The Optimization Methodology
- Optimizely Web Experimentation
- Optimizely Personalization
- Optimizely Performance Edge
- Optimizely Feature Experimentation
- Optimizely Full Stack (Legacy)
Note
This is the introductory article on The Optimization Methodology. See the links in this article to view the rest of the Optimization Methodology.
Optimizely Experimentation lets you experiment with and personalize your website and applications. There are five major stages in the Optimization Methodology:
- Ideation
- Planning
- Development
- Analysis
- Implementation
Your team works through each stage in every experiment you run. This iterative cycle helps you learn and improve your site experience to drive business goals.
The articles below help you plan more effectively through each stage. When you analyze results in production (stage 5), you can monitor how improvement in one test affects other valuable revenue sources on your site because you set up monitoring goals in design (stage 3). You can also turn data in your results into the next great idea to test (stage 2).
This series provides:
- Strategic recommendations for building a powerful, sustainable program.
- Actionable templates to help you start prioritizing, designing, and sharing your experiment and campaigns.
- Resources to help teams with varying experience levels build a strong, data-driven culture.
Stage 1 – Implement Optimizely Experimentation and establish your experimentation program
First, establish an optimization framework that prepares your team for long-term success. Complete this phase once and revise only based on significant program or company-level changes. Consult the resources often to orient your efforts.
Stage 2 – Decide what to test
When you set the direction for your program, research and brainstorm ideas for testing and personalization.
- Generate ideas for experimentation based on direct and indirect data.
- Follow the Best practices: From research to hypothesis creation.
Stage 3 – Organize your experiments
Prioritize, plan, and design individual tests.
- Create Common metrics by revenue model.
Stage 4 – Build and run your experiment
Create your experiment in Optimizely Web Experimentation, Optimizely Performance Edge, or Optimizely Feature Experimentation. Before you make it live, QA to ensure it is set up how you want, then launch it.
- Follow the Six steps to creating an experiment in Optimizely Web Experimentation or Performance EdgeSix steps to creating an experiment in Optimizely Web Experimentation or Performance Edge or Run A/B testsRun A/B tests in Optimizely Feature Experimentation.
Stage 5 – Analyze and take action on your results
Analyze your results and take action based on what you find. Use the insights you generated from winning, losing, and inconclusive tests to design the next round of tests and campaigns.
Every optimization team is different. As your program grows, the iterative cycle from ideation to production helps you adapt your process to meet the changing needs of your testing organization.