiments.

Ready to go further? Let’s build better experiences together →

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Rethinking the Travel Experience | Danielle Harvey

AB Tasty

Danielle Harvey shares how travel customers are using different channels, why testing doesn’t always have to end in success, and how travel companies can integrate AI to provide a more engaging customer experience.

Currently Vice President, Industries, Partnerships & Emerging Products at Quantum Metric, Danielle Harvey, has a long experience in the travel industry. She also spent 11 years at one of the world’s largest hotel brands, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, driving a data-driven approach to optimizing customer experience. With roles including digital acquisition, voice of the customer, CRM, experimentation, and digital analytics, she has a unique understanding of the travel customer journey.

Danielle Harvey spoke with AB Tasty’s Head of Marketing and host of The 1000 Experiments podcast, John Hughes, about the importance of connecting channels in the travel industry, using testing to understand the customer journey, and how brands can best harness the power of AI.

Here are some of the key takeaways from their conversation.

Let customers do what they want where they want

COVID forced the travel industry to undergo an accelerated digital transformation. And travel customers now want a seamless cross-channel experience when booking. This is especially true when people frequently use different platforms at different stages of their buying journey and make multiple visits to your website before making a booking.

“We did some benchmark data and 75-80% of traffic in travel is on mobile at this point, but only about 25% of bookings are. It’s a heavy research channel, a day-of-travel channel, but not necessarily where people are comfortable purchasing yet,” says Danielle.

Enabling customers to transact in their channel of preference and connecting different channels therefore becomes vital. This provides immediate benefits for the customer but also operational efficiencies for providers.

Omnichannel may have been little more than a buzzword a few years ago. But with the true adoption of digital technology and improved methods of data collection, connecting those experiences is becoming more of a reality.

“A lot of travel can still be pretty siloed, but your customers don’t care,” explains Danielle. “They expect that your teams are speaking to each other, that there’s an overarching strategy.”

Even flat and failed tests can be learning experiences

Testing and experimentation don’t always have to be successful to provide you with valuable information to help you improve the customer experience. An example that Danielle gave was testing customer ratings and reviews on a website.

“Some of the most interesting testing I did was around reviews. Because the assumption was that if you get those out there on the site, they should really have an impact,” says Danielle.

But when almost a quarter of the people researching travel will typically visit your website as least five times before booking, it’s likely that they’re getting much of their information from other sources.

“It was always interesting that whenever we tried testing reviews, they didn’t really move the needle. So, your website is often not the only place people are going to go for information,” notes Danielle.

But this flat result helped drive the realization that while adding reviews might not have a direct financial impact, they were important for transparency. And at the same time, they made things easier for the customer.

And just because a test has failed, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t help to inform your strategy going forward. The key is to try and understand what happened and learn from that.

“Over time, I would typically see a 50/50 win to fail rate. But my focus on failed tests was always what do we learn from this, digging into the reason why it failed and then building a pipeline of testing and experimentation off of that,” says Danielle.

Use AI to improve the customer experience

AI-powered tools can create time efficiencies for travel providers and provide valuable context about customer intent. And many travel brands are using AI to help their employees service the customer faster.

“We’re doing some cool stuff at Quantum where an AI chat component will send a summary to a support agent who can immediately see what the customer was trying to do, rather than putting the burden on the customer to repeat themselves,” explains Danielle.

Integrating AI can also be extremely valuable for people involved in testing and experimentation.

“A lot of the excitement around AI, especially in things like personalization, is that you don’t need to come up with ideas yourself and test them, but ideally some of that is automated for you,” says Danielle.

If you launch a test and don’t specifically track certain behaviors, for example, it’s often hard to know how a user might interact with it. By using AI to auto capture data, you can watch what users did and use heat maps to see where they were engaging.

There’s also an increasing focus from both customers and travel providers on self-service. But many brands are still hesitant to have a lot of AI facing the customer. The key is finding the right balance.

“The unique thing with travel and hospitality is there is always a human element. You don’t want to digitize it completely,” advises Danielle. “You’re ideally delivering a nice experience as well.”

What else can you learn from our conversation with Danielle Harvey?

The long-haul effect: How the travel customer journey differs from that of e-commerce.
Voice of the customer: The importance of turning qualitative feedback into quantitative data.
On brand: Some of the challenges involved in testing across different brand websites
Experience over things: Why travel will continue to be a priority for many people going forward even though it might look different.

About Danielle Harvey

Danielle Harvey is Vice President, Industries, Partnerships & Emerging Products at Quantum Metric. Passionate about the travel industry, she spent 11 years prior to this leading digital and analytic teams at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and has also worked for the Avis Budget Group.

About 1,000 Experiments Club

The 1,000 Experiments Club is an AB Tasty-produced podcast hosted by John Hughes, Head of Marketing at AB Tasty. Join John as he sits down with the experts in the world of experimentation to uncover their insights into what it takes to build and run successful experimentation programs.

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From Data to Decisions: Building a KPI Framework That Teams Actually Use

AB Tasty

Let’s be honest… Most KPI dashboards are where good intentions go to die. They’re meticulously built, packed with charts, and then they’re mostly ignored. Teams are drowning in data but starved for real insight. Why? Because the framework is broken. It’s either tracking metrics that don’t matter, it’s too slow to be useful, or it’s so complex that nobody knows what the numbers are actually telling them.

This creates a frustrating cycle. Marketing, product, and engineering teams work hard on new ideas, but they can’t prove their impact. The result is a culture of guesswork, not growth. But it doesn’t have to be this way. At AB Tasty, we see optimization as a journey of constant learning, where every experiment moves you forward. A great KPI framework is your guide on that journey. It’s not a static report; it’s a dynamic tool that turns raw data into a clear story of progress, aligns your teams around shared goals, and gives you the confidence to make the next move. It’s time to build a framework that your teams will not only use but will champion.

Step 1: Identify KPIs that are actually key

The biggest trap in measurement is vanity. We track clicks, pageviews, and time-on-page because they’re easy to see and feel like progress. But do they connect to the bottom line? Often, they don’t. A truly effective framework starts by asking the big questions first. What are the core outcomes that drive our business forward?

Forget the firehose of data for a moment and focus on your ultimate destination. Are you trying to:

Increase customer lifetime value?
Improve user retention and reduce churn?
Boost average order value?
Drive qualified leads for the sales team?

Once you have your high-level business objective, you can work backward to identify the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that directly influence it. These are your true north stars. If your goal is to grow revenue from your e-commerce platform, your key indicators aren’t just traffic numbers. They’re metrics like purchase rate, average order value (AOV), and overall revenue.

This is why we’ve built our platform with these meaningful goals in mind. Right out of the box, you can set up goals in AB Tasty that cut straight to business impact. These include:

Transaction goals, such as AOV, purchase rate, and revenue.
Action tracking, which measures critical user interactions like clicks, scroll depth, and element visibility.
Browsing behavior, to understand revisits, bounces, and pageviews in a meaningful context.

