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Article

Sep 16, 2024
8min read

Can AI Improve the Digital Customer Experience? [+5 Examples]

Emily Healy

Emily Healy

The future of digital experience optimization has arrived and it’s driven by AI.

Are you ready for it?

AI can often be a sensitive subject, as loud voices in the room will boast how AI can replace people, careers, or even entire sectors of society. We’re scaling back the dystopian imagery and instead finding ways where AI can be your sidekick, not a supervillain.

There are two sides to the coin with AI: it can help optimize your time and boost conversions, but it can also be risky if not used properly. We’ll dig into the ways AI can be a helpful tool, as well as some considerations to take.

The positive impact of AI on your customer experience roadmap

In one of our last pieces about AI in the CRO world, we discussed 10 generative AI ideas for your experimentation roadmap. Since the publication of this article, we’re back with even more ideas and concrete examples of successful campaigns.

1. Display reassurance messages to visitors who value it

Some shoppers value their privacy and data safety above all else. How can you comfort these visitors while they’re shopping on your website without interfering with other visitors’ journeys? While salespeople can easily gauge these preferences in face-to-face interactions, online shoppers deserve the same personalized experience when they shop independently.

Let’s see an example below of how you can enhance the digital customer experience for different shoppers at the same time:

MAAF, a French insurance provider, knows just how complex buying auto insurance can be for visitors. Some shoppers prioritize safety and reassurance messages, while others don’t. With AI systems that segment visitors based on emotional buying preferences, you can detect and cater to this type of profile without deferring to other shoppers. “Intuitive” profiles are receptive to reassurance messages, while “rational” profiles tend to see these extra messages as a distraction.

Emotional segmentation - Improve the digital customer experience with AI

The team at MAAF used advanced AI technology to overcome this exact challenge. Once the “intuitive profiles” were identified, they were able to implement personalized messages ensuring their commitment to their customers’ data protection. As a result, they saw an increase of 4% in quote rates for those directed to the intuitive segmentation, and other profiles continued on their journey without extra messaging.

2. Segment your audience based on their shopping behavior

With so many online shoppers, how can you possibly personalize your website to give each shopper the best user experience? With AI-powered personalization software.

Some online shoppers have a need for competition. Don’t we all know someone who loves to turn everything into a competition? These “competitive” shoppers are susceptible to social-proof messaging and are influenced by the opinions of other customers while searching for the best product. One of the best ways to personalize a listing page for competitive shoppers is to show ratings from their peers. 

Meanwhile, what works for competitive shoppers, will not work effectively for speedy shoppers. Shoppers with a need for immediacy will appreciate a clear, no-frills browsing experience. In other words, they don’t want to get distracted. Let’s look at the example below.

Competition vs immediacy EmotionsAI

This website implemented two different segments targeting online shoppers with a need for “competition” and “immediacy.” These two segments brought in a 9% increase in conversion rates and a 2% increase respectively. The campaign was a success, but how did it work? 

Using AB Tasty’s AI personalization engine, EmotionsAI, this online shop identified its visitors’ main emotional needs and directed them toward a product listing page best suited for them. EmotionsAI turns buyer emotions into data-driven sales with actionable insights and targeted audiences.

Want to learn more about EmotionsAI? Get a demo to see how AI can impact your roadmap for the better!

AB Tasty Demo Banner

3. Automate and personalize your product recommendations 

European backpack designer, Cabaïa, used an AI-powered recommendation engine to generate personalized recommendations for their website visitors based on user data collected. The team at Cabaïa previously managed product recommendations manually but wanted to shift their focus to improving the digital customer experience. 

AI recommendation tools put the right product in front of the right person, helping boost conversions with a more tailored experience. Since implementing this AI-powered recommendation engine, they’ve had +13% revenue per visitor, increased conversions by 15%, and raised their visitor’s average cart size by 2.4%.

Cabaia recommendations test

4. Innovate your testing strategy with emotional targeting

According to an online shopper study (2024), traditional personalization is no longer enough. Personalizing based on age, location, and demographics just isn’t as precise anymore.

The team at Groupama, a multinational insurance group, wanted to take A/B testing a step further and better adapt their approach to fit their customers’ unique emotional needs. By using an AI-powered emotional personalization engine, they were able to identify two large groups of website visitors: emotionals and rationals. 

They created an A/B test based on these customer profiles. One variation catered to the “emotional” buyers by showing reassuring messaging on the insurance quote to protect their data, and the other catered to “rationals” that displayed the insurance quote without any extra messaging that allowed them to have a distraction-free buyer journey. Within 2 weeks, Groupama saw an instant win with a 10% increase in quote submissions.

Insurance quote segmentation test: emotionals vs rationals

5. Simplify the customer journey and build buyer confidence

Like many financial services, purchasing insurance is inherently complex. Consumer behaviors and expectations in insurance are quickly changing.

As a leading insurer in Singapore, DirectAsia has embraced innovative technologies to better serve their customers. By pioneering new technology, Direct Asia was able to segment their visitors based on emotional needs.

The team at DirectAsia identified that the ‘safety’ segment (buyers needing reassurance) was the top unsatisfied emotional need for visitors on both desktop and mobile devices. With these insights, DirectAsia ran an experiment on ‘safety’ visitors, displaying two banners to reassure them and move them further down the form to the quote page.

DirectAsia A/B Test Copy - Simply the customer journey

The banners led to + 10.9% in access to the quote page for one, and +15% in access to the quote page for the other.

The potential risks of AI on your customer experience roadmap

Artificial intelligence has been evolving (very quickly!) over the past few years and it can be tempting to run full speed ahead. However, it’s important to find the right AI that works for you and helps you achieve your goals. Is AI powering something you need, impacting your business, or is it just there to impress? 

