Most businesses believe that conversion rate optimization is a one-time affair. However, you need to adopt a continuous refinement cycle to achieve success in your online business website – which is broadly what iterative testing is all about. Iterative testing is one of the most popular methods of conversion rate optimization that involves testing, learning, and improving.
To give you a more detailed view of iterative testing, it refers to the process of basing tests on results derived from previous experiments to make gradual changes that are backed by accurate data.
Unlike a single round of testing, iterative testing involves running repeated experiments to understand the impact of the incremental changes implemented on your Webflow website. It may sound confusing, but the principle is relatively simple. You make a small change to your website, run a test to see whether the objectives have been met, collect feedback, and then use that information to run future iterations.
Let’s dive in to explore some of the many benefits of iterative testing.
Iterative testing is based on data, not gut feelings. Whether you use quantitative data such as clicks, conversions, and bounce rates or qualitative data such as user feedback and heatmaps, both enable you to make informed decisions.
The digital landscape is constantly evolving. User behaviors change, new technologies emerge, and algorithms are updated. Adapting your business to all these changes can be very hard unless you have a solid plan in place.
For example, there has been a surge in the use of mobile devices over recent years. Iterative testing allows you to optimize the user’s mobile experience by testing different mobile-specific elements, such as navigation or loading time, to stay relevant.
The iterative testing process also helps to promote continuous improvement. It establishes a regular feedback loop with your customers so that you can always ensure that the evolving product or website aligns with user expectations.
The foundation for an effective iterative testing strategy lies in the clarity of its objectives. What are the specific aspects of the solution that you are testing? Is it the intuitiveness of the interface? Or is it the emotional appeal of the design? Ask yourself these questions to set clear goals for your iterative testing strategies.
Following this, you can move on to the next stage, which is formulating hypotheses. Now, the common format for any hypothesis is,
If (cause), then (effect), because (rationale)
Your experience optimization needs to solve a problem. To determine this problem, you need to seek data from quantitative and qualitative sources. Based on your results, you can then design and implement the iterative testing.
Based on the hypotheses, you can now generate different variations of the element you wish to test. Ensure that you are testing only one element at a time since testing multiple elements simultaneously can yield unreliable results.
The sample size of your iterative testing can also have a huge impact on the results. It must be large enough to deliver accurate results and randomly assigned to avoid any form of selection bias.
Several tools and platforms support the iterative testing process. These can streamline the entire journey and facilitate more effective testing sessions.
As a marketer, you might already have some idea about how customers interact with your campaign or web pages. However, iterative testing can help you achieve a much better understanding of how your target audience really interacts with your sites.
Once you have conducted the test, you must analyze the results to draw actionable insights. You can use statistical tools to understand if there is any relevant statistical significance between the performance of both variations.
Optibase features the Probability to Be Best metric that allows you to identify the variant that is most likely to bring optimal results. It is calculated using Bayesian statistics, which considers both observed results as well as the uncertainty of those results to locate the most promising variants.
Additionally, do not forget to analyze the performance of the variations against key metrics in conversion rate optimization, which include bounce rates, CTR, and time spent on a web page or within a session.
Based on the insights gathered, you can then take the necessary steps, which may include simplifying the complex workflows or adding new features based on user feedback.
But don’t just stop after you have implemented the winning variant of your iterative testing. Use the valuable feedback from your previous experiments to navigate your future iterations. This will allow you to continuously analyze and improvise your conversion rate optimization journey.
In addition, experiment with different testing strategies, channels, and messaging to get the upper hand in the fierce competition and capture the attention of your target audience.
Below are some of the most common challenges faced by businesses when implementing iterative testing strategies.
The worst way to run any iterative test is to implement a change, roll it out to an A/B test, and then just ‘see what happens.’ This is essentially bad since you are really not learning anything by running a test this way. The key is to establish a clear hypothesis that will include a problem statement, the change you are making, and the potential impact on user behavior.
Using multiple metrics at the same time can become very complex very quickly. The trick is to use and focus on a single metric to gauge the success of the test.
To see statistically significant results, you will need to use a pre-determined sample size. As a thumb rule, the smaller the change or improvement you need to detect, the larger the sample size should be.
Iterative testing is undoubtedly a very powerful tool. When wielded correctly, it can enable learning with a much higher degree of confidence than most other validation methods. The key steps mentioned above are some of the most effective iterative testing strategies that you must implement in your business to witness successful results.
Additionally, it is also recommended to invest in a proper testing platform where you can experiment with different iterative testing methods, such as A/B testing or split testing.
What is iterative testing, and how does it differ from traditional A/B testing?
Iterative testing can be defined as a continuous process of making incremental changes, testing them, and analyzing the results to draw meaningful conclusions. Although an iterative process, A/B testing specifically involves testing two variants, namely ‘A’ and ‘B’, of the same element to understand which one works better for your business.
Why is continuous optimization important for my website?
One of the many reasons why continuous optimization is important for every business is because it allows businesses to stay relevant, by communicating and understanding their target audience’s behaviour.
How can I ensure the accuracy of my iterative testing results?
One of the many ways to ensure the accuracy of the results derived from iterative testing is by involving a proper sample group that includes real users. It allows you to get valuable feedback, based on which you can then make necessary adjustments.