By starting with KPIs that are directly tied to business outcomes, you create a shared language. Your product team’s experiments with the checkout flow, marketing’s new campaign, and the CRO team’s homepage tests all point toward the same measurable goal. You’re no longer just running tests; you’re driving tangible progress.

Step 2: Measure what makes you unique with custom metrics

Standard metrics are a great starting point, but your business isn’t standard. Your user journey has unique steps, critical interactions, and “aha!” moments that generic KPIs will never capture. Maybe it’s a customer using your product configurator, engaging with a new video series, or filling out a multi-step form. These are the interactions that define your unique customer experience, and you need to measure them.

This is where the grit comes in. It takes determination to go beyond the easy-to-track metrics and measure what truly matters. Custom metrics allow you to translate your unique business logic into trackable data points. They answer specific questions like:

“Did users who interacted with our new sizing guide convert at a higher rate?”
“How many people clicked on the ‘request a demo’ button after watching our new feature video?”
“What percentage of users completed all three steps of our new onboarding flow?”

You shouldn’t have to change your user experience to fit your analytics tool. Your tool should adapt to you. That’s why in AB Tasty, you can create Custom Trackings that are directly linked to the DataLayer on your site. This lets you build metrics based on your specific data. You can also create custom trackers with JavaScript, giving your team the flexibility to measure virtually any interaction. It’s even possible to use these custom tracking events to replicate goals from other platforms, like GA4, ensuring consistency across your entire analytics stack.

When you measure what makes you unique, you get insights that your competitors can’t see. You start understanding the why behind the what, turning your data from a simple report into a competitive advantage.

Step 3: Leverage real-time reporting to act fast

The pace of digital is relentless. An insight that’s a week old is already history. For optimization to be effective, the feedback loop between action and insight needs to be as short as possible. If your team has to wait days or weeks for a report on their latest experiment, they’ve already lost momentum. The opportunity to pivot, iterate, or double down on a winner has passed.

A culture of improvement requires a flow of constant learning. This is where real-time reporting becomes essential. When you can see the impact of your changes as they happen, you empower your teams to be proactive, not reactive. They can spot a problem with a new release within minutes, not days. They can see a winning variation pull ahead and make a confident decision to roll it out to all users, capturing its value immediately.

We know that speed is critical. That’s why AB Tasty offers real-time reporting that automatically activates when you push a campaign live. During the initial, most critical phase of a test (up to 1,000 unique visitors or the first 12 hours), your data for every goal and variation is updated every five minutes. We also provide a Live Hits monitoring tool so you can track event data at any moment. This closes the gap between an idea and its outcome, allowing your teams to make smarter, faster decisions fueled by up-to-the-minute data.

Step 4: Understand confidence to make confident decisions

You’ve run a test, and variation B is outperforming the original by 5%. Is it time to celebrate and deploy it to everyone? This is where many teams get stuck. They see a positive lift but are paralyzed by uncertainty. What if it’s just random chance? How “sure” do we have to be?

This is the final, crucial piece of the framework: understanding the story your statistics are telling you. You don’t need to be a data scientist to make a good call, but you do need tools that present statistical confidence in a clear and actionable way.

At AB Tasty, we use Bayesian statistics, which provides direct and intuitive probability statements. Instead of just a confusing p-value, we give you two key things:

The chance to win: This is a straightforward probability that tells you how likely it is that a variation is better than the original. A 98% chance to win means there’s a 98% probability that the variation is the true winner.
A 95% confidence interval: Think of this as a “range of likely outcomes.” If the confidence interval for the gain is [+2%, +8%], we are 95% confident that the true, long-term uplift from this variation is somewhere between 2% and 8%. The remaining 5% represents the margin of error.

This approach removes the ambiguity. It equips your team with the conviction they need to make decisions. It’s not about being 100% certain; it’s about understanding the probability and the potential impact, allowing you to make a calculated business decision. It’s the insightfully sharp wisdom that turns a good idea into proven progress.

Conclusion: Find your better

A KPI framework is so much more than a dashboard. It’s a reflection of your strategy, a tool for alignment, and the engine of your experimentation culture. When you focus on what matters, measure your unique journey, act on insights in real-time, and make decisions with confidence, you create a powerful cycle of continuous improvement.

You stop guessing and start knowing. Your teams feel empowered because they can see the direct impact of their brave ideas. You build a culture that doesn’t just celebrate the wins but learns from every single test. You start your journey to “Find your better.” Your data is already telling this story. It’s time to build the framework that lets you read it.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What’s the difference between a KPI and a metric?

Think of it this way: a metric measures a process, but a KPI measures performance against a key business objective. For example, “website traffic” is a metric. But “conversion rate from organic traffic,” when your goal is to increase online sales, is a KPI. All KPIs are metrics, but not all metrics are KPIs.

How many KPIs should we track?

Less is more. A framework with 25 KPIs is a list, not a focus. Aim to identify 3-5 primary KPIs for each major business objective. This forces you to prioritize what truly drives the business forward and keeps your teams from getting lost in the noise.

How do we get our teams to actually use the framework?

Adoption comes from ownership and accessibility. Involve marketing, product, and data teams in the creation process so the KPIs reflect their reality. Then, make the dashboard highly visible and easy to understand. Most importantly, celebrate the insights the framework generates, not just the successful tests. Frame it as a tool for learning, and your teams will embrace it.

What kinds of KPIs are available out of the box in AB Tasty?

You can set up goals at both an account and campaign level. The primary goal types include:

Action Tracking: Clicks, dwell time, element visibility, scroll rate.
Page Tracking: Visits to a specific page or group of pages.
Browsing Behavior: Revisit rate, bounce rate, pageviews per session.
Transaction: Average order value (AOV), purchase rate, total revenue.
DataLayer Goals: Tracking based on variables in your site’s data layer.

Can we create custom metrics?

Yes. You can create Custom Trackings linked directly to your DataLayer, allowing you to build metrics from your unique business data. You can also create custom trackers using JavaScript, which can be used to track specific interactions or even replicate goals from other platforms like GA4.

Is reporting in real-time?

Yes. Real-time reporting activates automatically when a campaign goes live. During the initial phase (the first 1,000 unique visitors or 12 hours), data for each goal and variation are updated every five minutes. We also provide a Live Hits monitoring tool to track event data at any time.

How does AB Tasty report on statistical confidence?

We provide two key figures to make decisions easier. The first is a 95% confidence interval, which gives you a likely range for the true value of the gain. The second is the Chance to Win, which is a direct probability that one variation is better than the other. We use a Bayesian statistical model because it provides these intuitive, actionable results that are easier for teams to understand and act on.

What’s the difference between client-side and server-side testing?