With that in mind, let’s consider some precautions to take while using AI:

  • Unfactual or biased information on data reports, website copy, etc. 

When researching or asking for data sources, it’s important to keep in mind that artificial intelligence can get it wrong. Just as humans can make mistakes and have biased opinions, AI can do the same. Since AI systems are trained to produce information following patterns, AI can unintentionally amplify bias or discrimination.

  • Lack of creativity, dependence, and over-reliance

Excessive reliance on AI can reduce decision-making skills, creativity, and proactive thinking. In competitive industries, you need creativity to stand out in the market to capture your audience’s attention. Your roadmap could suffer if you put too much faith in your tool. After all, you are the expert in your own field.

  • Data and privacy risks 

Protecting your data should always be a top concern, especially in the digital experience world. You will want a trusted partner who uses AI with safeguards in place and a good history of data privacy. With the fast-developing capabilities of AI, handling your data correctly and safely becomes a hurdle. As a general best practice, it’s best not to upload any sensitive data into any AI system – even if it seems trustworthy. As these systems often require larger quantities of data to generate results, this can lead to privacy concerns if your data is misused or stored inappropriately.

  • Hallucinations 

According to IBM, AI hallucinations happen when a large language model (LLM) thinks it recognizes patterns that aren’t really there, leading to random or inaccurate results. AI models are incapable of knowing that their response can be hallucinogenic since they lack understanding of the world around us. It’s important to be aware of this possibility because these systems are trained to present their conclusions as factual.

Conclusion: Using AI in the Digital Customer Experience

As with any tool or software, AI is a powerful tool that can enhance your team – not attempt to replace it. Embracing the use of AI in your digital customer experience can lead to incredible results. The key is to be aware of risks and limitations, and understand how to use it effectively to achieve your business goals.

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Article

Aug 28, 2024
6min read

Hotel Chocolat at CX Circle: Sweetening Loyalty with Experimentation

John Hughes

John Hughes

Welcome to a world where chocolate isn’t just a treat but an experience—a world crafted by Hotel Chocolat, a British group with nearly 31 years of rich history. At the heart of their journey lies a realization: loyalty isn’t bought with discounts—it’s earned through authentic connections and shared values.

Recently, they shared this ethos at the CX Circle event by Contentsquare featuring Mel Parekh, Head of E-commerce at Hotel Chocolat. Mel took the stage to unravel the complexities of customer loyalty—a subject that has never been more critical in the fast-evolving world of eCommerce. The discussion centered around how Hotel Chocolat has navigated the challenges of a changing world while staying true to its brand values using the power of experimentation.

The Secret Ingredient: Authenticity and Quality

Hotel Chocolat stands out in the chocolate industry for its commitment to authenticity and quality. While most chocolate brands are content to source their cocoa, Hotel Chocolat went all-in, growing their own on the lush Rabot Estate in Saint Lucia. This direct control over their supply chain ensures that they use only the highest quality ingredients while helping craft a brand that’s as genuine as the cocoa it cultivates. 

Hotel Chocolat has witnessed a constant change in the e-commerce landscape. They’ve learned to adapt to these changes while staying true to their brand identity. One of their key initiatives has been to clearly define who they are as a brand and to create compelling reasons for customers to return to their site time and time again.

A Changing Landscape

It’s no secret that the world of eCommerce is in constant flux. Prices are rising across the board—from raw materials to operating costs—and the competition for customers is fiercer than ever.  In this environment, retailers must do more with less, finding innovative ways to stand out. 

As customers increasingly engage with various digital platforms and experiences, the range of choices available to them has become almost overwhelming. In this crowded marketplace, standing out from the competition requires more than just eye-catching design elements.

Moreover, the explosion of data in recent years has made it possible for even smaller companies to leverage insights that were once only accessible to larger players. However, the real challenge lies in capturing this data, interpreting it effectively, and, most importantly, implementing it in ways that drive meaningful results. Hotel Chocolat has embraced this data-driven approach, using insights to refine their strategies and create a more personalized experience for their customers with both Contentsquare and AB Tasty.

Building Lasting Relationships with Customers in a Phygital World

Loyalty is the cornerstone of Hotel Chocolat’s strategy in this new era. As a premium brand, they understand that their customers aren’t just looking for a product; they’re looking for an experience that resonates with their values and desires. This understanding has led Hotel Chocolat to focus on building a brand that not only meets customer expectations but exceeds them by offering a unique, personalized experience.

One of the key strategies they’ve implemented is their “phygital” approach, which blends the digital and physical worlds to create a more personalized, engaging shopping experience. This approach is centered on three key principles:

  • Instant: Reducing delay or lag to ensure a smooth customer experience.
  • Connected: Creating a more personal connection with each customer.
  • Engaging: Giving customers a sense of control over their shopping journey.

 Make the Experience Personal

With over 120 different chocolate recipes, Hotel Chocolat faced this challenge: how do you help customers find the perfect product without overwhelming them? Their solution was gamification—a method that makes the shopping experience more fun and interactive. In Spring 2023, they launched the “Chocolate Love Match,” a quiz that matches customers to one of six flavor profiles. This not only narrows down the selection from 120 options to 20 or 30, making it easier to shop but also helps customers find the perfect gift for friends and family based on their flavor preferences.

The personalization doesn’t stop there. 

Hotel Chocolat also leverages machine learning and tools like AB Tasty to improve their customer experience further. For instance, they’ve been experimenting with “Add to Bag” personalized recommendations. This initiative is crucial, especially as acquisition costs rise, making it more important than ever to maximize the value of each customer interaction.

