- OpenText™ | Blogs
- 05.02.2019
- EN
OpenText™ "A beginners guide to establishing a successful testing and optimization program"
If you are reading this, chances are you are the lucky individual that’s been chosen to own and champion testing and optimization within your organization. Congratulations, you are about to embark on one of the most exciting journeys of your career. You’ve been given the unique opportunity to have a direct impact on the business’ KPI(s), establish a test and learn mentality that allows the organization to make decisions based on data rather than the HiPPO, as well as establish design best practices that will improve the way you go to market with future campaigns.
That said, like many before you, you most likely have a ton of questions. What’s involved? What can I or can’t I optimize? How much time and resources must I put in to be successful? How do I get started? The last question, “how do I get started?” is where I want to focus this discussion. My goal is to empower you to capitalize on this opportunity and get the most value possible from your efforts. Here are a few ways you can get your testing and optimization program off the ground in no time. Let’s get started.
1. Organize the program & identify your goals
When embarking on the journey of optimization, the first step is to organize the program and identify your goals. Organizing your program and identifying the right goals from the on-set is an important step because they will inevitably impact your larger strategy.
The individual goals you identify will depend on your goals for the overall optimization program. For example, many organizations divide optimization efforts up by department, whereas others establish a CoE (Center of Excellence) and oversee optimization efforts at the organizational level. In our experience, larger organizations tend to implement a CoE to keep things centralized and ensure the goals of the organization are addressed. Smaller organizations tend to divide optimization up by department to limit scope, prove the value and eventually work their way towards a CoE. Both approaches have their respective benefits, but it is important to make the decision of where optimization will sit within the organization before establishing any individual goals.
After you’ve determined where optimization will sit within the organization, the next step is to establish your individual goals based on that decision. Below is an example of how a business within the travel industry might organize their goals and what their specific goals might be for either of the two scenarios.