EMC Consulting has recently become part of the GoogleConversion Professionals programme. This is a repost of an articleI wrote for Google's Conversion Room on howwe at EMC Consulting consider how website optimisation services will impactuser centred design (UCD), but also what attitudes need to shift before thisrevolution in website design really takes off. You can see the originalpost here.
Earlier this week, I announced the result of our most recent websiteoptimisation test. I was very excited - the results were outstanding - but whatwas most interesting was colleagues' reactions to the results.
The initial reaction from a colleague was "Will the business believe the results?" And this, I believe, is the curious position that website optimisation servicesfind themselves in at the moment. Because the results are often soimpressive that businesses sometimes find them literally unbelievable- they can't understand how they can be so good. This is particularly thecase as the investment is so reasonable - after all, many thousands (or,indeed, hundreds of thousands) of pounds can be spent getting sites orapplications up and running and they never seem to get such results.
And yet, there is no catch; these are real increases andimprovements. This most recent test will add millions of revenue to thebottom line of the business and so the real benefits of the programme areindisputable.
I think there are two reasons for people finding website optimisationunbelievable, one of which in particular reflects a fundamental change in howwe approach user-centred design.
The return of the entrepreneur
Firstly, I think many businesses expect that only major levels ofinvestment can deliver significant uplift and that these changes requiresignificant back end work. In other words, they understand the limitationof their existing infrastructure – that is, the site design and structure, theback-end systems and the content management system and processes. Theyaccept that, whilst they may be able to improve some things, these areessentially tweaks until they can completely rebuild their web site andecommerce operations. But the point about website optimisation techniquesis they focus on how the individual site visitor behaves, so any back-endinfrastructure issues do not need to be a limiting factor, if the business iswilling to work around them.
Those businesses who "get" optimisation have a moreentrepreneurial attitude and are prepared to take risks. They tend tolook beyond immediate limitations and want to learn and improve. Theyunderstand that in order to deliver big improvements, they need to take risksand are confident enough to accept these. Indeed, one of the greatadvantages of website optimisation techniques is that they manage risk bytesting out all the options and demonstrating the most effective, therebyactually reducing the on-going risk.
The changing face of User Centred Design
The second big point is that many businesses, and agencies, think theyknow best when it comes to designing interfaces. Agencies, in particular,focus their skills and their services on designing beautiful interfaces in thefirst place, and as a result very often they regard any alterations to ordeviations from these interfaces as a threat. Businesses and agenciesdon't always have the combination of analytical and business skills to reassessand then optimise their site's performance.
However, the very best designers realise that the ultimate measure ofhow good an interface is, is the sales performance; how many conversions(sales, leads, or whatever) it generated for the business. They arefascinated by how they can learn and improve their understanding of how usersreally behave and respond to their designs. Our designers and userexperience architects at EMC Consulting have really taken to our websiteoptimisation services, because they realise that the best designs"live" once they are launched, and then evolve to respond to customerbehaviour; they also realise that a site is never truly "finished" andset in stone, and they also get very excited when we outline just what an impacttheir work has had on the client's business.
And this is the most interesting part, because this changes the natureof how we design websites. No site is complete as it goes live and nomatter how talented the design team, optimal rework adds real value. Andthis means that website optimisation services in general are currently changingthe way that user centred design works. UCD no longer ends with acomplete and final answer when the site goes live, but it enters a new phasewith a site that is "born" and that will grow and evolve to be evenbetter as we learn how it best can work in its particular ecosystem. UCDused to deliver sites that performed well, but from now on, with websiteoptimisation services, the two complement each other to deliver best performingsites.
Tips for website optimisation
- Embrace your limitations - Look to optimise what you can, rather than look at all the things that you can't change because they require significant investment; you may be surprised with how much you can alter - and improve
- Rediscover your inner entrepreneur - Website optimisation services offer genuine returns for those that back themselves, but you have to be confident enough to manage some risks, even if they are comparatively small
- Test your designs - Consider how multivariate techniques could improve your design processes. For example, use the 80/20 rule to get most of the site ready, but then look to use optimisation techniques to establish the answers for the final 20%.
By David Ellis, Head of Performance Measurement, EMC Consulting