Using AB Tasty, they tested two variations: one that showed products frequently bought together and another that displayed recently viewed items for easy access. Both approaches tested positively, resulting in a 5.31% increase in average order value and a 2.87% boost in revenue. 

Embracing Data for Optimization

Hotel Chocolat has also focused on optimizing its digital presence, particularly their website. Working with AB Tasty, they undertook a redesign of their homepage, recognizing that the layout and user experience across devices play a critical role in customer engagement. The goal was to create a more visually appealing and intuitive experience that could better connect with customers online—especially when you can’t taste or smell the products.

The results speak volumes. By optimizing the homepage, they saw a 10% reduction in bounce rate, a 1.67% increase in visiting time, and significant improvements in conversion rates—up 0.54% overall and a substantial 7.24% on desktop. This uplift was largely due to better highlighting the most attractive elements on the homepage, such as category tiles that drive higher conversion and revenue.

Loyalty from a Brand Perspective

Mel Parekh left us with three takeaways for building a brand that stands the test of time:

  1. Embracing Change: It shows that your brand is up-to-date and ready to adapt. Staying agile ensures that your brand remains relevant and continues to serve your customers, no matter the circumstances.
  2. Listening and Understanding Customers: If loyal customers aren’t heard and understood, they’ll lose their preference for your brand and start considering others.
  3. Sticking to Your Values: Clearly reward loyal customers for their loyalty, and make sure to differentiate between who is loyal and who isn’t.

Conclusion

Loyalty isn’t just about offering a great product; it’s about creating connections that resonate. Hotel Chocolat has perfected this recipe by blending their commitment to quality with a data-centric culture. Experimentation and data from AB Tasty have allowed them to be able to improve in all areas – whether that is personalization, gamification of their loyalty scheme, or the link between their online and physical shops. Experimentation has improved more than just their CRO but has helped define who they are and what they stand for.

Find out more in Mel’s talk below:

Hotel Chocolat at CX Circle

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Article

Aug 19, 2024
6min read

From Clicks to Connections: How AI is Shaping the Future of Digital Optimization

AB Tasty

AB Tasty

Any marketer will tell you that Digital Optimization is crucial to ensure successful e-commerce operations and yield the best possible return on investment (ROI). This practice includes both A/B testing and website personalization: every website presents a unique set of features and designs, which must, in turn, be optimized through A/B testing. 

Building a great website is, unfortunately, not simply a matter of following best practices. Even within a single industry, users will hold varied expectations based on your brand, communication style, target audience, funnel, etc. And while browsing the same website, users’ expectations can vary, with some knowing exactly what they want and others needing to explore, check your returns policy, learn about your sustainability initiatives, and so on.

We have all heard the hype about how AI has been revolutionizing how marketers approach experimentation. Generative AI offers new opportunities for optimizing every aspect of the user journey, allowing marketers to:

  • streamline testing,
  • create new online experiences, 
  • and create new types of user segments for more precise personalized experiences that drive conversions.

This guest blog post was written by Rodolphe Dougoud, Project Lead at fifty-five—a leading data company that helps brands harness the potential of Generative AI and mitigate associated risks effectively with a comprehensive and pragmatic AI strategy, among other services. 

Below, we’ll explore these three perspectives in depth, with real-life examples gleaned from AB Tasty’s new algorithm, Emotions AI, and fifty-five’s work with its clients around GenAI. 

AI in Action for Experiences that Matter

  1. Streamline testing

When thinking about A/B testing, you might immediately picture creating an experiment and launching it live on a website. However, the most time-consuming phases of the A/B testing process generally come before and after that: finding new features to try out in order to create a testing roadmap and analyzing the results of these tests. Here, AI can increase test velocity by helping to reduce bottlenecks hindering both of the aforementioned stages.

Test ideation

Your roadmap must not only be top-down but also bottom-up: pay close attention to insights from your UX designers, based on benchmarks from your competitors and industry trends, and data-driven insights based on your own analytics data. Here, AI can facilitate the process by analyzing large datasets (e.g., on-site Analytics data) to find insights humans might have missed.

Result analysis

Similarly, it’s essential to analyze the results of your tests thoroughly. Looking at one KPI can sometimes be enough, but it often represents only one part of a bigger story. An aptly-calibrated AI model can find hidden insights within your testing results. 

While we generally know what data we want to access, the actual querying of that data can be time-consuming. Applying a GenAI model to your dataset can also allow you to query your data in natural language, letting the model pull the data for you, run the query, and create instant visualizations for major time gains.

Content creation

While not necessary for most tests, creating new content to be included in the testing phase can take a long time and impact your roadmap. While GenAI cannot produce the same quality of content as your UX team, a UX designer equipped with a GenAI tool can create more content faster. The model used can be trained with your design chart to ensure it integrates with the rest of your content. Overall, adding a GenAI tool as a complement to your design arsenal can yield substantial gains in productivity and, therefore, reinforce your testing roadmap timeline.

  1. Create new online experiences

Marketers should not hesitate to experiment with AI to create unique and interactive experiences. Generative AI can create personalized content and recommendations that can engage users more effectively. 

Consider, for instance, fifty-five’s recent work with Chronodrive, a grocery shopping and delivery app. We used AI to address a common user challenge (and, frankly, near-universal issue): deciding what to make for dinner. 

With our innovative solution, taking a picture of the inside of your fridge will allow the app to create a recipe based on the ingredients it identifies, while a photo of a dish – taken at a restaurant or even downloaded from social media – will generate a recipe for said dish and its associated shopping list. 

 Artificial Intelligence opens new creative options that weren’t available with previous LLM models. Chronodrive’s solution may not be applicable to most companies, but every business can think back on their typical user’s pain points and conceptualize how GenAI could help ease them.

