It’s About What You Test - Not What Tool You Use
I frequently get asked why I choose Google Website Optimizer (GWO) over other platforms (Optimost, Visual Website Optimizer & Adobe Test & Target). It’s as though people believe that using a paid platform, they’re going to see much larger increases in conversion rates over time than if they used GWO for example.
Reasons for Google Website Optimizer (GWO)
Ultimately, it’s not about the platform you use to test - it’s all about what you choose to test. Here’s why I choose Google Website Optimizer:
- It’s fast (especially now that it uses asynchronous tracking)
- It’s free
- Integrates well with Google Analytics (both with logins and through custom variables)
- Lots of documentation and support if necessary
- Can be extremely flexible from a development perspective
Reasons Against GWO
Here’s why I wouldn’t use GWO (and might explore other platforms):
- Tagging is a pain (Sitespect, VWO, Vertser and Optimost are all virtually tagless) - especially with TinyMCE-based editors
- Tagging can mess with your GA cookies
- Cross-domain tracking is horrible
- Segmentation and other advanced features are very difficult to achieve (but it’s possible)
In short, I think many people overrate the importance of MVT platforms. At the end of the day, it’s what you test that will give you the right result. The tool you use is just a means to an end. As long as it’s accurate, reliable and does the job effectively, you can’t really go wrong.
Which Platform Should you Use?
In my opinion, GWO will be suitable for 90% of situations. However, it cannot hurt to read through these two sites and compare other MVT platforms on the market:
- http://www.whichmvt.com/ (An easy to understand table)
- http://whichtestwon.com/techguide
You’ll be surprised at how good the functionality is out there.
Hi Robert, did you test any of the available MVT-testers out there and what are you findings so far?
Dennis
Hi Dennis,
So far, I’ve tried Visual Website Optimizer, Google Website Optimizer, Optimizely, Vertster and Reedge (whilst in beta).
1. Visual Website Optimizer is quite good. The support team is very responsive and know what they’re talking about. They’re also pretty active in evangelizing testing. Besides that the product itself is great (especially the near-real-time reporting) and I’ve only encountered a handful of niggles. I’ve yet to try out the segmentation
2. Vertster - We tried these guys out but we encountered some serious problems and found the UI really awkward to use. The concept is good and I like it how tagging is similar to VWO. The segmentation features were nice and the pricing seemed a bit better than VWO’s.
3. Optimizely was also quite nice, but the UI wasn’t polished and it felt like a cheap version of VWO. They also evangelize testing and are always pumping out great ideas to help fuel tests (which I like, but it won’t necessarily make me choose them). Unfortunately I decided to leave that tool behind me.
4. Reedge beta - the segmentation features in Reedge were first-rate but from memory the UI wasn’t yet as polished as I would have liked (which is unfair of me to say whilst it was in beta). I’ll probably have to give it another burl when I have the chance - in fact I’m not sure if we had time to test a test.
All in all, I like the tagging abilities of these platforms, but in my role at work, it doesn’t make sense for me to handle the implementation (even through an easy to use interface), unless it’s a really simple test. It’s much more cost effective for us to do the mockups and send through some basic instructions to clients’ developers to handle test implementation (Sounds horrible, I know… but hey, it works).
How’s the Reedge testing platform coming along?
Rob, thanks for your kind words about Visual Website Optimizer
Hi Rob,
I understand completely that wire-framing will be faster for you. It depends on the agency what they do in-house.
We are finishing the app and getting it ready for non beta audience. So indeed UX design and scalability is our priority right now. You seem to get the our USP right. We are strong in segmentation and will add personalization using wizard before going live.
Thanx for trying it out. You will get an email then we are leaving beta. Your email must be in our system if you used it before… so that will be the easiest to monitor.
Dennis
Awesome… I’m keen to see how it’s progressed.
The guys at work are really excited about segmentation. Would be good to see some examples where it has worked.
Hi Rob,
We launched the next version of Reedge now called Convert Experiments and you will find it on http://www.convert.com
Love to see how you feel about this tool now we got hundreds of users more and thousands of lines of code to improve the experience and a fully new wizard driven UI.
Dennis