Lillian Vernon takes A/B testing to a new level
To determine the page layouts of merchandising offers that will drive the most sales, Lillian Vernon Corp. is using a new tool on a redesigned web site that lets it test hundreds of page variations at a time instead of just two in conventional A/B testing, president Jonathan Shapiro said at this week’s eTail conference.
“We can predict the best-performing combinations of values and variables, and if we can increase our conversion rates from 7% to 7.1%, that’s huge,” he said, declining to provide actual changes to his site’s conversion rate. Lillian Vernon sells housewares, gifts, gardening and children’s products at LillianVernon.com, which kicked off a new design this week developed by Fry Inc. Lillian Vernon also sells through several catalogs and outlet stores.
The retailer, which expects the web to account for 50% of overall sales this year, is using page-testing technology from Optimost LLC to simultaneously test the impact on sales of hundreds or even thousands or more of different combinations of product offers for each page. Each combination of offers on a page, for example, might include a distinct collection of pricing, product mixes and shipping offers. By changing the mix of offers, and the value of each offer, on each tested page, the Optimost system can produce data to show how customers respond to each page view. “It can show data on the best out of 200 rather than the best of two, or it can predict the best out of a million rather than two,” Shapiro said, adding: “This is very cost effective.”
Lillian Vernon is also using the system to review the effectiveness of keyword search strategies by testing different variations of search landing pages, he said.
Shapiro cautioned, however, that retailers need to support this type of multiple-page testing with effective follow-up policies and site infrastructure. Rather than stick with the first test results, it’s important to continue looking at the effectiveness of overall merchandising and marketing programs. “You don’t just get good at this and be satisfied, you have to sign up for continuous improvement,” he said.
To enable Lillian Vernon to quickly make changes as suggested by test results, Fry included in its redesign tools that make it easy for the retailer to modify merchandising offers, Shapiro said. The new site design also includes e-catalog technology from Scene7.
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