Multi Variate Testing (MVT)
Multivariate testing is currently an area of high growth in internet marketing as it helps website owners ensure that they are getting the most from the visitors arriving at their site. While services such as SEO, Pay per Click and email marketing drive traffic to a site, multivariate testing allows internet marketers to trial variations on items such as offers, content and layout, and see which best converts users to sale, registration or the desired action once they arrive at the website. Ultimately multivariate testing helps to turn more visitors to customers and helps to increase average order value.
More and more retailers are turning to website optimisation technologies such as multivariate testing to improve visitors’ online experience. The smallest changes can make the biggest difference to a retailer’s bottom line. For example it could be something as simple as the location and size of the ‘add to basket’ button, headlines identifying promotional offers, styles of tabs or the workflow of the checkout path. Testing allows retailers to present multiple variations of content live on the site and discover which content visitors prefer and respond to most positively.
The technology is very sophisticated and allows retailers to test the response of different groups of customers eg customers who shop at the weekend or who arrive from a particular search engine etc. This allows retailers to understand visitors better and to test a different view of the web site to different groups of customers to potentially maximize results.
Obviously the more traffic a site has then it becomes easier to spot trends and patterns, however the technology can make an impact on businesses of all sizes. The technology also allows retailers to get on with their day-to-day business and not waste valuable time disagreeing internally with what they think works on a site and what doesn’t.
By removing the guess work from the equation this approach provides a compelling argument for achieving even better sales for your site. Retailers introducing this technology into the business can benefit from fast ROI as they will be able to make changes that will improve the operational efficiencies of the site almost immediately, making a real difference.
By using multivariate testing the retailer no longer assumes that they know what their customers want from their online shopping experience, but has real evidence as to what makes them reach their buying decisions.
Overall, online businesses are keen on keeping consumers engaged and coming back for more. By using real data from real consumers it provides retailers the opportunity to tailor their sites to continually meet the needs of their customers.