How To Prioritize Your Website Testing

When starting a Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) campaign, it’s easy to want to test as many ideas as you can think of. The idea of increasing your conversions, leads, and revenue, all prove to be an enticing endeavor and most want to jump right in. We can’t blame the excitement, we get excited, too! But it’s important to categorize and prioritize your potential testing ideas into a list that targets your focus and gets your team rowing in the same direction when it comes to CRO.

Our suggestion is to create a list of three categories once your information and data have been collected for potential CRO test opportunities. These categories will help you quickly identify what tests should be considered a higher priority, and what tests should be considered a “down the road” or long term strategy.

Make a list with your team that is categorically broken down as:

• “Must-Haves”
• “Up at Bat”
• “Maybe Laters”

Contained in each of these list items will be another list of tests and ideas that you and your team can categorize based on the level of importance and impact, and work your way down. It’s important to know what tests and ideas will bring the most value, and for your team to be on the same page and in agreeance when it comes to what tests are a priority. Failure to do so can lead to miscommunication, stretching of resources, and worse, a lowered conversion rate and a lack of faith in CRO as a service.

What Are The “Must Haves”?

“Must have” tests are the highest priority test opportunities for your website. These tests and ideas will be based on their ability to directly affect the conversion rate of your website and are backed by data and user feedback.

These will generally have the highest impact on your website due to the nature of the test.

What Are The “Up At Bats”?

“Up at bat” tests are tests that indirectly affect your conversion rate and are considered more of a medium priority. These tests, while still being backed by data and user feedback, are considered areas of opportunities that will have an impact but are not as immediate as the “must-have” tests.

These tests are great to have to wait in the wings for the moment you have completed your “must-have” tests.

What Are The “Nice To Haves”?

“Nice to have” tests should be considered tests that are more experimental. There’s really no data or feedback to back up the test or need for it, but it’s of interest to the team or company to try out and see how it works. The goal with these is not to discourage them or forget them but try them when other media to high priority tests are complete.

How To Determine Category Of Your Tests
Beyond data gathering and feedback, you should categorize your testing ideas based on the following criteria:

• Potential Impact
• Time
• Resources

Potential Impact - How big of an impact will this test have on your conversions and goals? If you are successful, what do you stand to gain from the test?

Time - How many man-hours will go into this test? How long will we let this test run? Do you have enough traffic to run this test? How long will it take to see that much traffic?

Resources - Do you have the correct tools in order to create this test? Do you have the correct people in place to create and implement this test? How much will this test cost overall to run?

Getting a gauge on the three factors above will better help you understand what constitutes a “Must Have”, “Up at Bat”, and “Down the Road” test. Focus on working on tests that have the most potential and that healthily balance your time and resources.

Tests that will eat up more time and resources than the potential gains should be toward the bottom of the list if at all considered. Always strive to focus on tests whose potential exceeds time and resources.

Similarities Will Happen

It’s important to note that all of the categories above may test similar elements. For example, any test above, regardless of category, may test:

• Content
• Buttons
• Images
• Layout
• Design
• Video

While similarities and overlap may occur, it’s up to you and your team to dissect which tests have the biggest opportunity and potential impact. Make sure to properly analyze your data, digest user feedback, and have an in-depth discussion with your team to find out which tests have the most beneficially opportunities.

Long Term Benefits Of Prioritizing

Utilizing this strategy of prioritizing will also help your team project potential growth and help make the case for CRO, as well as help you in your reporting and goal setting for your CRO campaign. You will be able to set deadlines for your team, attribute tests to specific goals, and manage your projects more effectively.

Again, it’s important to note that CRO is a long term strategy that should be baked into your ongoing digital marketing campaign and budget. It affects multiple parts of your strategy and therefore must be planned and carried out very carefully.

However, if done correctly testing can have a huge impact on your website and give you gains you never thought possible with your existing traffic

At Marcel Digital, we want to be your trusted business advisor if you have any questions or comments about Conversion Rate Optimization. Our cross-trained team is ready to help in whatever way we can! We’d love to learn more about you and your business, so please feel free to contact us and let us know how we can help you and your team today!