Most of you interested in conversion rate optimization must have heard about a great tool called Visual Website Optimizer. If you haven’t, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Today, we have with us Paras Chopra, the mastermind behind the A/B split testing tool, Visual Website Optimizer. He’s about to share some useful tips regarding conversion optimization and how companies can benefit from using CRO.
About Paras Chopra:
Paras Chopra
Paras Chopra is a serial entrepreneur from Delhi, India and completed his Bachelors in Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering in 2008. He published 3 research papers in international peer-reviewed journals and was brave enough to start a company at the age of 13.
He also developed a plethora of websites from scratch some of which got featured on National TV, magazines and newspapers. His company, Wingify, got shortlisted for Econsultancy’s 2009 innovation awards in web analytics and optimization category, got honored as Top 10 emerging IT companies by NASSCOM and made it to Red Herring Asia 100. Find out more about him through his resume.
Paras, could you tell us why you chose to enter the conversion optimization industry?
I had mainly three interests that I wanted to explore: data mining / analytics, marketing, and technology. So I made a list of fields that would allow me to explore these interests: conversion optimization came to be on top of such list. You see, conversion optimization allows us to make use of data that is collected to increase returns on marketing spends. So, technically, we aren’t spending extra money to bring in additional traffic but rather we are using data mining and technology to help our clients make more money from the same traffic.
If you were tasked with the job of improving conversion for a website, what would be your typical workflow?
If you talked about absolute basics, here’s what I would focus on:
- Headlines — this is what a visitor first looks as he hopes to understand what your offer is
- Reduction of text – nobody likes to read globs of text (unless it is in long sales letter fashion). So, my recommendation is to replace text with images/visuals (as much as you can)
- Single call to action — visitors want a clear understanding of what next step they are expected to talk. If you have more than one call for action, they compete for attention and visitors may lose interest in your offer due to confusion
- Social proof – visitors don’t want to be scapegoats for testing your offer. Your page needs to build trust and confidence in them that other people and companies are also using your offer.
I detail about these 4 basic elements in my blog post.
How do you see the current market for A/B testing tools like your visual website optimizer?
There are currently 3 kinds of tools available in market:
- Free tools like Google Website Optimizer
- Tools made for marketers (no dependence on IT) like Visual Website Optimizer
- Enterprise and complicated tools like Test & Target, Optimost, etc.
Choice of a tool depends on organization needs. If they are okay with doing regular code changes to their website and investing time in designing A/B tests, free tools are good. If they want quickly create tests and find out results (thereby minimizing their dependence on IT department), tools like Visual Website Optimizer are good. If organization wants to outsource the whole A/B testing operation and have big budgets for it, enterprise solutions are okay.
What are the common problems associated with conversion optimization in your opinion?
The biggest problem is that in organizations usually there is no single person whose sole responsibility is to do conversion optimization. And since CRO is nobody’s key job responsibility, it usually gets side-tracked and the organization cannot achieve ROI from conversion optimization that they would have. So, even before selecting a tool, you should define conversion rate optimization process and responsibilities in your organization.
If you had to choose between A/B testing and MultiVariet Testing, what would be your choice and why?
It depends on what level of changes you are testing. If you are doing large scale changes, then of course A/B testing would be the choice. However, if you are testing a few specific changes (like in headline, button, color, etc.) multivariate testing is a better choice. Do note that with MVT, you need lot more traffic as compared to A/B testing.
Visual Website Optimizer has an impressive client list including Microsoft, AMD, Aweber, Groupon and more. How did you land such big clients?
Trade secret! Just kidding 
Actually, our primary focus is on developing a great product. So major source of customers is word of mouth as people like the software and recommend it to their colleagues. We also focus on inbound marketing through SEO, Blog and case studies.
When should a business start using conversion optimization tools?
At all stages. I have written on my blog why A/B testing (not necessarily conversion optimization) is relevant to all kinds of businesses: Read the blog post here.
What industries see the best result with split testing?
The most important industry is E-commerce. I don’t think any good E-commerce website can succeed without proper A/B testing industry. Other industries are lead-gen and SaaS/software businesses.
How does visual website optimizer score against Google Website Optimizer? Are you concerned about big companies entering this space and using their reach to grab a larger market share?
We have a comparison here.
Yes, that risk is with all startups. But we are not excessively bothered about competition; we just focus on making a great product. If you focus too much on competition, your own product cannot evolve.
What advice would you give to people looking to start a career in the conversion optimization industry?
I’d say start analyzing popular websites like Ebay, Apple.com, Indeed.com and other such sites and come up with conversion optimization ideas. Make a presentation and simply send your suggestions for free. If the website likes them, propose to do proper A/B testing of these suggestions. Before you know it, you will be a sought-after consultant in this industry (if you really do manage to produce results for your clients).
Thank you Paras, for taking the time out from your busy schedule and sharing your thoughts on CRO and how businesses can utilize it to get maximum returns.
If you have questions or comments, please post them on the comment section.
