Conversion optimization in practice.

Pedro Bogerd (060500)

Content:

• Conversion optimization: try-out case presented in 12 steps.

• Short closure.

Website optimization - Introduction - 1

During my internship I was asked to participate in the first website optimization try

out test on the main corporate website: valk.com

In collaboration with Pieter van der Heijden (office / marketing manager) and an

external company called Online Dialogue we performed a first conversion

optimization test.

Website optimization - 2

General objective of this first A/B try-out optimization test:• To measure the online behaviour of prospects and current customers on the

main corporate website: valk.com.

• In detail: to understand what the visitor is planning to do on our website and to find out if a visitor could successfully book a specific reservation (conversion).

Website optimization - 3

To perform structured tests in order to increase communication and

interaction on valk.com we needed the following three ingredients: • The possibilities of Van der Valk Internet B.V to perform a optimization test.

(Tools, Employees, Goals?)• The online dialogues that aren’t so successful at this moment. (Measured by

Google Analytics and via Expert reviews)• What influences the visitors current online behaviour? (context, knowledge,

attitude?)

By composing several hypotheses we can design different variations. The answers

to these hypotheses will provide better insight on how to interact and communicate

with the online visitors of valk.com.

Website optimization – 4

Valk.com in short:Valk.com is the main corporate website of Van der Valk Hotels & Restaurants were

visitors can find information about all different locations and their possibilities.

The online offer consists out of the following elements:• Hotel room overnight stays.• Packages.• Last minutes.• Large room reservations.

Website optimization – 5

On this website we looked for locations / pages were we:• Understood what goal(s) a visitor had.• Saw that optimization was feasible.• Simply, within the possibilities of the organisation, could perform a test.

The chosen webpage:We chose to perform a test on the ‘reservation’ webpage. This page, which is equal

to all hotel reservation pages, gains many visitors and results into many official

bookings.

Besides that, the webpage is technically easily changeable. The goal of

this webpage is also clear: gaining reservations!

Example of the ‘reservation’ webpage before testing:

Website optimization – 6

The three self chosen hypotheses:• 1: The webpage isn’t clear enough. We need a clear reservation ‘call to action

button’ which will increase conversion.

• 2: Extra promotion of last minutes and special offers / packages will lead to more unique visitors and increase conversion.

• 3: We have to convince the visitor to book at valk.com by extra offers such as: a free cup of coffee and free WiFi connection.

Variation A: The new basic reservations web page (default web page)

Variation B: All three hypotheses packed in one variation.

Variation C: To test the effect of free coffee and WiFi we only present hypotheses 1 and 2.

Variation D: An other variation that present hypotheses 1 and 3 in one variation.

Variation E: An extensive version of option D to compare with variation B.

Website optimization – 7

The software we used to perform the first conversion try-out test

on valk.com:

• Google Optimizer: to present the right variation in the right proportions (20% of total visitors per variation) to the web page visitors.

• Google Analytics: to see what visitors did after they saw one of the five variations (what is booked?)

The best variation is determined by the total number of unique conversions per

variation regarding hotel room reservations, last minutes, special offers and

packages.

Website optimization – 8

Results of the first conversion optimization test:• Variation A: Default version• Variation B: - 6,1%• Variation C: + 0,1%• Variation D: + 13,6%• Variation E: - 15,1%

In comparison with variation A (default) Version D is the winning variation with

+ 13,6% more conversion after 10 days of testing. Variation B and E are in

comparison very negative.

Website optimization – 9

Answers to the three chosen hypotheses:• 1: The web page isn’t clear enough. We need a clear reservation ‘call to action

button’ which will increase conversion. = true!

• 2: Extra promotion of Last Minutes and special offers / packages will lead to more unique visitors and increase conversion. = Not true!

• 3: We have to convince the visitor to book at valk.com by extra offers such as:

A free cup of coffee and free WiFi connection. = Hardly no difference!

Website optimization – 10

Conclusions:• The special offers of free coffee and free WiFi have no significant influence on

conversion.

• The offer of last minutes, special offers and packages distract visitors to reach their goals. (visitors take different routes).

• The use of a clear call to action button that leads to direct conversion has a significant positive effect on conversion.

Website optimization – 11

What to do next?• Implementing variation D on the reservation page on valk.com. (This has

already been completed on the current valk.com website).

• Continuing to perform optimization test on other web pages to for instance increase conversion. This testing method can also be used on vandervalkfietsen.nl in the future.

• New / recent results of other tests aren’t communicated yet.

Website optimization – 12

What can we do to optimize the reservation page even better in the

future with the gained knowledge of the first optimization test:

• 1: testing if variation D without a special offer works even better.• 2: testing other marketing tools to convince visitors to book a hotel room.• 3: Inform visitors that bookings on valk.com are 100% reliable.• 4: Adjust the navigation structure on the left side of the webpage.

Short Closure.

Special thanks to: Ton Wesseling (OnlineDialogue.com) and Pieter van der Heijden (Office /

Marketing manager Van der Valk Internet B.V.

Future plans

Become a marketing manager with a specialisation in online marketing.