split testing vs personalisation: is there a winner?

SPLIT TESTING VS. PERSONALISATION, IS THERE A WINNER?DUNCAN HEATH

Audience interest level vs. time firstgraph shown

Average best

Optimising your site with split testing will help you find an average best

Optimising through personalisation will help you find the best for every one

Standard data available:• Geo-location• Traffic source• Device type

With demographic data:• Age group• Gender• Interests

User segmentation in Google Analytics

Segmenting your audience to show different content can be hugely valuable, and is a great stepping stone to personalisation

Personalisation is hugely powerful, but if you don’t spend time optimising the wider user experience through split testing, conversions will suffer

• When it gets creepy

• When a brand loses it’s identity

• When resources are a limiting factor

When does personalisation become too much?

3 Key Takeaways1.) Split testing will optimise for the “average” user, but without segmentation and personalisation you’re missing out on revenue

2.) Relying on personalisation alone without split testing will result in the neglect of site elements you either can’t or shouldn’t personalise

3.) Personalisation, although massively powerful, has it’s optimal boundaries. More is not always better.

4.) Follow me on Twitter - @ConversionPerv