  1. Create new types of user segments for more precise personalized experiences

When a customer enters a store, a salesperson can instantly personalize their experience by checking if they want to be helped or just want to browse, if they are discovering the brand or are already sold on it, if they require guidance or know precisely what they want… A website, on the other hand, necessitates extra effort to present the user with a similarly personalized experience. 

Online, segmentation thus becomes indispensable to deliver the most satisfying user experience possible. Even during testing phases, deploying A/B tests on user segments makes achieving significant results more likely, as increased precision helps mitigate the risk of obtaining neutral results.

AI can analyze a wide array of user interactions on a given website to determine which elements drive the most conversions, or how different users respond to specific stimuli. This analysis can allow brands to classify users into new segments that could not have been available otherwise. For instance, fifty-five applied AI to split Shiseido’s website users between low and high-lifetime value segments. This allowed Shiseido to run differentiated A/B tests and personalize their website depending on the expected lifetime value of the user, resulting in a 12.6% increase in conversions.

Going even further, what if AI could read your emotions? AB Tasty’s new AI algorithm, Emotions AI, can automatically segment your audience into 10 categories based on emotional needs. 

  • If a user needs to be reassured, the website can emphasize its free return policy
  • If they need clarity, the website can highlight factual information about your product
  • And if they need immediacy, the website can hide any unnecessary information to instead focus on its main CTAs

The model estimates the needs of the user by taking into consideration all of their interactions with the website: how long they wait before clicking, whether they scroll through an entire page, where their mouse hovers, how many times they click, etc. This enables stronger personalization, both during testing phases and when deploying online features, by letting you know exactly what your users need. 

Want to Learn More?

If you would like to dive deeper into current experimentation trends, watch our webinar replay here, where fifty-five and AB Tasty explored key CRO case studies and more. And if you have any questions or insights you’d like to share, please leave a comment – we would love to hear from you! 

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Article

Jul 18, 2024
4min read

Transaction Testing With AB Tasty’s Report Copilot

Hubert Wassner

Hubert Wassner

Transaction testing, which focuses on increasing the rate of purchases, is a crucial strategy for boosting your website’s revenue. 

To begin, it’s essential to differentiate between conversion rate (CR) and average order value (AOV), as they provide distinct insights into customer behavior. Understanding these metrics helps you implement meaningful changes to improve transactions.

In this article, we’ll delve into the complexities of transaction metrics analysis and introduce our new tool, the “Report Copilot,” designed to simplify report analysis. Read on to learn more.

Transaction Testing

To understand how test variations impact total revenue, focus on two key metrics:

  • Conversion Rate (CR): This metric indicates whether sales are increasing or decreasing. Tactics to improve CR include simplifying the buying process, adding a “one-click checkout” feature, using social proof, or creating urgency through limited inventory.
  • Average Order Value (AOV): This measures how much each customer is buying. Strategies to enhance AOV include cross-selling or promoting higher-priced products.

By analyzing CR and AOV separately, you can pinpoint which metrics your variations impact and make informed decisions before implementation. For example, creating urgency through low inventory may boost CR but could reduce AOV by limiting the time users spend browsing additional products. After analyzing these metrics individually, evaluate their combined effect on your overall revenue.

Revenue Calculation

The following formula illustrates how CR and AOV influence revenue:

Revenue=Number of Visitors×Conversion Rate×AOV

In the first part of the equation (Number of Visitors×Conversion Rate), you determine how many visitors become customers. The second part (×AOV) calculates the total revenue from these customers.

Consider these scenarios:

  • If both CR and AOV increase, revenue will rise.
  • If both CR and AOV decrease, revenue will fall.
  • If either CR or AOV increases while the other remains stable, revenue will increase.
  • If either CR or AOV decreases while the other remains stable, revenue will decrease.
  • Mixed changes in CR and AOV result in unpredictable revenue outcomes.

The last scenario, where CR and AOV move in opposite directions, is particularly complex due to the variability of AOV. Current statistical tools struggle to provide precise insights on AOV’s overall impact, as it can experience significant random fluctuations. For more on this, read our article “Beyond Conversion Rate.”

While these concepts may seem intricate, our goal is to simplify them for you. Recognizing that this analysis can be challenging, we’ve created the “Report Copilot” to automatically gather and interpret data from variations, offering valuable insights.

Report Copilot

The “Report Copilot” from AB Tasty automates data processing, eliminating the need for manual calculations. This tool empowers you to decide which tests are most beneficial for increasing revenue.

Here are a few examples from real use cases.

Winning Variation:

The left screenshot provides a detailed analysis, helping users draw conclusions about their experiment results. Experienced users may prefer the summarized view on the right, also available through the Report Copilot.

Complex Use Case:


The screenshot above demonstrates a case where CR and OAV have opposite trends and need a deeper understanding of the context.

It’s important to note that the Report Copilot doesn’t make decisions for you; it highlights the most critical parts of your analysis, allowing you to make informed choices.

Conclusion

Transaction analysis is complex, requiring a breakdown of components like conversion rate and average order value to better understand their overall effect on revenue. 

We’ve developed the Report Copilot to assist AB Tasty users in this process. This feature leverages AB Tasty’s extensive experimentation dashboard to provide comprehensive, summarized analyses, simplifying decision-making and enhancing revenue strategies.

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Article

Jul 16, 2024
5min read

The Past, Present, and Future of Experimentation | Bhavik Patel

Maddie Ostrander

Maddie Ostrander

What is the future of experimentation? Bhavik Patel highlights the importance of strategic planning and innovation to achieve meaningful results.

A thought leader in the worlds of CRO and experimentation, Bhavik Patel founded popular UK-based meetup community, CRAP (Conversion Rate, Analytics, Product) Talks, seven years ago to fill a gap in the event market – opting to cover a broad range of optimization topics from CRO, data analysis, and product management to data science, marketing, and user experience.