Client-side testing happens in the user’s browser and is ideal for marketing and CRO teams to quickly test visual changes, copy, and layouts without needing developer support. Server-side testing happens on the web server, which is better for product and engineering teams to test more complex functionality, new features, and omnichannel experiences. AB Tasty’s unified platform supports both, allowing teams to work from a single place.

How do we measure the impact of personalization on KPIs?

The key is to always test your personalization efforts. Run an A/B test where Group A sees the standard experience and Group B sees the personalized experience. By comparing the KPIs for both groups—such as conversion rate, AOV, or engagement—you can directly attribute any uplift to your personalization strategy and prove its ROI.

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Heatmaps: Your Team’s Secret Weapon for Uncovering Website Gold

AB Tasty

What are heatmaps? (and why your team needs them)

Think of heatmaps as your website’s truth-teller. They’re visual snapshots showing exactly where visitors click, scroll, and linger. No guesswork required.

Here’s how they work: Warm colors (reds, oranges) highlight the hotspots where users engage most. Cool colors (blues, greens) reveal the overlooked zones that might need attention.

The best part? Your visitors do all the heavy lifting. They show you what’s working and what’s not, so your team can make changes that actually move the needle.

Spot the signals: When to bring heatmaps into play

Heatmaps aren’t just pretty pictures—they’re your optimization toolkit’s MVP. Here’s how they deliver the biggest impact:

Measuring real engagement

Writing content that no one reads? Heatmaps show you exactly where readers drop off. If only 10% of visitors reach your CTA, it’s time to shake things up.

Tracking what matters: Actions

Are people clicking where you want them to? Heatmaps reveal if visitors complete your desired actions—or where they’re getting stuck instead.

Highlighting where attention sticks (and slips)

What grabs your attention first? What images distract from your main message? Heatmaps answer these questions so you can double down on what works.

Once you have these insights, bigger questions become easier to tackle:

Where should we place our most important content?
How can we use images and videos more effectively?
What’s pulling attention away from our goals?

The essential heatmap lineup every team needs

Most modern heatmap tools offer multiple views of user behavior. We partner closely with some of the major players already. Let’s break down the most common ones you’ll come across.

Click Heatmaps: The Action Tracker

These maps show every click on your page, with dense concentrations appearing as bright white areas surrounded by warm colors. Think of them as your conversion reality check.

What it tells you: Whether people click where you want them to—or if they’re trying to click non-clickable elements that look interactive.

How to use it: Look for clicks scattered around non-interactive text or images. These “frustrated clicks” signal design problems. If users are clicking on underlined text that isn’t a link, or images they expect to be clickable, you need to either make those elements functional or redesign them to look less interactive.

Pro tip: Compare click density on your primary CTA versus other page elements. If secondary elements are getting more clicks than your main conversion button, it’s time to redesign your visual hierarchy.

Scroll Heatmaps: The Attention Meter

See how far down visitors scroll and what percentage of users reach each section of your page. This is crucial for understanding whether your important content is actually being seen.

What it tells you: If users actually see your important content or bail before reaching your CTA. Most importantly, it shows you the “fold line”—where 50% of users stop scrolling.

How to use it: Identify the scroll percentage where you lose half your audience, then ensure all critical elements (value propositions, CTAs, key benefits) appear above that line. If your main CTA is only seen by 20% of visitors, move it higher or add secondary CTAs above the fold.

Pro tip: Use scroll maps to optimize content length. If 80% of users stop reading halfway through your blog post, either shorten the content or add more engaging elements (images, subheadings, interactive elements) to keep them scrolling.

Click Percentage Maps: The Element Analyzer

This view breaks down clicks by specific elements, showing exactly how many people clicked each button, image, or link as a percentage of total visitors.

What it tells you: Which elements deserve prime real estate and which ones are dead weight. You’ll see precise engagement rates for every clickable element on your page.

How to use it: Rank your page elements by click percentage to understand what’s actually driving engagement. If your newsletter signup gets 15% clicks but your main product CTA only gets 3%, you might need to redesign your primary call-to-action or reconsider your page goals.

Pro tip: Use this data to inform A/B tests. If one button consistently outperforms others, test applying its design (color, size, copy) to underperforming elements.

Confetti Maps: The Individual Click Tracker

Instead of showing click density, these maps display each individual click as a colored dot. Perfect for spotting users trying to click non-clickable areas or understanding click patterns in detail.

What it tells you: Where to add functionality or remove confusion. Each dot represents a real user’s intent to interact with something on your page.

How to use it: Look for clusters of dots over non-interactive elements—these represent frustrated users trying to click things that don’t work. Also watch for dots scattered far from any actual buttons or links, which might indicate responsive design issues or accidental clicks.

Pro tip: Filter confetti maps by traffic source or user segment. Mobile users might have different click patterns than desktop users, and organic traffic might behave differently than paid traffic.

Mobile-Specific Heatmaps: The Touch Tracker

Modern tools capture mobile-specific actions like taps, swipes, pinches, and multi-touch gestures—because mobile behavior is fundamentally different from desktop.

What it tells you: How to optimize for the majority of your traffic (since mobile often dominates). Mobile users have different interaction patterns, attention spans, and conversion behaviors.

How to use it: Create separate heatmaps for mobile and desktop traffic. Mobile users typically scroll faster, have shorter attention spans, and interact differently with buttons and forms. Use this data to optimize button sizes, reduce form fields, and adjust content layout for mobile-first experiences.

Pro tip: Pay special attention to thumb-reach zones on mobile heatmaps. Elements that are easy to tap with a thumb (bottom third of screen, right side for right-handed users) typically get higher engagement rates.

Learn more about best practices for designing for mobile experiences with our Mobile Optimization Guide.

Eyes vs. clicks: Understanding the key differences

While heatmaps track mouse movements and clicks, eye-tracking follows actual gaze patterns. Eye-tracking gives deeper insights but requires specialized equipment most teams don’t have.

The good news? AI-powered tools like Feng-Gui and EyeQuant now simulate eye-tracking through algorithms, making this technology more accessible.

Bottom line: Start with heatmaps. They’re easier to implement and give you actionable insights right away.

Features that make or break your heatmapping game

Not all heatmap tools are created equal. Here’s what your team should prioritize:

Must-have features:

Audience Segmentation: Create maps for specific user groups (new vs. returning visitors, mobile vs. desktop)
Map Comparison: Easily compare results across different segments
Page Templates: Aggregate data for similar page types (crucial for e-commerce sites)
Mobile Optimization: Track touch, scroll, and swipe behaviors
Export Capabilities: Share results with your team effortlessly
Dynamic Element Tracking: Capture interactions with dropdowns, sliders, and AJAX-loaded content
Historical Data: Preserve old heatmaps even after design changes

Test smarter with heatmap insights

Here’s where things get exciting. Heatmaps show you the problems, but how do you know if your fixes actually work?

Enter A/B testing.

