Great for quick and simple tests if you don't mind page flickering.
February 16, 2019
Great for quick and simple tests if you don't mind page flickering.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Google Optimize
We currently use Google Optimize for A/B and multivariate testing on our eCommerce site.
We've been using it for testing submit forms, sign-up pages, and other pages and designs like cart and checkout. It is used mainly by the marketing department (with a bit of communication with IT, but only for setup purposes).
We've been using it for testing submit forms, sign-up pages, and other pages and designs like cart and checkout. It is used mainly by the marketing department (with a bit of communication with IT, but only for setup purposes).
- The interface is very easy and intuitive. You can quickly create a test and get it running in a few minutes.
- It connects very well with Google Analytics (in case you use it) so you can gather all the data quickly. You generally measure an A/B or MVT against a goal, so you quickly get all your GA goals, which makes it VERY easy to start a new test.
- Reporting is nice and easy. You can see quickly whether the test is a winner, amount of users, conversions, etc.
- We don't generally use the A/B test where you can edit your content directly on Optimize. We rather use the redirect (and we design the test), BUT it looks very easy to use, so for someone who really wants to make a very quick test (or doesn't have the support of IT), it's possible with that.
- Integration is not good. You have to add a "flickering" code to avoid loading the actual page (in case you get the experiment and not the control). This is the main reason why I am giving them a low score. The flickering code doesn't show absolutely ANYTHING until the time you state. If you add a low time, it will show a page and then reload and show the new one, which confuses the user. So this is a very bad experience from the user's perspective.
- Documentation regarding the "flickering" thing is not that accurate. It took a lot of time to actually get it to work. Debugging needs to improve.
- Definitely, testing is an ROI-positive activity, mainly because you can get lessons. For us, this was very important in understanding our CTA and value propositions that resonated more with our customers.
- As an ROI downside, the flickering issue and all the problems it causes with users not understanding what's going on (including bouncers) has to be taken into account.
To be very honest, we haven't used any software different from Optimize at this point. It would be irresponsible to write about alternatives that we don't know much about.