After following his passion throughout the industry from acquisition growth marketing to experimentation and product analytics, Bhavik landed the role of Product Analytics & Experimentation Director at product measurement consultancy, Lean Convert, where his interests have converged. Here he is scaling a team and supporting their development in data and product thinking, as well as bringing analytical and experimentation excellence into the organization.

AB Tasty’s CMO Marylin Montoya spoke with Bhavik about the future of experimentation and how we might navigate the journey from the current mainstream approach to the potentialities of AI technology.

Here are some of the key takeaways from their conversation.

The evolution of experimentation: a scientific approach.

Delving straight to the heart of the conversation, Bhavik talks us through the evolution of A/B testing, from its roots in the scientific method, to recent and even current practices – which involve a lot of trial and error to test basic variables. When projecting into the future, we need to consider everything from people, to processes, and technology.

Until recently, conversion rate optimization has mostly been driven by marketing teams, with a focus on optimizing the basics such as headlines, buttons, and copy. Over the last few years, product development has started to become more data driven. Within the companies taking this approach, the product teams are the recipients of the A/B test results, but the people behind these tests are the analytical and data science teams, who are crafting new and advanced methods, from a statistical standpoint.

Rather than making a change on the homepage and trying to measure its impact on outcome metrics, such as sales or new customer acquisition, certain organizations are taking an alternative approach modeled by their data science teams: focusing on driving current user activity and then building new products based on that data.

The future of experimentation is born from an innovative mindset, but also requires critical thinking when it comes to planning experiments. Before a test goes live, we must consider the hypothesis that we’re testing, the outcome metric or leading indicators, how long we’re going to run it, and make sure that we have measurement capabilities in place. In short, the art of experimentation is transitioning from a marketing perspective to a science-based approach.

Why you need to level up your experiment design today.

While it may be a widespread challenge to shift the mindset around data and analyst teams from being cost centers to profit-enablement centers, the slowing economy might have a silver lining: people taking the experimentation process a lot more seriously. 

We know that with proper research and design, an experiment can achieve a great ROI, and even prevent major losses when it comes to investing in new developments. However, it can be difficult to convince leadership of the impact, efficiency and potential growth derived from experimentation.

Given the current market, demonstrating the value of experimentation is more important than ever, as product and marketing teams can no longer afford to make mistakes by rolling out tests without validating them first, explains Bhavik. 

Rather than watching your experiment fail slowly over time, it’s important to have a measurement framework in place: a baseline, a solid hypothesis, and a proper experiment design. With experimentation communities making up a small fraction of the overall industry, not everyone appreciates the ability to validate, quantify, and measure the impact of their work,  however Bhavik hopes this will evolve in the near future.

Disruptive testing: high risk, high reward.

On the spectrum of innovation, at the very lowest end is incremental innovation, such as small tests and continuous improvements, which hits a local maximum very quickly. In order to break through that local maximum, you need to try something bolder: disruptive innovation. 

When an organization is looking for bigger results, they need to switch out statistically significant micro-optimizations for experiments that will bring statistically meaningful results.

Once you’ve achieved better baseline practices – hypothesis writing, experiment design, and planning – it’s time to start making bigger bets and find other ways to measure it.

Now that you’re performing statistically meaningful tests, the final step in the evolution of experimentation is reverse-engineering solutions by identifying the right problem to solve. Bhavik explains that while we often focus on prioritizing solutions, by implementing various frameworks to estimate their reach and impact, we ought to take a step back and ask ourselves if we’re solving the right problem.

With a framework based on quality data and research, we can identify the right problem and then work on the solution, “because the best solution for the wrong problem isn’t going to have any impact,” says Bhavik.

What else can you learn from our conversation with Bhavik Patel?

  • The common drivers of experimentation and the importance of setting realistic expectations with expert guidance.
  • The role of A/B testing platforms in the future of experimentation: technology and interconnectivity.
  • The potential use of AI in experimentation: building, designing, analyzing, and reporting experiments, as well as predicting test outcomes. 
  • The future of pricing: will AI enable dynamic pricing based on the customer’s behavior?

About Bhavik Patel

A seasoned CRO expert, Bhavik Patel is the Product Analytics & Experimentation Director at Lean Convert, leading a team of optimization specialists to create better online experiences for customers through experimentation, personalization, research, data, and analytics.
In parallel, Bhavik is the founder of CRAP Talks, an acronym that stands for Conversion Rate, Analytics and Product, which unites CRO enthusiasts with thought leaders in the field through inspiring meetup events – where members share industry knowledge and ideas in an open-minded community.

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 on what it takes to build and run successful experimentation programs.

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Article

May 30, 2024
3min read

AB Tasty is now available on the Shopify App Store

AB Tasty

AB Tasty

We’re excited to share that AB Tasty is now available on the Shopify app store. This means it’s easier to use AB Tasty’s leading experimentation and personalization solutions directly on Shopify sites.

The launch marks an important milestone for the partnership between AB Tasty and Shopify, providing a more seamless user experience and keeping experience optimization accessible with easy-to-use solutions.

What this means for Shopify merchants

Brands using Shopify can enhance their commerce sites with AB Tasty to boost conversions and optimize experiences. Set-up is simple: search for AB Tasty in the Shopify App Store and install the tag in just three steps.

Once a site is equipped with AB Tasty, you can easily access your favorite features, run tests, and personalize content throughout the shopping funnel from homepage to cart page.

Building better experiences on your Shopify sites is also easy with AB Tasty’s ready-to-use widget library including interactive features like the scratch card. Or you can create your own custom widget.