This three-step approach turns insights into results:

Identify problems with heatmaps
Test potential solutions with A/B testing
Choose the highest-performing solution based on data

Real Example:

Nonprofit UNICEF France wanted to better understand how visitors perceived its homepage ahead of a major redesign.

Their move: UNICEF France combined on-site surveys with heatmapping to gather both qualitative feedback and visual behavioral data.

The result: Heatmaps showed strong engagement with the search bar, while surveys confirmed it was seen as the most useful element. Less-used features, like social share icons, were removed in the redesign—resulting in a cleaner, more user-focused homepage.

Continue reading this case study

Connect the dots and act with confidence

Ready to put heatmaps to work? Here’s your game plan:

Start small. Pick one high-traffic page and run your first heatmap analysis.

Look for patterns. Are users clicking where you expect? Scrolling to your key content? Getting stuck somewhere?

Test your hunches. Use A/B testing to validate any changes before rolling them out site-wide.

Iterate forward. Heatmaps aren’t a one-and-done tool but part of your ongoing optimization process.

Remember: every click tells a story. Every scroll reveals intent. Your visitors are already showing you how to improve—you just need to listen.

Ready to see what your visitors are really doing? Heatmaps give you the insights. A/B testing helps you act on them. Together, they’re your path to better conversions and happier users.

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Unify GA4 with BigQuery to Strengthen Experiments

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In today’s digital landscape, data-driven choices are essential for staying competitive, with experimentation as a critical driver of innovation. To support this, we recently hosted a webinar with experts from Google Cloud and AdSwerve, focusing on how Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and BigQuery can enhance experimentation strategies. GA4 is essential for all marketing teams, providing advanced analytics that, when combined with BigQuery’s data consolidation capabilities, enables more effective testing, personalization, and digital optimization.

Meet the panel

Taige Eoff, Cloud Data AI Lead at Google, has been at Google for twelve years, leading data and AI initiatives for cloud marketing. Taige focuses on developing scalable solutions that support partners like AB Tasty and AdSwerve in optimizing digital experiences.

Alex Smolin, Senior Optimization Manager at AdSwerve, brings extensive experience in media, data, and technology. As a certified Google Premium Partner, AdSwerve provides data-driven brands with solutions ranging from A/B testing to advanced analytics.

Mary Kate, our roundtable host and Head of Growth Marketing for North America at AB Tasty, leads efforts to help companies create impactful digital experiences through AB Tasty’s suite of experimentation, personalization, product recommendations, and site search tools.

AB Tasty’s integration with GA4 & BigQuery

Connecting AB Tasty with GA4 gives marketing teams insights into visitor behavior through advanced analytics on CPA, conversion rate, bounce rate, SEO, and traffic. This integration allows teams to use data from either tool to measure the impact of experiments pre- and post-rollout, generating data-backed hypotheses and fostering innovation.

Google BigQuery, a fully managed cloud data warehouse solution, offers rapid data storage and analysis at scale. With its serverless, cost-effective structure, BigQuery allows businesses to analyze large datasets efficiently, making it easier to make well-informed decisions.

With Google BigQuery, users can effortlessly execute complex analytical SQL queries and leverage built-in machine-learning capabilities.

Why is data from GA4 foundational to any CRO program?

In experimentation, data is the catalyst that drives actionable insights. Data flows in from multiple sources, and businesses generate detailed reports by working with partners to integrate tracking and tagging. But the question then becomes: what comes next? That’s where experimentation enters. Using data from tools like GA4, teams can transform hypotheses into tests, uncovering which changes impact user engagement or conversions most effectively.

GA4’s role extends further by providing a consistent framework for testing across platforms. When integrated with BigQuery, GA4 allows teams to cross-reference test outcomes with other data points, revealing not just what worked but why it worked. As Alex noted, “We gather good data, run good tests, and then verify results across disparate sources like BigQuery to see if what we tested had the expected downstream impact.”

Data accessibility and agility are also important. Trends evolve quickly, with viral content or market shifts requiring rapid adaptability. “Having partners like Google, with all data in one place, and a platform like AB Tasty, where experiments can be quickly set up, is essential for staying competitive” Alex emphasized.

“Having partners like Google, with all data in one place, and a platform like AB Tasty, where experiments can be quickly set up, is essential for staying competitive.”

Alex Smolin, Senior Manager Optimization at Adswerve

How BigQuery powers scalable experimentation

With the growing volume of data, businesses need a way to consolidate and interpret it to drive impactful decisions. BigQuery, as Taige explained, is a robust cloud warehouse that streamlines data for meaningful insights, making it a key player in the experimentation ecosystem.

“Think of BigQuery as a filing cabinet for your organized data,” Taige noted. By consolidating disparate data sources, teams can create a unified view that informs testing and optimization efforts. Through this approach, tools like GA4 and BigQuery enable accurate decision-making that scales with the business. With BigQuery as the backbone, AB Tasty and AdSwerve can build on this structure to optimize user experiences through precise experimentation.

Beyond just data storage, BigQuery integrates with various Google Cloud tools and supports a wide range of use cases—from standard reporting to advanced machine learning. For marketers, this means fewer technical bottlenecks and quicker access to the data needed to stay agile. As Taige explained, “You may not need deep technical skills to access BigQuery’s benefits; the right partnerships and data structure can give you a powerful, accessible foundation.”

Leveraging BigQuery’s built-in AI and machine learning models

BigQuery offers an array of AI models for specific use cases—from translation and personalization to customer segmentation. These models add value by automating processes, such as localization or customer behavior prediction, allowing for smoother, more targeted marketing.

BigQuery’s flexibility means that companies can incorporate custom or third-party models, ensuring compatibility with a variety of AI solutions. This adaptability helps organizations innovate and iterate on experimentation programs, expanding what they can achieve with data.

Simplifying data access for marketing efficiency

For marketing teams, BigQuery’s role as a centralized data hub allows seamless data consolidation from platforms like Google Ads, Salesforce, and GA4. This integration ensures that marketers aren’t slowed down by fragmented data sources, freeing them to focus on insights and execution. As Taige highlighted, “The peace of mind that BigQuery provides comes from knowing that all data is consolidated and accessible, allowing teams to be nimble and creative.”

With BigQuery, marketers can view performance metrics, analyze customer journeys, and refine strategies—all within a unified environment. This lets teams optimize campaigns in real time as new data insights emerge.

Next-Generation capabilities enabled by Google Cloud

Looking ahead, digital is paving the way for more advanced experimentation capabilities. The conversation shifts to AI and machine learning, bringing new opportunities for personalization and optimization. As Mary Kate pointed out, while AI-driven insights can revolutionize customer experiences, many brands are still years away from realizing the full potential of these tools.

True value will come not from adopting every new tool but from understanding the foundational data supporting AI and asking the right questions about how these technologies can serve customer needs. Taige added, “If you don’t have a data strategy, you won’t have an AI strategy.” While AI amplifies data power, it requires organized, high-quality data to work effectively.

