Learning Conversion Rate Optimization

- It's easy to run experiments, but it's not easy to consistently achieve great results from experiments. It's actually very rare to find people who have the ability to be great optimization experts, who are able to produce winning results months after month. Part of the reason for this is that is requires thinking from different perspectives with different thinking hats and with different parts of the brain. In fact, this is the reason many organizations have mediocre experimentation programs. Most companies, especially larger enterprises, develop internal conflicts based on different ways of thinking.

Now, often this concept develops between departments with different thinking styles. Different departments and specialties often attract people who think in a similar way. Some may be more data-oriented and others more creative. It may be the analytics department versus the brand team or marketing versus IT, or product versus finance, or even within a department like search marketing versus content marketing, but I've observed that the best marketers and the best marketing organizations are those who can think from both perspectives.

They bring those ways of thinking together. These marketers have what I call the Zen marketing mindset. They know that there are two sides to consider. The Yin side is the qualitative, inspired, messy side while the Yang side is structured, disciplined, and measured. The Zen marketer embraces the dichotomy and uses both sides to generate innovative ideas and validate those that actually work. Luckily, you don't have to find these unique marketing unicorns to have a great growth program. If you have the right process with the right frameworks, your individual specialists will work together and leverage their individual strengths.

The process I created to bring these mindsets together for conversion optimization is called the infinity optimization process. Here's how it works. Each part of its design teaches a principle of conversion optimization. Now, it's shaped like an infinity loop which communicates that experimentation is an ongoing strategy and not a one-time project. You never achieve an optimized experience. You'll see the two sides of the process involve distinct mindsets which must be conducted at separate times. On the left side in the explore phase, the optimizer gathers and investigates data from the various sources to understand the customer's perspective.

It's an expansive mindset of seeking out potential opportunities. Now, it can seem like a messy, random process and so the framework in the middle called the lift model brings some structure to focus the optimizer's thinking. The validate phase on the other side is very different. It's a rigorous, step-by-step process where experimentation is used to eliminate ideas that don't work. It's a reductive mindset that critically examines all of the potential insights to find out what really works. Now, in the center of the process is the nucleus where the growth and insights are revealed.

When the two different mindsets work together, real value is created for the organization here. Adopting the infinity optimization process in your organization will help you explore creatively to find new insights while maintaining the rigorous discipline of experimentation which will ultimately help you get the best results for your conversion optimization program.