When it’s time to check on how your campaigns are performing, track your success with analytics that automatically link Shopify transactions(transaction rate, total number of transactions, average basket, items per transaction, average item price per transaction, etc.) and other transaction data (like currency, coupons, payment method, etc.) to your AB Tasty campaigns. Quickly identify what campaigns work for your audience and where you can make adjustments.

How does it work?

When you are ready to get started, connect AB Tasty with your Shopify site in three steps.

  1. Install the AB Tasty app directly from the Shopify app store.
  2. Enable the extension with your AB Tasty identifier.
  3. Hit save.

Now you can get to work building better experiences for your visitors. Really, that’s it.

Over 100 brands already use AB Tasty & Shopify to optimize their sites

Learn more about how Embark Veterinary’s e-commerce teams use AB Tasty’s experimentation solution to test product copy and increase revenue per session and conversion rate. 

Read more

To wrap up

At AB Tasty, we’re your optimization partners helping ignite change from the inside out. That’s why we’re continuously improving the experience of our customers, from new integrations to strengthened partnerships and beyond.

To connect AB Tasty to your Shopify site, get started here.

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Article

May 29, 2024
3min read

CX Optimization Webseries APAC: Episode #3 – The Importance of Continuous Optimization in A/B Testing

Ross Salveron

Ross Salveron

 Testing as well is such a benefit from de-risking that decision making.

– Tom Shepherd, UX Lead at David Jones

Hosted by Serena Ku, Senior CSM at AB Tasty

Featuring Tom Shephard, UX Lead at David Jones

In the fast-paced world of digital commerce, A/B testing and continuous optimization are important processes allowing brands to refine strategies, improve customer experiences, and increase conversion rates over time.

One huge pitfall many businesses face is they look at what their competitors are doing and assume that it will work for them too. But remember, things are not always as they appear. 

In this third episode of our CX Optimization Web Series, Tom Shepherd, UX Lead at David Jones joins Serena Ku, Senior Customer Success Manager at AB Tasty to discuss the importance of Continuous Optimization in A/B Testing.

Discover how a business perspective can shift from “we think” to “we know”.

Episode #3:

Why is it important for brands to run A/B tests?

The main benefits are improved content engagement, increased conversion rates and reduced bounce rates. 

If you’re not A/B testing, you may already be behind your direct competitors. This by itself is a compelling motivation for why brands should start testing. Speeding up the time it takes to bring an idea or a concept to market is another benefit worth considering A/B testing.

Take note, businesses need to level up and be able to keep up with behavioral changes and look for opportunities where experiences are not achieving the results they  should be.

The Role of AB Tasty to empower David Jones’ CRO strategy

In a traditional UX setting, it is quite frustrating when you invest a lot of time mocking up experiences, taking those to customers, and later finding out that they just don’t work. 

The Australian luxury department store, David Jones, takes experience optimization seriously. They look closely to understand their customers in all facets. Using GA4 and FullStory, they can draw out ideas and build solutions that will make an experience more seamless, removing friction. With AB Tasty, they launch these experiences quickly and expose them to their customers to gather valuable insights. 

As a discipline within the user experience team, David Jones leverages AB Tasty and analytics tools to marry quantitative data with qualitative insights delighting every customer.

Winning customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is all about the experience. Its essence in the e-commerce landscape is where the digital store has made each customer feel highly valued.

Perfecting the art of customer loyalty requires both creativity and precision.–That is why, like your local store attendant, EmotionsAI helps brands understand the emotional needs of audiences to bolster your Experience Optimization roadmap with effective messages, designs and CTAs that activate your visitors.

Factors to consider when testing?

Truly knowing your customer demographics and understanding their behaviors online will allow you to create a well-formulated hypothesis. Consider the time of the year when you launch a test. Is it an off-peak season, are you running promotions, or clearing stocks?  Analyze your data and focus on where your conversion points are. 

Tom suggests iterating and running as many follow-up tests as possible. If you tested something that worked, you might be up to something even greater. So test more iterations to unlock more results.

The wrap:

The strongest path to customer loyalty, higher conversion, and a customer base nobody can touch is having ‘differentiated experiences’. Start with a deeper knowledge of your industry and beyond. Know your customers and empathize with them. Be mindful that behaviors and preferences are ever-changing. Continuous optimization helps you adapt, execute strategies, and stay ahead of the game.

Dare to be better

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May 21, 2024
5min read

Tapping into Emotional Marketing | Talia Wolf

Maddie Ostrander

Maddie Ostrander

Talia Wolf reveals how emotional marketing can revolutionize your experimentation process and lift conversions.

Taking a customer-centric approach to marketing, founder and CEO of Getuplift, Talia Wolf, harnesses the power of emotional marketing techniques to increase visitor conversions. 

Her natural interest in conversion rate optimization (CRO) and experimentation was sparked through her early work in a social media agency, later moving on to become an expert in the field – consulting for many companies on the subject, and speaking on stage at Google, MozCon and Search Love.

Guest host and AB Tasty’s Head of Growth Marketing UK, John Hughes, spoke with Talia about emotional marketing as a tool for optimization, delving into how customer research can facilitate the experimentation process, reduce the rate of failure, and earn the buy-in from company stakeholders.

Here are some of the key takeaways from their conversation.

What is emotional marketing?

Based upon the idea that emotion drives every single decision that we make in life, the emotional targeting methodology shifts the focus of your online marketing content from your solution, features, or pricing, to your customer. Rather than playing a guessing game and simply reshuffling elements on a page, this technique requires a deeper understanding of human behavior. By identifying customer intent and buying motivation, you can create an optimized experience, which meets their needs and increases conversions.