By consolidating and centralizing data through BigQuery, teams gain real-time insights and can make informed decisions. This data foundation enables the current wave of omnichannel strategies and sets the stage for future AI applications. Businesses that adopt this holistic approach—consolidating data, optimizing channels, and preparing teams for AI—will unlock new experimentation opportunities and drive impactful customer experiences.

With GA4 and BigQuery, businesses have the tools to streamline data consolidation and power next-generation experimentation. Ready to join your data and experimentation? Discover how AB Tasty can help bring data-driven optimization to life.

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Test, Optimize, and Upsell

AB Tasty

For e-commerce success, added revenue from existing customers can be more efficient than constantly pursuing new ones. Returning buyers are a vital piece of this strategy. We recently sat down with industry experts to discuss how optimizing customer experiences can drive upselling and cross-selling opportunities. They shared practical approaches for boosting average order value (AOV) while nurturing customer loyalty and retention.

Our speakers, each experts in testing, optimization, and conversion rate, provided insights into how brands can increase revenue through personalized, thoughtful customer engagement.

Meet the experts

Nicole Story: Co-Founder & Director at Hookflash Analytics, leading experimentation in testing, optimization, and personalization.
Collette Carlson: Director of Optimization at Astound Digital, a seasoned expert in conversion rate optimization.
Gerred Blyth: Chief Product Officer at Giftory, with a background in interaction design and e-commerce.

In this article, we’ll explore actionable strategies from the webinar to help you personalize to existing customers and drive growth through upselling and cross-selling—not just new customer acquisition.

1. Optimizing the cart for upsells

Upselling at the cart and checkout stages can significantly increase AOV, but it requires a carefully planned approach. As Colette Carlson explains: “Before implementing anything, it’s crucial to understand how you’re going to measure success and ensure that your conversion rate is solid. When it comes to the cart and checkout process, if those aren’t optimized, adding upsell and cross-sell strategies will only introduce more noise.” Shoppers who have reached the cart are already primed to convert, so it’s important not to disrupt their momentum with irrelevant or poorly timed offers.

“Before implementing anything, it’s crucial to understand how you’re going to measure success and ensure that your conversion rate is solid. When it comes to the cart and checkout process, if those aren’t optimized, adding upsell and cross-sell strategies will only introduce more noise.”

Collette Carlson, Director of Optimization at Astound Digital

Coordination with internal teams is also important when designing upsell strategies. For instance, if an upsell is introduced at checkout, the process should be seamless – will the original product be automatically removed from the cart if the customer selects an upgrade, or will they need to make the changes manually? Likewise, if you’re offering a bundle or cross-sell, is your system prepared to handle it without disrupting the customer experience?

Effective upsell offers are relevant to the customer’s purchase. Suggesting complementary items or upgrades can boost AOV, as 80% of consumers are more likely to complete their purchase with brands offering personalized experiences. From upsell testing experience at Giftory, Jared advises against pushing unrelated or overly expensive items, which can confuse or deter customers altogether.

Using product recommendation algorithms can streamline upselling. Automating this process ensures that customers receive relevant suggestions without the need for manual curation, creating a smoother experience for your team and the customer. AB Tasty’s product recommendation engine allows upsells based on several criteria, including most recent products, associated products, similar or more expensive items, complementary items, and top promotions.

2. Strategic product recommendations for cross-selling

To effectively cross-sell, brands must identify the right moment in the customer journey. If you offer relevant products at key points without disrupting the experience, similar to upselling. But first, establishing cross-selling metrics can lead to stronger effectiveness.

The primary metrics will vary depending on what you’re testing—whether it’s an algorithm change, a new carousel design, or a different recommendation format. There are some essential KPIs to consider:

Engagement: Track how often customers interact with cross-sell offers, such as clicks or add-to-basket rates.
Conversion rate: Measure how many customers who engage with offers complete their purchases.
Average order value (AOV): Gauge how effectively cross-sell strategies are increasing the total order value.
Items per order: Monitor if cross-sell efforts lead to additional products being added to the cart.
Overall revenue: This ultimate metric reflects the total impact of your cross-sell strategy.

Once these metrics are in place, refine your strategy by determining where cross-sell offers should appear. For example, adding a cross-sell option in the mini cart or as a pop-up at checkout can add complexity, so testing can help avoid disrupting the customer experience.

Testing cross-sell algorithms in action

Nicole Story shared a valuable example of testing product recommendation carousels. Inspired by Amazon’s success, many brands rushed to implement carousels on their websites, but forgot the importance of context. Placing multiple carousels on the homepage often leads to irrelevant suggestions and a poor experience.

Nicole’s team tested various algorithms by tailoring product recommendations to the customer’s journey. On product detail pages (PDPs), carousels that showed “related product suggestions” outperformed those with generic recommendations. The tests revealed that adjusting algorithms based on context and customer behavior was far more effective than placing standard carousels throughout the site.

As Nicole explains: “Simply introducing product recommendations and checking that box off the roadmap isn’t going to deliver real value. The key is continuous optimization and discovering what works across the entire customer journey—that’s where the real value lies.”

“Simply introducing product recommendations and checking that box off the roadmap isn’t going to deliver real value. The key is continuous optimization and discovering what works across the entire customer journey—that’s where the real value lies.”

Nicole Storey, Co-Founder & Director at Hookflash Analytics

Relevance is everything

Cross-sell strategies must be highly relevant to what the customer is already doing. As Gerred Blyth from Giftory mentioned, “We have high expectations as customers and irrelevant offers can break that trust.” Customers expect brands to know their preferences and behaviors, so it’s important that recommendations feel personalized and timely.

3. Experimentation and testing for long-term loyalty and CLV

Continuous experimentation is critical for building long-term customer loyalty and increasing customer lifetime value (CLV). Instead of relying on a single strategy, brands should constantly test and improve their approach. Colette points out that starting by analyzing existing order data can uncover natural cross-sell patterns. This provides valuable insights into which products are frequently purchased together.

For first-time visitors, bombarding them with upsell offers might backfire. Instead, let them become familiar with your brand and key products before introducing additional offers. In contrast, repeat customers may be more open to cross-sells that align with their previous purchases.

Upselling with product recommendations

According to our data a customized UX can boost revenue and increase basket size by up to 10%. Product recommendations can be seen as a form of personalization and, as our panel pointed out in the webinar, experimenting with different formats—such as carousels, quizzes, or other interactive tools—can help identify what resonates with your audience and drives engagement.

We use AI to analyze visitors’ site interactions and purchase behavior, delivering targeted recommendations, each with a specific goal. This means you can better understand which products to offer, to whom and when during the customer journey:

Product Page: Guide users to explore more products or categories.
Last Seen Products: Help users quickly resume their browsing.
Add to Cart: Encourage users to add complementary items to their basket.
Cart Page: Suggest additional items to increase order value.
Homepage: Showcase personalized content and help users navigate the site.

