Following Google’s announcement that Optimize and Optimize 360 will reach its end of life in September 2023, you may be wondering what this means for Google users running conversion rate optimisation (CRO) and experimentation programmes? Here we’ve outlined what the news means and why it’s more important than ever for ambitious brands to focus on experimentation.
Why is Google Optimize Sunsetting?
Experimentation has exponentially grown over the last few years and looks only to be getting more robust with an ever-growing list of businesses looking for expertise within their teams. From product to marketing, businesses are now even more convinced that experimentation should play a part in every key decision they make.
With the market shift in using best-in-class tools to build high-performing technology stacks, the Google Optimize product was no longer able to compete with leading tools such as Optimizely from a technical standpoint, especially in full-stack experimentation.
To support the product roadmap of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google has instead decided to invest in building integrations with third-party A/B testing platforms and bolster their ecosystem of strategic partners to include Optimizely, VWO and A/B Tasty.
Google recognises that the Optimize product does not have the advanced level of functionality in testing that more digitally mature organisations need to deliver business benefits from experimentation. The move to building APIs between market-leading experimentation solutions and GA4 is a great way for Google to focus on their core strengths in analytics.
At Candyspace, experimentation forms a core component in how we continually optimise digital products. For companies using Google Optimize that are in the earlier stages of experimentation, we’ve outlined three reasons below why doubling down on experimentation is fundamental to the ongoing success of your digital products.
So why should experimentation be core to your product strategy?
Create a Best-in-Class Product to Stand Out From Your Competitors
Snazzy-looking web and app platforms no longer cut the mustard. Users want a seamless cross-device experience and therefore consistently improving features will ensure customers have a product they love. Running experiments allows you to understand which features are working and why, and how to continually make them better.
We know from experience that incremental improvements continually evolve your digital product for the optimal user experience. So don’t rely on that one off marketing campaign or a product feature launch to win and retain customers. Little and often works far better.
Increased Profitability, Not Just Revenue
Often experimentation and CRO go hand in hand but at Candyspace, our focus is always on how optimisation will increase profitability as well as improving performance. We can easily increase the conversion rate by offering every customer 20 percent off their order, but how does this impact business profitability and the lifetime value of customers?
It is important to understand, through real customer data, the impact marketing campaigns are having on your overall sales. For example, a small change such as decreasing a free delivery threshold can often increase sales but are they enough to counteract the cost of fulfilment? Experimentation can help answer business critical questions without any of the noise.
Save on Costs to Drive ROI
The test and learn process allows you to experiment and prove hypotheses before spending time and effort on building expensive features, experiences and campaigns that do not deliver on your KPIs. Being able to test ideas on a smaller scale before spending time and money means you can quickly identify the campaigns and features that resonate with your customers.
For example, On The Beach tested whether adding “Our Pick” and “Bestseller” badges would drive bookings and thru the method of doing so generated an additional 200 bookings inside a two-week interval.
Why Optimizely is a Good Migration Alternative from Google Optimize
As optimisation specialists, we work throughout a wide range of testing instruments. For companies critical about experimentation, we consider Optimizely is the very best software available in the market.
Optimizely Internet Experimentation is the world’s quickest experimentation platform, offering less than 50 millisecond experiment load times using Performance Edge. This implies a number of experiments will be run concurrently with out affecting web page efficiency or consumer expertise. Its stats engine is best-in-class, making certain you may make information pushed choices with confidence.
Optimizely is constantly counseled by main analysts and was cited by Forrester within the 2023 Complete Financial Influence Experimentation report back to:
- Improve income by $9.7 million as a consequence of web site efficiency enhancements
- Ship $1.5 million in financial savings by way of elevated developer productiveness
- Drive higher resolution making by way of enhanced belief in information
Google have introduced a key integration will launch between GA4 and Optimizely, and are recommending Optimizely as an alternative platform. Candyspace is partnering with Optimizely to supply an unique low cost to welcome clients onboard.
Uncertain of Your Subsequent Steps?
Candyspace are providing a restricted variety of complimentary Optimisation Workshops for Google users, led by our professional workforce of expertise, experimentation and UX practitioners, to offer you in depth and actionable suggestions to enhance the efficiency of your digital product.
Get in contact to e book a workshop or for an off-the-cuff chat about your choices.