Backed by academic research, the fundamental role of emotion in our daily choices can be integrated into your strategy to better cater to your customers by figuring out a) their biggest challenges and, b) how they want to feel after finding a solution. What is their desired outcome? 

With this in mind, you can optimize your digital communications with high-converting copy and visuals that speak directly to your customers’ needs. By shifting the conversation from the product to the customer, an incredible opportunity opens up to scale and multiply conversions.

How do you build and measure an emotion-based experiment?

Firstly, experimentation should be backed by research. From customer and visitor surveys, to review mining, social listening and emotional competitor analysis, Talia encourages extensive research in order to create the most likely hypothesis upon which to base an A/B test. 

Once you know more about your customers, you can review the copy and visuals on your product page for example, and from your research you might discover that your content is not relevant to your target customer. You can then come up with a hypothesis based on their actual needs and interests supported by compelling social proof, and write a brief for your designer or copywriter based on the new information. 

From there you can build your experiment into your A/B testing platform with a selected North star metric, whether it’s check-outs, sign-ups or add-to-carts, to prove or disprove your hypothesis. And, while we know that nine out of 10 A/B tests fail, emotional marketing facilitates the hypothesizing process, strengthening the chance of creating a winning experiment by testing variables that can actually impact the customer journey.

How to persuade stakeholders to support your experiments.

When it comes to CRO, there are often too many chefs in the kitchen, especially in smaller organizations where founders have a concrete vision of their customers and their messaging. 

Talia explains that a research-based approach to experimentation can offer reassurance as part of a slow-and-steady strategy, backed by evidence. This personalized methodology involves talking to your customers and website visitors and scouring the web for conversations about your specific industry, rather than simply following your competitor’s lead.

It becomes a lot easier to propose a test to a founder or CEO when your hypothesis is supported by data and research, however, Talia recommends resisting the urge to change everything at once and rather, start small. Test the emotional marketing in your ads or send out an email sequence requiring only a copywriter, and share the results.

When you’re trying to get buy-in, you need to have a strong hypothesis paired with good research to prove that it makes sense. If this is the case, you can demonstrate the power of emotional marketing by running a couple of A/B tests: one where the control is the current solution-focused content and the variant is a customer-focused alternative, and another which highlights how customers feel right now versus how they want to feel – two important variations which help you to relate better to your customer. The key to garnering support is to take baby steps and continuously share your research and results.

What else can you learn from our conversation with Talia Wolf?

  • Why B2B purchases are more emotional than B2C. (15:50)
  • How to stand out in a crowded market by knowing your customer. (20:00)
  • How emotional marketing impacts the entire customer journey. (25:50)
  • How to relate to your customer and improve conversions. (32:40)

About Talia Wolf

Conversion optimization specialist Talia Wolf is the founder and CEO of Getuplift – a company that leverages optimization strategies such as emotional targeting, persuasive design, and behavioral data to help businesses generate more revenue, leads, engagement and sales. 

Starting her career in a social media agency, where she was introduced to the concept of CRO, Talia went on to become the Marketing Director at monday.com, before launching her first conversion optimization agency, Conversioner, in 2013. 

Today, with her proven strategy in hand, Talia teaches companies all over the world to optimize their online presence using emotional techniques.

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 on what it takes to build and run successful experimentation programs.

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Apr 25, 2024
4min read

CX Optimization Webseries APAC: Episode #2 – A/B Testing Strategies for Revenue Optimization

Ross Salveron

Ross Salveron

Personalization is a hypothesis that needs to be tested

Ben Combe, Data Director, Optimization & Personalization APAC at Monks

Hosted by Julia Simon, VP APAC at AB Tasty

Featuring Ben Combe, Data Director, Optimization & Personalization APAC at Monks

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is a user-centric approach that emphasizes long-term benefits over just leading customers to click on certain elements or CTAs. To achieve this, understanding your data through the use of experimental and scientific methods is key. In this episode, Ben Combe, Data Director, Optimization & Personalization APAC at Monks joins Julia Simon, VP APAC at AB Tasty to discuss CRO techniques and best practices. They find answers to where companies should start, what to prioritize, which methodologies to use, and how to execute a compelling optimization roadmap.

Whether you’re just starting your CRO journey, or you’re already a CRO expert, this session is for you!

Episode #2:

Where do you start?

Ideas flow from everywhere in the business as data collection happens perpetually. Knowing what your top priorities are is where you should start. You don’t just change the color of your CTA from blue to red because it’s Valentine’s Day and you have a gut feeling.

Ben points out to first take a look at how the business is doing and where you can focus on for the most impact. Should you focus on acquisition, retention, or loyalty? Identify what and where are the pain points that need solving. Secondly, dive into your customer data by looking at your conversion points. Draw a parallel to where your customers are dropping off and mix them with your qualitative insights. Thirdly, brainstorm with your team to come up with ideas.

Prioritization Frameworks: PIE or ICE?

In CRO, time and resources are finite, therefore every experiment counts. You need clear guidelines to choose what ideas to test and what to leave behind. So it’s essential to prioritize – but should you use PIE or ICE?

If you’re just starting your experimentation journey, Ben recommends taking a look at traffic, value and ease. It’s basically like answering how many people are visiting a webpage, what is it worth in dollars, and what are your development resources. If you’re mature in CRO, a bespoke checklist tailored towards your business needs is recommended.

The importance of UX

Running A/B tests is a great way of conducting UX research while your product is live. It helps you decide on what works and what doesn’t work for your customers. By testing different design options, designers are able to gather valuable user feedback. This can then be used for design improvement that is more user-centric, and that leads to increased user engagement and satisfaction. Keeping the UX Team in the loop is essential for continuous learning and improvement.