Our panel also discussed how different types of algorithms are necessary depending on your vertical. You can divide your algorithms into three distinct types and choose how you prioritize:

Convert: These recommendations would offer top sellers, top trending products, top converting products, top reviewed products etc.
Upsell: This could suggest most recent products viewed, associated products, similar products, compatible products etc.
Personalize: This could suggest last visited products, last bought products, user affinity or similar or associated to cart products

If you work for a beauty site, customers will replenish their favorite products, whereas home and decor might recommend accessories or similar products. While personalization drives relevance, maintaining control over the recommendation process means you can speak directly to your customer’s needs.

Giftory: fostering loyalty with timely engagement

Giftory is beginning to focus on lifetime customer value. Their approach involves using cross-sell and upsell strategies similar to a CRM initiative, introducing customers to a broader range of products both during and after their purchase. They gather data on why customers buy gifts, such as birthdays or anniversaries, and use that information to send timely product recommendations in the future.

By reaching out to customers at the right moment, such as 11 months after an anniversary purchase, Giftory can re-engage them with relevant offers without overwhelming them with constant promotions. This creates a personalized experience that encourages long-term loyalty and repeat business.

4. Subscription models for upsell and retention

Offering subscription products to upsell can improve both immediate revenue and CLV. The challenge is to find the right balance: How can you encourage customers to subscribe without overwhelming them, while also ensuring the offer feels relevant and valuable over time?

Before launching a subscription model, look at your data to understand customer behavior. Consider the difference between a one-time purchaser and a subscriber. While offering a small discount for subscribing may lower the initial AOV, the long-term benefits of recurring revenue from a loyal subscriber can make up for it.

Testing and data-driven strategy

Launching a subscription model requires more than just adding an upsell feature—it involves a data-informed approach. Starting small with a minimum viable product (MVP) allows you to test how customers respond and fine-tune the offering. Metrics like renewal rates, engagement, and overall CLV will help guide decisions about whether to scale the program.

As Gerred advises: “Walk before you run. Start with the first test—an MVP. It doesn’t have to be the final version you’ll roll out, but that initial test will help you understand the value and prove the benefits. From there, you can evolve and continuously improve. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you hear about advanced strategies and algorithms, but you don’t need to get there all at once.”

“Walk before you run. Start with the first test—an MVP. It doesn’t have to be the final version you’ll roll out, but that initial test will help you understand the value and prove the benefits. From there, you can evolve and continuously improve. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you hear about advanced strategies and algorithms, but you don’t need to get there all at once.”

Gerred Blyth, Chief Product Officer at Giftory

Offering personalized options, such as different subscription tiers or flexible renewal cadences (monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly), can make the experience more appealing to a wider range of customers. Testing, refining, and adapting based on customer feedback will ensure that the model evolves in a way that meets both business goals and customer expectations.

Wrapping up

Just as you approach CRO with care and precision, cross-selling and upselling require a high level of attention.

Upselling and cross-selling don’t have to be complex when you have the right tools and the right strategy. If you want the expert’s opinion – watch the webinar below:

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Mastering Mobile Optimization: Tactics for Higher Commerce Conversion

AB Tasty

In today’s mobile-first world, where smartphones dominate more than half of global web traffic, optimizing for mobile has never been more crucial. Mobile usage surpassed desktop in the US in 2022 and in the UK in 2023, signaling a clear shift in consumer behavior. Brands are now urged to design with mobile in mind first, adapting for desktop as needed, rather than the reverse. This shift may seem daunting for teams, but it’s a necessary evolution to meet the expectations of today’s users.

Whether your customers are researching products or making purchases, their mobile experience can make or break their journey with your brand. While it’s clear that more shopping is done on mobile devices than on desktop, the real question remains: how significant is mobile shopping overall? Today’s mobile-savvy consumer isn’t just using their device for convenience, but to blend their in-store and online shopping into one seamless experience. In fact, nearly 80% of shoppers globally use their smartphones to browse a retailer’s website while shopping in-store, and 74% use the store’s app. However, only 33% of consumers prefer making purchases on their phones, with 49% reporting a smoother experience on desktop or tablet. This highlights just how important it is for brands to enhance their mobile offerings for a seamless experience across all devices.

To delve into the complexities of mobile optimization Mary Kate, AB Tasty’s Head of Growth Marketing for North America, teamed up with Allie Tkachenko, a UI/UX Strategist at WPromote, for a webinar on mastering mobile. AB Tasty’s platform enables brands to deliver personalized customer experiences, while Wpromote helps design and optimize engaging web experiences that convert. They emphasize a key message: mobile optimization isn’t just about resizing for a smaller screen – it’s about creating an intuitive, seamless journey that aligns with today’s mobile-first consumer’s behaviors and expectations.

It’s critical that mobile websites excel in areas like speed, navigation, and user-friendliness. Let’s dig into three actionable strategies from the webinar to help your brand stay ahead and deliver an improved mobile experience for your customers.

1. Maximizing limited space

One of the biggest challenges in mobile design is maximizing limited screen space without overwhelming users. The key is to keep crucial content above the fold—on mobile, this means placing essential elements like navigation bars, CTAs, and product highlights in a prominent position, visible without scrolling. This is particularly important on search landing pages, the homepage, and other high-traffic areas. A well-organized and streamlined navigation system that helps users quickly find what they need can lead to higher engagement and reduced bounce rates.

While desktops offer ample space to break down navigation into detailed categories, mobile design requires a more simplified structure due to space constraints. Consider grouping categories under broader buckets like “Top Categories” or similar, allowing users to easily explore the site without feeling overwhelmed by too many options. Another key strategy is leveraging responsible design, such as implementing sticky navigation bars or menus that stay visible as users scroll. This approach, widely adopted across industries, ensures easy access to important links and minimizes the effort required to navigate the site.

AB Tasty in action

The UX team at Clarins wanted to make their product more visible on their category pages. In the original layout, filtering and sorting functions were stacked, removing space from the second row of products appearing. After testing a column layout for the filtering and sorting menus, the team saw a significant improvement—bounce rates decreased, and clicks to products increased by 34%.

Optimizing screen space solutions

Keep key elements above the fold
Simplified navigation
Use responsive design

**Watch the whole webinar below or get our** **Mobile Optimization Guide**

2. The thumb zone

The “Thumb Zone” refers to the area of the screen that is easiest for users to reach with their thumbs, typically the lower portion of the screen. Since most users interact with their phones one-handed, placing critical CTAs, buttons, and interactive elements within this zone is important for accessibility and ease of use.

Consider this: a navigation bar that starts at the top of the page but shifts responsively to the bottom as the user scrolls. This keeps it in an expected spot initially, avoiding any disruption to the user’s flow, and then moves it to a more reachable area as they continue browsing.

