The Optimizely Virtual Experience: Be Prepared for Anything

That’s why testing and optimization are so important for any successful company: they provide you with the ability to make decision based on data—instead of guesswork or previous experience—and create great experiences that will foster long-term relationships with delighted customers.

For companies who haven’t fully embraced a culture of testing, the thought of fearlessly diving in can be a little frightening. But those who have know that the benefits are enormous. That’s why Optimizely is happy to announce the The Optimizely Virtual Experience: Fearlessly Optimize the Future of Your Business. Join us for an opportunity to hear how some of the most fearless business leaders use testing to stand out among the competition, build lasting relationships with their customers, and increase revenues.

Here’s a little taste of some of the great sessions:

• Challenging the Status Quo to Deliver Best-in-Class Experiences: Bill Macaitis, CMO of Slack, will show how companies can rise to best-in-class status through by embracing a testing culture.
• Learning from Your First Failure: Vinod Kartha, Director of Digital Products at Visa, will discuss how even tests that don’t go your way can teach you valuable lessons.
• Bold Ideas Lead to Big Wins: Kyle Rush, Director of Frontend Engineering and Optimization at Hillary for America, will illustrate how the benefits of bold ideas, when done correctly, can far outweigh the risks.

Some of the Lessons of 2015

While we all look forward to 2016 and the challenges ahead, it’s a good idea to look back and reflect on some of the surprising things we learned last year. Below are two examples of an interesting lessons that could not have been learned without testing:

New User Signup Can be Counterintuitive

Trunk Club has a mission is to help men build an amazing wardrobe without a lot of work. They want their website and mobile app to do the same. One might assume that would require the simplest possible sign up flow for new customers, right? Wrong! As Mike Wolf, Trunk Club’s Product Design Lead learned with a brilliant test, creating a longer, more visually complex sign up flow led to an 133% increase in conversions.

Secret Escapes is flash-sale luxury travel company that offers discounted deals on four and five-star hotels around the world. Before releasing their mobile app, they had to answer a simple but important question: should the app require users to sign up in order to view travel deals? It might seem obvious that adding a step might lower signup rate and lead to negative app reviews. But as Sebastian Fallert, the company’s UK General Manager, learned with testing, requiring a mandatory signup gate more than doubled the signup rate and did not lead to negative reviews or comments.