Organization: We need to be testing and learning things more quickly.
Same organization: It'll take legal 4 weeks to approve those proposed changes.
💀💀💀
Are you as scared as I am? Let's unpack why:
One of the most costly mistakes I see organizations make with their testing programs is a lack of internal alignment on resources and priorities. In one such occurrence, we are spending in the $MM range on ads, but are unable to move landing page testing forward in a timely fashion due to hangups with legal and internal review on the organization side.
Let's play this out in real life: If this landing page change does what we think it will, we'll see a 10% improvement in purchases - which, given our traffic volume and investment, results in hundreds of thousands in additional revenue per quarter. Then, our next improvement idea could then boost purchases by an additional 5%, compounding our initial improvement. And the next one could... I think you get the idea.
But! Because of a 6 week internal turnaround time on any copy or content changes, we are losing half a quarter for every test, stopping our testing momentum in its tracks and letting valuable audience and market insights that are based on a specific campaign or cultural moment fall by the wayside. We're also leaving thousands, if not millions, of dollars on the table.
Landing page and conversion optimization is a team sport: it only works if everyone is moving towards a common goal. Otherwise, it's like getting lost in a dark corn maze with the chainsaw maniac chasing after you and your friends decide it's better to split up than stay together. Spoiler: the ones that split off from the group always get murdered first. It's science.
Ok, ok. Testing isn't that morbid - but it can have long-lasting effects if done properly (and improperly, for that matter).
What's the scariest testing or optimization story you have? 'Tis the season, after all. 🎃🎃🎃