Another thing to keep in mind is sizing. Whether it’s buttons, images, form fields, or menu links, the size of these elements plays a huge role in usability. You can’t just shrink them to save space—you have to ensure they’re “tappable” so users can easily interact. While reachability is key, think about what doesn’t need to be within reach, like informational banners or logos. You can place those outside the thumb zone, saving prime space for interactive elements.

Brands that prioritize the thumb zone in their mobile designs see improved user engagement and lower frustration levels. This small shift can make a significant difference in usability and customer satisfaction.

AB Tasty in action

The team at Club Med, a leading travel and hospitality brand, observed that their original mobile site displayed a navigation bar at the top of the page, which would disappear as users scrolled down. To increase user engagement with different category offerings, they created a variation of the mobile homepage with a sticky navigation bar which remained at the bottom of the screen while scrolling.

The results of the A/B test revealed a 12% increase in click rates, a 12% increase in access to the transaction funnel, and a 2% decrease in the bounce rate for users showing the variation with the sticky navigation bar. This approach effectively makes information more physically accessible.

Optimizing the thumb zone

Bottom Navigation
Sizing
Reachability

3. Improving processes

Lengthy forms and cumbersome checkout processes are major obstacles to conversion in mobile digital experiences. Mobile users expect a seamless, fast journey, and frustration with complex forms often leads to abandoned carts. Streamlining these processes—especially form fills and checkouts—can reduce friction and improve conversions. We’ve all experienced the annoyance of having to redo a form, fearing progress might be lost, which can lead to users abandoning the process entirely. Key areas for optimization include simplifying checkout by offering guest checkout options and exploring one-click payment methods.

Search and product discovery also present unique challenges on mobile devices due to limited screen space. With condensed menus and site navigation, users often rely heavily on the search function. Optimizing your search results pages to help users quickly find specific products can drastically improve the user experience. The space constraints of mobile mean that every element, including search results, should guide users efficiently to what they’re looking for.

Lastly, page load speed plays a vital role in retaining users. A slow-loading site can deter users, leading them to abandon your site altogether. Reducing load times is crucial for keeping users engaged. Understanding your audience and continuously optimizing these processes will help ensure your site meets their needs and encourages conversions.

AB Tasty in action

Travel insurance company, DirectAsia, needed users to fill out a form to generate an insurance quote. The team observed that customers were not completing the forms as smoothly as expected. To address this, they implemented a variation in the test where bolded check marks appeared to validate each completed field. This change created a sense of progress for users as they navigated the form and alleviated any uncertainty about needing to go back to correct errors.

As a result of this test, DirectAsia achieved a 1.97% increase in quote generations and a 7.78% increase in transaction rates. By reassuring users throughout the form-filling process, DirectAsia successfully guided more customers through their quote generation form.

Optimizing mobile processes

Checkout
Search and discovery
Speed & image loading

Wrapping up

Mobile optimization is about much more than making your website look good on a smaller screen; it’s about crafting a seamless, user-friendly experience that enhances the customer journey. Whether you’re focusing on improving site speed, optimizing design for better accessibility, or streamlining complex processes, the suggestions above provide a solid foundation for mastering mobile optimization. By understanding the nuances of mobile behavior and catering to the needs of your users, your brand can create a frictionless experience that drives conversions and fosters customer loyalty.

Stay ahead in the mobile-first era by ensuring your website design and processes align with the expectations of today’s consumers. AB Tasty can help achieve this goal by providing innovative tools and data-driven testing to enhance your mobile strategy. As mobile usage continues to grow, so does the importance of providing a smooth, engaging, and conversion-focused experience.

If you want to get all the details. – watch the webinar below.

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Experimentation Hotspots: Proven Strategies to Optimize Key Pages

AB Tasty

When it comes to optimizing your website for better performance, experimentation is key to uncovering the areas that will make the biggest impact. Every page and interaction is an opportunity to boost conversions, streamline the user experience, and reduce friction. But with so many possibilities, where do you start testing? What are the key hotspots on your website that can deliver quick wins and meaningful improvements?

Finding the right areas to test can be tricky, but knowing where to focus is important for getting results quickly. That’s why we’ve identified five key questions to help guide your experimentation efforts:

Is the content relevant to “me” (the visitor)?
Is the next action clear?
What may be distracting?
What could cause anxiety?
What is creating urgency?

By addressing these questions, you can start identifying the areas on your website—what we call Experimentation Hotspots—that offer the most potential for improvement. In this guide, we’ll explore these important areas, from the homepage to the checkout funnel, that are ideal for testing. Whether you’re optimizing for mobile, app, or desktop, these tips will help you kickstart your experimentation journey and start making impactful changes.

1. Homepage

The homepage is where you show people who you are and what your brand means. It serves as the gateway to various sections, from product categories to special offers, and is where users often return mid-session. Your homepage often sets the tone for the rest of the user’s journey, making optimization crucial.

One effective strategy is to experiment with the placement and labels of your call-to-action (CTA) buttons. Ensuring that users can quickly locate key actions, such as signing up or starting their shopping journey, can make a significant difference in engagement. Testing different CTA labels, such as “Explore Now” versus “Shop Now,” helps determine which drives the most conversions.

Additionally, it’s essential to test the layout and how content is presented. Category links, sales promotions, and other critical pieces of content should be placed in a way that draws attention without overwhelming users. Small adjustments—like changing the placement of sales banners or highlighting popular categories—can enhance the overall user experience and increase interaction with your content.

Areas to optimize

Header
Main Navigation
Categories
Content Pushes
Layout

AB Tasty customer success in action

The beauty brand, Lush, shifted its homepage messaging by testing two variations—one focused on self-care and another on gifting care packages. The version centered on gifting led to a 250% increase in engagement, showing how even minor tweaks in messaging can significantly improve user interactions.

2. Product listing page (PLP)

The product listing page (PLP) is where users begin narrowing down their choices. This page is most effective when visitors can scan and compare products easily, helping them make decisions more efficiently. While it might seem like there’s limited space to display information, there’s a lot of room for optimization that can smooth the path to purchase.

Testing how high-quality images, clear pricing, and CTAs like “Add to Cart” are displayed can improve product visibility. Adding reviews or badges like “Best Seller” can boost credibility and urgency. Experiment with hover effects to show additional details when users hover over a product.

Experiment with the placement and functionality of filters to make product discovery easier. Test whether a sidebar, dropdown, or dynamic filtering works best for your users. Simple adjustments to category labels or sorting options, like by price or ratings, can enhance the shopping experience.

Areas to optimize

Product Card Information (e.g., imagery, price, CTA)
Reviews and Badges
Hover States
Filters and Sorting Options
Headers/Banners

AB Tasty customer success in action

Clarins UK reintroduced the wishlist functionality to their PLP and PDP. This allowed users to save their favorite products for later, which led to a 1.54% increase in basket page views. It also increased the number of transactions by 1.83%, showing the value of small user experience enhancements.

