Use cases for the total value metric

Total value is a type of metric that lets you quantify visitor actions beyond simple conversions and revenue. With total value, you can track the performance of a custom event numerically per conversion, per session (with Optimizely Personalization), or per visitor (with the other Optimizely Experimentation products).

For example, in an Optimizely Web Experimentation experiment, you measure the number of items purchased as a custom eventcustom event. With the total value metric, you can track the trend for the number of items purchased per visitor or per conversion. 

Total value lets you better align the metrics you attach to experiments with your higher-level business goals.

The following sections give real-world examples of how to use the total value metric using Optimizely Web Experimentation to demonstrate. You can configure similar total value metrics in Optimizely Feature Experimentation, Optimizely Feature Experimentation, and Optimizely Personalization.

If you have an ecommerce business, you probably track units per order or items per order (IPO) as a key performance indicator. Use total value to track IPO performance in your experiment.

For example, you run a retail shoe site and experiment with the number of shoes displayed on a product category page. You hypothesize that displaying a few large product images on each page helps visitors browse and buy more shoes. You track Add to Cart clicks as your primary metric. But, you are also concerned that visitors exposed to fewer shoes may purchase fewer items overall. So, you use total value to track IPO and ensure that a key business metric is headed in the right direction.

To add IPO as a metric for your Web Experimentation experiment, follow the instructions to build a metric based on a Units per Order click event and use the following parameter settings:

More total value metrics for ecommerce and retail.

For example, your site offers flight and resort packages for Hawaiian vacations, with ancillary products like snorkeling outings, surf lessons, and spa appointments. The total value metric can help you track the number of ancillary products added to a transaction in an experiment.

Suppose that on your site, visitors go immediately to the checkout page after they select a vacation package. On the checkout page, they can complete checkout or choose to see your ancillary products. You hypothesize that if you send visitors to a page of ancillary product options before the checkout page, more visitors will add them to their vacations. Use total value metric to track the number of ancillary products visitors add per conversion to determine if your hypothesis is correct.

To add the total value metric, build a metric for Number of Ancillary Products and use the following parameter settings:

Suppose you also want to increase the total dollar amount of ancillary products your visitors add to their vacations. You might hypothesize that listing higher-cost products earlier on the page increases the dollar amount your visitors spend on ancillary products. You can use a total value metric based on a "dollar amount spent on ancillary products" event with the same parameter settings.

More total value metrics for travel.

Sites that rely on lead generation usually use forms to gather key information. Your forms must capture enough visitors' information so your sales team can identify valuable leads. At the same time, forms cannot be so long that visitors do not complete them. You must optimize your forms to gather enough information and your visitors actually complete them.

Use a total value monitoring metric to learn how many fields your visitors typically complete. For example, if you discover that many visitors abandon your form after completing four questions, you can design forms to capture the information you need in four questions or fewer.

Add a total value metric for the number of form fields completed. Build a metric based on a "number of completed form fields" event for the form you want to track. Use the following parameter settings for your metric:

More total value metrics for B2B and lead generation.

If you have a media site, you are probably interested in increasing the number of pages viewed per visitor, especially if you have ads on your site.

For example, your site includes a blog with ads. You might hypothesize that adding a weekly newsletter with your latest blog posts increases the total number of blog articles (and ads) each visitor views. You can test your hypothesis by using total value to track the number of articles per visitor and learn whether your email newsletter is getting your visitors to read more of your blog articles.

To add a total value metric for the number of articles per visit for your experiment, build a metric based on your "total pages viewed per visitor" event and use the following parameter settings:

If you run an Optimizely Personalization campaign, you might also want to test whether adding suggestions for three related articles at the end of every blog article increases the total number of articles a visitor views per session. You can test your hypothesis by using total value to track the number of articles per session and learn whether your article suggestions are working.

In this case, you would add a "number of sessions" event in your Optimizely Personalization campaign and build a total value metric with the following parameter settings:

More total value metrics for media.