The Quick Wins

Looking into easy, quick wins in the beginning of your experimentation strategy will bring you good results. Once you pick all the low-hanging fruit, Ben encourages you to shift your mindset towards a more innovative approach. Think outside the box, analyze your segments deeper, and iterate.

Synchronizing AB Testing and Personalization

AB testing allows you to understand the effectiveness of your personalization strategies by comparing various content, design elements, and offers. This insight allows you to deliver an experience that resonates best with customers, leading to higher engagement. It’s important to take note that no personalization goes live without being tested. Behaviors change and it’s necessary to continuously experiment in order to validate that your personalization is still relevant.

Dare to be better

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Mar 26, 2024
1min read

Trial and Error of Building a Culture of Experimentation in Marketing | Rand Fishkin

Rowan Haddad

Rowan Haddad

Rand Fishkin discusses the importance of “non-attributable” marketing and why companies should take more risks and allow themselves the freedom to fail.

Rand Fishkin is the co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, a software company that specializes in audience research for targeted marketing. Previously, Rand was the co-founder and CEO of Moz, where he started SEOmoz as a blog that turned into a consulting company, then a software business. Over his seven years as CEO, Rand grew the company to 130+ employees, $30M+ in revenue, and brought website traffic to 30M+ visitors/year. 

He’s also dedicated his professional life to helping people do better marketing through his writing, videos, speaking, and his latest book, Lost and Founder.

AB Tasty’s VP Marketing Marylin Montoya spoke with Rand Fishkin about the culture of experimentation and fear of failure when it comes to marketing channels and investments. Rand also shares some of his recommendations on how to get your brand in front of the right audience. 

Here are some key takeaways from their conversation.

Taking a more risk-based approach

Rand believes there’s too much focus on large markets that people often overlook the enormous potential of smaller markets to go down the more typical venture path. In that sense, founders become biased towards huge, totally addressable markets.

“They don’t consider: here’s this tiny group of people. Maybe there are only three or 4000 people or companies who really need this product, but if I make it for them, they’re going to love it. I think that there’s a tremendous amount of opportunity there. If folks would get out of their head that you have to look for a big market,” Rand says.

People avoid such opportunities because of the regulatory challenges, restrictions, and other barriers to entry that often come with them but for Rand, these underserved markets are worth the risk because competition is scarce. There’s a real potential to build something truly special for those willing to overcome the challenges that come with it, Rand argues. 

There are a lot of underserved niches and many business opportunities out there in the tech world, if companies would shift away from the “growth at all cost” mentality. 

“The thing about being profitable is once you’re there, no one can take the business from you. You can just keep iterating and finding that market, finding new customers, finding new opportunities. But if you are constantly trying to chase growth unprofitably and get to the metrics needed for your next round, you know all that goes out the window,” Rand says.

Freedom to fail

Similarly, Rand states that there’s a huge competitive advantage in committing resources toward marketing channels where attribution is hard or impossible because no one else is investing in these kinds of channels. That’s where Rand believes companies should allocate their resources.

“If you take the worst 10 or 20%, worst performing 10 or 20% of your ads budget, your performance budget, and you shift that over to hard-to-measure, experimental, serendipitous, long-term brand investment types of channels, you are going to see extraordinary results.”

However, the problem is getting buy-in from more senior stakeholders within a company because of these “hard-to-attribute” and “hard-to-measure” channels. In other words, they refuse to invest in channels where they can’t prove an attribute – a change of conversion rate or sales – or return on investment. Thus, any channels that are poor at providing proof of attribution get underinvested. Rand strongly believes that it’s still possible to get clicks on an organic listing of your website and get conversions even if a brand doesn’t spend anything on ads. 

“I think brand and PR and content and social and search and all these other organic things are a huge part of it. But ads are where those companies can charge because the CEO, CMO, CFO haven’t figured out that believing in hard-to-measure channels and hard-to-attribute channels and putting some of your budget towards experimental stuff is the right way to do things,” Rand argues.

According to Rand, these are exactly the kinds of channels where more resources need to be allocated as they generate a higher return on investment than any ad a company might spend on the more typical and bigger name platforms. 

“Your job is to go find the places your audience pays attention to and figure out what your brand could do to be present in those places and recommended by the people who own those channels.”

According to Rand, there is a learning curve in finding the message that resonates with this audience and the content that drives their interest as well as the platforms where you can connect with them and this will all depend on who your audience is.

Experiment with AI

For Rand, the AI boom is more realistic and interesting than previous big tech trends. He especially sees its biggest advantage in solving big problems within organizations that can be best solved with large language model generative AI. 

However, it’s important not to insert AI in a business or create problems just for the sake of using it or to apply it to the wrong places.

“If you find that stuff fascinating and you want to experiment with it and learn more about it, that’s great. I think that’s an awesome thing to do. Just don’t don’t go trying to create problems just to solve this, to use it.” 

He believes the best use case for AI is for more tedious jobs that would be otherwise too time-consuming as opposed to using it for more tactical or strategic marketing advice. Nonetheless, he does believe that there are a lot of interesting and useful solutions and products being built with AI that will solve many problems.

What else can you learn from our conversation with Rand Fishkin?

  • The importance of brand and long-term brand investments
  • Why it’s hard to get leadership to shift away from common ad platforms
  • How social networks have become “closed networks”
  • Why attention needs to shift to your audience and how they can become “recommenders” of your product

About Rand Fishkin

Rand Fishkin is the co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, makers of fine audience research software to make audience research accessible to everyone. He’s also the founder and former CEO of Moz and also co-founded Inbound.org alongside Dharmesh Shah, which was sold to Hubspot in 2014. Rand has become a frequent worldwide keynote speaker over the years on marketing and entrepreneurship with a mission to help people do better marketing. 

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 on what it takes to build and run successful experimentation programs.

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