It’s also important to consider the differences between mobile and desktop experiences when testing. A solution that works well on desktop might not perform the same on mobile due to varying user behaviors. Despite a long-standing focus on mobile optimization, it’s still common to overlook these differences.

3. Product display page (PDP)

The product description page (PDP) is the centerpiece of any e-commerce experience and at the center of a customer journey. Many retailers are now asking, “How can we make the PDP feel more like a landing page?” With more customers arriving directly on PDPs from social media, rather than the homepage, the PDP often serves as the first touchpoint. This makes it even more crucial, as it’s where customers ultimately decide whether or not to make a purchase. Reducing friction and providing clear, relevant information are essential to driving conversions at this stage.

Key areas to experiment with

Product Imagery and Descriptions: Ensure your images and descriptions are high-quality, answering common questions about the product (e.g., size, fit, material).
Call-to-Action Buttons: Test the wording, design, and placement of your CTAs to find what drives the most conversions.

Additional areas to optimize

Page Layout (order of information)
Product Images and Videos
Shipping & Return Messaging
Cross-Sell Items
Call to Actions
Reviews and User-Generated Content
Experience for New Visitors
Mobile vs Desktop Experience
Add-to-Cart Behavior & Mini Cart

AB Tasty customer success in action

French beauty product L’Occitane implemented a social proof widget on its PDP, showing how many people had recently viewed a product. The first variation displayed “X people are viewing this product,” while the second version said “Selling Fast.” This simple tweak created urgency and reassurance, leading to a 5.76% increase in transaction rate and a 3.36% increase in revenue per visitor.

Social proof taps into user psychology—when customers see that many others are viewing or purchasing a product, it creates a sense of urgency and reduces anxiety, helping to drive sales.

4. Checkout funnel

The checkout process is where the real magic (or frustration) happens. It’s the final step in the customer journey, and even small obstacles here can lead to abandoned carts. Simplifying the checkout funnel can make the difference between completing a sale and losing a customer at the last moment. This stage is not just about speeding up the process—it’s also about building trust and ensuring customers feel confident in their purchase.

Optimizing your checkout involves refining everything from the mini basket to the confirmation page, making the experience as seamless as possible.

Testing opportunities

Product Imagery and Descriptions: Ensure your images and descriptions are high-quality, answering common questions about the product (e.g., size, fit, material).
Call-to-Action Buttons: Test the wording, design, and placement of your CTAs to find what drives the most conversions.

Additional areas to optimize

Basket Summary
Step Progression
Login and Guest Checkout Options
Account Creation
Form Field Labels & Microcopy
Payment Methods
Coupon Field Visibility & Design
Cross-Sells & Product Recommendations
Confirmation Page

AB Tasty customer success in action

Calvin Klein ran a test where they displayed a “last viewed” carousel on the empty cart page after a user removed all items from their cart. This reminded users of previously viewed products, reducing the bounce rate by 4.19% and increasing orders by 7.5%. By preventing the cart from feeling empty and offering product recommendations, the brand successfully retained potential customers and increased conversions.

5. Personalization

Personalization is key to creating a unique and engaging experience for each visitor. In an online shopping survey, 88% of respondents rated personalized product recommendations as helpful when asked to score them on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being very helpful and 1 not helpful). By understanding user behavior and segmenting audiences, you can deliver tailored content that enhances user satisfaction and drives higher conversions. Personalization not only improves the shopping experience, but also fosters customer loyalty, encouraging repeat purchases over time.

Start with

Behavioral Targeting: Personalize content based on how users interact with your site. For example, use data on past clicks or scrolling behavior to serve more relevant offers.
Abandoned Cart Reminders: Encourage users to complete their purchase by reminding them of items left behind.

AB Tasty customer success in action

French fashion retailer, Maje created a personalized campaign for users who abandoned their carts. When those users returned to the site, they were shown the products they had previously left behind, making it easy for them to continue shopping. This strategy resulted in an 11% increase on click rate on the pop up, with a significant portion of those users completing their purchases.

In addition, AB Tasty tools like Emotions AI can help recognize emotional triggers or online body language (e.g., scroll behavior or clicks) to tailor content even further, providing users with the most relevant experiences.

Wrapping up

From optimizing your homepage to personalizing the user experience, every aspect of your website offers an opportunity for growth. Even small tests—like changing the placement of a carousel or adjusting CTA wording—can lead to significant results.

By regularly experimenting and optimizing key hotspots on your site, you can improve user engagement, reduce friction, and ultimately increase conversions. Remember, every site is different, so test frequently and use data to inform decisions. This approach helps ensure that you’re continually refining your site for optimal success.

If you want to get all the details. – watch the webinar below.

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Sep 24, 2024

6min read

Ideas Worth Keeping: The Top 5 Subscription Trends to A/B Test

AB Tasty

Platform partner blog

This guest blog was written by Kit Heighway, Director of Optimization, at Daydot, a digital agency that specializes in crafting exceptional experiences to drive measurable revenue growth. They are experts in Conversion Rate Optimization, Performance UX Design, and Customer Lifecycle Optimization for Subscription, eCommerce, and Non-Profit brands.

Let’s imagine you are relaxing at home after a long day’s work, when the doorbell rings. You jump up, eager to see what’s waiting behind the door – a new clothing item, a cooking kit, or perhaps a treat for your pet? The excitement is real, and it’s all thanks to your recent subscription box sign-up.

Subscription boxes have quickly become consumer’s favorite way to shop from brands they love. In fact, the global subscription box market is projected to exceed $75 billion by 2025.* With so many brands wanting to get in on the action, the key question is: how can you participate in a way that resonates with your audience? A/B testing subscription features is a great starting place.

The Daydot team dive into the subscription box world and try out 5 of the most popular subscription purchase journeys. In the article below, we share what features we loved the most, giving you our round-up of the best features to test on your digital subscription journey.

The subscription journeys reviewed: Abel and Cole, Bloom and Wild, Gin-box, Dear-bump, Bella & Duke, Perky Blenders, Butternut Box.

5 Subscription Trends to Test

1. Combining expected USPs with what makes your business different

In 2024 certain features have become standard expectations in the world of subscription services. Phrases like “Free delivery,” “Home delivery,” or “Cancel anytime” are no longer points of differentiation – they’re baseline consumer expectations. However, these essentials still matter, and this is where the savvier brands really stand out, by mixing their unique personality with those expected USPs.

Take Abel & Cole, for example. As the leader in organic products, they don’t settle for the dull “Free delivery to your door.” Instead, they integrate their brand personality into the message with “Get your ethical food delivery dropped to your door.” It’s a small tweak, but it adds a layer of authenticity and makes a difference in standing out.