A/B Testing: Seeing the Forest
Written by Amy Gyoba on January 16, 2012
Have you ever heard the saying “not seeing the forest for the trees”? It means that someone doesn’t see the forest (the big picture) because they’re too busy looking at the trees (the details). We experienced this problem while performing A/B testing and want to share our lessons learned. In this case, it took some time to figure out why we weren’t getting conclusive results—we had been focusing too much on the small details.
Defining A/B Testing
A/B or split testing is exactly what it sounds like: testing one version of an ad or webpage against another one to see how a change to one component affects the conversion rate. Conversion, the desired user action, is defined before testing. It’s a key part of split testing because it determines which version is more successful.
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Let Your Customer Sell for You: Case Studies
Written by Martin Wong on November 15, 2011
When a company wants an effective sales tool, there are few types of collateral that deliver as much impact as a well-written case study. A case study offers these benefits:
- It’s a customer testimonial.
- It helps prospects relate your product or service to a real-life situation.
- It can be used as content for a website or newsletter.
- It can be pitched to publications as a feature article.
- If published, the magazine reprints make an even stronger selling piece because it implies editorial approval
Starting a Case Study
The best time to start is shortly after your solution has been installed and the customer is seeing results. Their impressions will be fresh, and they will be as eager as you to promote their success. If you wait too long, that team or manager may be transferred to another project; you’ll be speaking to newcomers who lack knowledge about the original reasons for bringing in your solution and who may not be as positive.
Writing a case study is rarely a smooth, uninterrupted process; the stars that need to be in alignment are often outside your control. So before you hire someone to work on your case studies, take a look at the project workflow—in an ideal world, of course.
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Writing for Your Audience
Written by Amy Gyoba on November 1, 2011
So you know what you want to talk about, but how will you write it? One of the first things they teach you in technical writing is know your audience, and this applies to blogging or any other type of writing.
Before you compose your content, think about who will be reading it and what you want them to do with the information. Use this analysis to guide the tone, language, and strategy of your writing.
