Conversion Rate Optimisation: How do I find the right tools?

The conversion rate indicates how many visitors to a website perform a desired action, such as making a purchase, filling out a form or signing up for the newsletter. Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) refers to the continuous improvement of the website to increase the conversion rate. One of the most effective methods to perform CRO is A/B testing.

Google Optimize offers an intuitive user interface and integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics. You can simply start a test and Google Optimize will show you the results in real time. You can even create personalised campaigns to offer visitors different experiences on your website depending on their interests, locations or other variables.

Why is Google Optimize being taken off the market? Competition could be a factor. There are more and more tools on the market that offer similar functions to Google Optimize. Other companies, such as Adobe, Dynamic Yield or Optimizely, have a strong presence in this area and offer similar features and services. It is possible that Google has decided to focus on other areas where it has a competitive advantage. For example, Google has replaced the popular keyword planning tool Google AdWords with Keyword Planner, which offers similar features but also includes some changes and limitations.

If you now want to reorient yourself in the area of CRO, A/B testing and personalisation, you should pay special attention to the topic of server-side A/B testing.

Server-side A/B testing allows you to run test variations on the server side before the content is sent to the user. The prerequisite here is that your entire frontend architecture is already technologically designed for this. The possibility of daily deployments at best also helps to be able to continue to act as flexibly as possible as a CRO team or an experimenting product team. The experiments are then usually coded by software developers in the proven tech stack. This all requires a larger investment, but brings great advantages.

The advantage of server-side testing is that it offers higher performance. Because the tests are run on the server, there is no drain on the user's resources, resulting in faster load times and a better user experience. Server-side A/B testing is also better suited for complex websites and apps where client-side A/B testing may not be sufficient.

All the advantages of server-side A/B testing at a glance:

• Consistency across devices: Server-side A/B testing ensures that tests are consistent across devices and browsers. You now know that your tests are accurate and reliable, and that your results are meaningful.
• Better performance, reduced load times: Because server-side tests are run on the server before the page is sent to the user, they can run faster than client-side tests. This helps reduce page load times, resulting in a better user experience. Flickering during major above-the-fold changes are also avoided.
• Scalability with concurrent tests: Server-side A/B testing is usually easier to scale than client-side A/B testing. Because the tests are run on the server, you can run more tests concurrently without impacting the performance of your website.
• Flexibility to test on content and functionality: Server-side A/B testing allows you to access all aspects of your website, including content and functionality. This gives you more flexibility to run tests tailored to specific business goals and user needs.
• Shorten time-to-market by activating successful variants immediately: Successful client-side tests often end up in the backlog of the responsible product team after the test phase. Proven positive effects are therefore not used immediately. With server-side testing, you can activate successful variants immediately for all users.

Through personalised targeting, companies can increase customer engagement and satisfaction.

Customers feel valued and receive relevant content and offers tailored to their individual needs. Furthermore, through personalisation, businesses can increase their conversion rate and improve customer loyalty. Personalised offers often lead to higher repeat purchases and thus to higher customer loyalty.

• Increasing the conversion rate through personalisation
  The personalisation of offers and content can significantly increase the conversion rate. Through personalised recommendations and offers, customers feel better addressed and are more willing to make a purchase decision. According to a study by Epsilon, personalisation can increase email open rates by up to 29% and conversion rates by up to 73%.
• More effective testing through personalisation
  Personalisation can also help tests become more effective. By personalising test content, companies can gain better insights into the behaviour and needs of their customers. By tailoring test content to individual needs, companies can also improve the accuracy of their test results.
• Encouraging repeat purchases through personalisation
  Personalisation can also help to encourage repeat purchases. By offering personalised offers and recommendations, companies can increase customer engagement and loyalty. Personalised offers and recommendations often lead to higher repeat purchases and therefore customer loyalty.
• Saving time and resources through personalisation
  Personalisation can also save time and resources. By automating personalised content and offers, companies can make their marketing activities more efficient. By automating personalised offers, companies can also improve the quality of their offers while reducing costs.

A good personalisation tool should offer a few functions:

• Collect and analyse data
  A personalisation tool should be able to collect and analyse data from multiple sources, including behavioural data, customer data and demographic information.
• Segment users into multiple groups
  The tool should be able to segment users into different groups based on demographic information, behavioural data and other factors. This allows companies to create personalised experiences for specific target groups.
• Personalisation of content, offers and recommendations
  The personalisation tool should be able to create personalised experiences for users in different segments, including personalised content, offers and product recommendations.
• Easy integration with systems and platforms
  A good personalisation tool should integrate easily with existing systems and platforms, including content management systems (CMS), e-commerce platforms and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
• Analysis of conversion rates, clicks and sales
  The personalisation tool should make it possible to measure and analyse the effectiveness of personalised experiences, including conversion rates, clicks and sales.

• The functionality should be as broad as possible.
  The A/B testing tool should offer a wide range of functions, including the ability to create tests quickly and easily, test different variations and analyse the results easily.
• Integration into existing systems should be easy and flexible.
  The tool should be easy to integrate with existing systems and platforms, including CMS, e-commerce platforms and CRM.
• The reliability of the tool must ensure testing without interruption.
  The tool should be reliable and provide high availability to ensure that tests can be run without interruption.
• Analytics must be simple and comprehensive, with results available in real time.
  The tool should allow the results of the tests to be easily measured and analysed, including the ability to monitor the results in real time.
• High scalability is a prerequisite for meaningful results.
  The tool should be able to run tests on a large scale to ensure that the results are meaningful.

Overall, choosing the best A/B testing tool requires careful analysis and evaluation to ensure that clients' needs are met and that an optimal result is achieved. Clients should have an effective and reliable solution for A/B testing and personalisation that helps them optimise their online marketing campaigns and increase their conversion rates.

In addition, it is important to know the following benefits:

• Provide personalised experiences: By using CRO strategies, companies can provide personalised experiences based on the customer's needs and preferences. This can lead to higher conversion rates and improve customer loyalty.
• Collect better data: By implementing CRO strategies, businesses can collect valuable data about their customers. This data can be used to better understand customer behaviour and improve customer communications.
• Continuous improvement: CRO is a continuous process of optimisation. By constantly improving their digital channels, companies can ensure that they stay up to date and meet the needs of their customers.