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February 28, 2011 Program Summary

“How to Analyze Your Web Site to See Which Changes Increase Buying Decisions”

 

Speaker Michael BoyerSpeaker Jeremy LaDuqueJeremy LaDuque and Michael Boyer, key players at ELEMENTS, a local Web site and e-commerce company, gave us a grand, high level tour of what it takes to find out how well you faring with any improvements you are making to your Web site.

This presentation helped us build an understanding, step by step, of what Web site "conversion testing" is and does. Conversion testing is a systematic process of monitoring, tweaking, and testing the changes to your site to see which ones are causing visitors to respond the most favorably. Sometimes changing a single word in headline, modifying an opt-in form, or including or excluding an image can make a big difference in how your audience responds.

To keep you from having to guess, or go through a million random experiments, you can use a variety of techniques to determine which changes are causing people to linger longer, take you up on your offers, or buy your products.

Our highly knowledgeable, returning STC presenters, Jeremy and Michael, covered the topics below. (To see more detail, refer to both the presentation and the handout, linked further down.)

1. What is Web site "conversion testing" and why do we care about it? 

  • What's the purpose of your site, and what actions do you want people to take when they visit?
  • What does visitor "conversion" mean and why is it important?
  • What's the purpose of analyzing and testing your Web site to see what changes to your headlines, copy, layout, etc., cause visitors to take more of the desired actions?
  • How does this kind of testing differ from beta testing or usability testing, for example?

2. Monitoring your Web site traffic

  • What traffic data are you currently monitoring on your Web site, if any?
  • What traffic data should you be monitoring?
  • Monitoring tools can you use (e.g., Google Analytics, which is completely free and on a par with many fee-based systems)

3. Simple ways to test changes to your site

  • A/B split testing
  • Tools and methods to use (e.g., Google Website Optimizer, which is also free, equivalent to other very expensive testing systems, and has a complete set of tutorials)

4. More advanced ways to test changes to your site

  • Multivariate testing
  • Tools and methods to use (e.g., Google Website Optimizer; note that only a short time ago, you could not do multivariate testing without spending quite a bit on the software programs or subscriptions to do it, but Google's free Website Optimizer has completely changed the game!)

See the handout and presentation downloads below!


Downloads & Resources:

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Download their presentation and resources:

Questions? Contact Jeremy or Michael at ELEMENTS:

“How to Analyze Your Web Site to See Which Changes Increase Buying Decisions”
Date: Monday evening, February 28, 2011
Speaker:

Jeremy LaDuque is the co-founder, president, and and CEO of ELEMENTS, formerly known as New Image Technologies. Since 1999, Jeremy and his team of experts have successfully partnered with dozens of companies in diverse industries to assist businesses with solving their most critical challenges through strategic implementation of Web technology. Prior to starting New Image Technologies, Jeremy was a key member of the client support system for TCI, a Fortune 100 company; and Director of Web Services at Best 1 Internet.

Michael Boyer is the Chief Operating Officer of ELEMENTS. Prior to joining ELEMENTS, Michael was the CEO and Senior Consultant of the Pismo Group, Inc. Previously, Michael held the position of Vice President of Operations at Web Associates, where he led the company on a comprehensive turn-around that resulted in three consecutive years of increased profit while retaining 99 percent of the client base, which included; Quiksilver, Apple, HP, AMD, Yahoo, and many other top-notch companies. Michael has also driven marketing strategy, channel development and lead generation as Vice President of Marketing at Platinum Services. He began his corporate operational experience at Global Software Solutions as Vice President of Operations where he led the day-to-day business of the consultancy. Michael studied business and communications at the University of Oregon.

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