Testing Can Improve Even Great Web Sites

Knowing your customers is important to any successful business. But even the good ones can make improvements. Data gathered through testing, such as A/B testing, can be key. A/B testing allows a business to compare two versions of the same element side by side. One version of the tested element is seen by a percentage of visitors while the other version is seen by an equal percentage. The test is designed to give businesses an idea of which version more effective in getting the desired result.


Let’s look at L.L. Bean, which launched its Web site in 1995 and has been named No. 1 in the National Retail Federation/American Express Customer Service Survey for three years in a row -- 2007, 2008 and 2009, largely because of its customer service (Grannis, 2010). L.L. Bean’s Web site is often recognized for the speed of response and the ability to find a product quickly. The site makes shopping easy. In addition to displaying the toll free number for placing phone orders, the Web site also offers live chat and responds to e-mails within an hour, much faster than the industry average.

L.L. Bean has been effective in moving its business from mainly a catalog-based endeavor to and Internet-based one. In doing so, the retailer has remained authentic to its brand and traditions while adapting to an ever-changing world. Yet there are glitches.

For example, a visitor to the Web site shopping for women’s apparel moved to the clearance area, instead of seeing women’s apparel, they are greeted with men’s items, forcing the customer shopping for women’s apparel to search through multiple pages of sale items. Using A/B testing different versions of the Web site could see how shoppers respond and see if sales increase as a result.

Nick Stamoulis with Pay Per Click Journal said (2009) that “A/B testing is almost always preferable even on your landing pages. Multivariate testing should be reserved for picking the best of the best of your elements AFTER you have run your initial A/B tests.”

L.L. Bean and other businesses can use such results to improve the shopping experience of their customers.

Reference:
Grannis, K. (2010, January 12). Number One in Customer Service. National Retail Federation. Retrieved March 8, 2010, from http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=876.

Stamoulis, N. (2009, January 7). Is A/B or Multivariate Testing More Effective? Pay Per Click Journal. Retrieved March 8, 2010, from http://payperclickjournal.com/ab-multivariate-testing/01/07/2009.