A/B and multivariate testing are often used to improve the conversion funnel.
What these tools do is randomly place alternative change images, text or
other design elements to gather statistics about how these things affect site
visitors. Companies have had great success using such solutions, but
sometimes multiple rounds of testing still produce inconclusive data:
changing the color or image on their pages did not have a significant impact
on the overall conversion rate.
Does this mean that there is no way for that business to improve the
conversion funnel? In these cases, marketing and other business stakeholders
often think: "We have chosen the wrong images. Let's try some more!" and a
new test cycle is started. But I think we should consider other factors.
Specifically, how the end-user experience is affected by the responsiveness
and performance of these pages... (more)
You don't agree with that? Have you ever looked at the details of your page
load time and analyzed what really impacts Page Load Time? Let me show you
with a real life example and let me explain that in most cases you only
control 1/3 of the time required to load a page as the rest is consumed by
third-party content that you do not have under control.
Be Aware of Third-Party Content
When analyzing web page load times we can use tools such as dynaTrace,
Firebug or PageSpeed. The following two screenshots show timeline views from
dynaTrace AJAX Edition. The timelines show all networ... (more)
Today's web sites are often cluttered up with third-party content that slows
down page load and rendering times, hampering user experience. In my first
blog post, I discussed how third-party content impacts your website's
performance and identified common problems with its integration. Today I want
to share the experience I have had as a developer and consultant with the
management of third-party content. In the following, I will show you best
practices for integrating third-party content and for convincing your
business that they will benefit from establishing third-party manage... (more)
On my recent visits to Velocity, WebPerfDay and Apps World in London, Real
User Monitoring (RUM) was the hot topic. That triggered my thinking about the
differences between vendors. They all promise the same for a varying range of
prices - from free to a couple thousand US dollars. What I found out is that
there IS a big difference and - depending on what you want to do with RUM -
you want to make sure you understand the capabilities and limitations of the
available solutions.
The false claim of 100% Coverage
What all vendors claim to do is capture data from 100% of your users. Wh... (more)
Klaus Enzenhofer has several years of experience and expertise in the field of Web Performance Optimization and User Experience Management. He works as Technical Strategist in the Center of Excellence Team at dynaTrace Software. In this role he influences the development of the dynaTrace Application Performance Management Solution and the Web Performance Optimization Tool dynaTrace AJAX Edition. He mainly gathered his experience in web and performance by developing and running large-scale web portals at Tiscover GmbH.
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