A side-by-side comparison of 2 webpages using Contentsquare analysis

 An overview of the integration

When Contentsquare and AB Tasty are used separately, you only get half the success of your test results. Say you want to test a hero banner. Using AB Tasty, you test 2 versions, and find there’s no improvement to your conversion rate. But, perhaps one of the versions increased customer engagement? Without the help of Contentsquare, you’re limited in your view of how your tests impact your entire customer experience.

Or, let’s say you’ve analyzed your customer journey using Contentsquare and discovered one of your conversion pages has a high drop-off rate. You come up with a hypothesis as to why this might be the case and hard-code a change, but this leads to more drop-offs, not less. Without AB Tasty, you’re unable to test your hypotheses, which results in wasted time, resources, and a potentially worse customer experience.

But, it doesn’t have to be this way. By integrating Contentsquare and AB Tasty, you can dive deeper into your customer experience to pinpoint and prioritize the most critical friction points or opportunities to experiment. You can also build better hypotheses based on key metrics, create and run data-informed tests, and better understand why variations perform well (or not). 

With Contentsquare, you gain a more comprehensive understanding of your customer experience, enabling you to conduct more informed, data-driven tests with AB Tasty.

 Benefits of the Contentsquare and AB Tasty integration

Where Contentsquare provides deep and meaningful insights into your customer behavior, AB Tasty empowers you to act on those insights, in real time.

“AB Tasty is a technology partner with Contentsquare. We facilitate A/B testing, experimentation, personalization, and audience segmentation. We help facilitate activation of the data that you get out of Contentsquare to fuel that endless cycle of experimentation.”

Mary Kate Cassh, Head of Growth Marketing, North America, AB Tasty

Using  Contentsquare and AB Tasty together, you get

• Unparalleled insights into customer behavior 
• Hyper-personalization features to deliver tailor-made experiences to boost conversion rates
• A simplified, streamlined workflow that eliminates data silos by having data accessible across easy-to-understand dashboards
• Greater business impact by uncovering hidden opportunities in your customer journey and testing your hypotheses before hard-coding changes
• Comprehensive experiment analysis with easy-to-understand visuals and side-by-side comparisons of your control and variation
• Continuous improvement to your digital strategy

Want to know the fundamentals of how the Contentsquare and AB Tasty integration works? Learn more.

How Contentsquare can inform your testing in AB Tasty

Let’s look at how this works in practice, using the framework of a continuous testing cycle. There are 5 stages to the continuous testing cycle—here’s how the Contentsquare and AB Tasty integration works to optimize each step along the way:

Stage 1: analysis phase

This first stage involves finding friction points or opportunities at each point of your customer journey. Then, it’s about generating test hypotheses to help solve or optimize the points that need the most attention.

You can break down this stage into 2 forms of analysis. 

1. Innovation analysis, where you work out whether your content is optimized for the best customer experience you can provide

2. Troubleshooting analysis, where you uncover errors or friction points in the customer journey, preventing users from moving forward.

With Contentsquare’s Experience Analytics, you can find out how your customers are behaving page by page, from entry to exit, and why. With a suite of capabilities, you can deep-dive into your customer experience and analyze areas that need the most improvement.

 Screenshot of Contentsquare’s Experience Analytics dashboard, open on the Heatmaps capability.

Use Session Replay to find out

• What are the behaviors of customers at critical conversion points?
• What’s causing rage clicks or other frustration behaviors?
• Where are customers encountering errors?

Rage clicks are when customers click on an element (clickable or not) of a website or app multiple times in frustration or anger. They’re often caused by technical issues, confusing navigation, or a cluttered design.

Use Journey Analysis to find out

• What are the top landing pages?
• What is the lowest-performing landing page?
• What is the highest-performing journey to reach your goal?
• What are the most popular journeys?
• Where do customers drop off or bounce?

Use Heatmaps to find out

• What’s the most attractive content/category on the page?
• What’s leading to the most conversions? Is it visible enough?
• In what order do customers consume the page?
• Are there any frictions or rage clicks on the page?

Stage 2: analysis resolution

Now you’ve got a few hypotheses to test, it’s time to work out how to prioritize what to test first.

The focus should be on tests with low effort, high reward and those with the biggest impact on your key performance indicators (KPIs).
Contentsquare’s Impact Quantification can help you prioritize your tests and make better decisions by assessing the impact of each test. All you need to do is clarify your goal and then segment users based on whether they completed the goal of your A/B test.

Contentsquare’s Impact Quantification in action.

Impact Quantification can then be used to compare these segments and confirm how much revenue the success of the test will likely generate.

 Stage 3; experimentation roadmap

Once you’ve established which hypotheses have the greatest potential to impact your KPIs, it’s time to start fleshing out your testing roadmap.

This roadmap will help guide every step of your testing process—from the build to the design and copy and finally, the execution. This roadmap is where you detail who’s doing what and when, giving you an overview of your site. This is especially useful if you’re running tests on multiple pages.

The dos and don’ts of your testing roadmap

Stage 4: start A/B testing

All that hard work has finally paid off—it’s time to put your hypotheses into action and start running tests with AB Tasty.

Using your roadmap as a guide, start building out your tests in AB Tasty to optimize, personalize, and improve your customer experience.

Stage 5: analysis and results

Get site statistics directly through AB Tasty and couple that with Contentsquare’s customer behavioral insights. 

From AB Tasty, get direct reports based on page statistics—giving you a snapshot of what’s going on in your campaign testing period.

From Contentsquare, as soon as your test goes live, you can watch how your customers behave in the control and variation, side-by-side using Heatmaps and Session Replay. Get a visual understanding of why and how your customers behave differently in your variation and use these insights to inform your next testing phase.

 How the partnership works in real life

Now that you know how the Contentsquare and AB Tasty partnership works, it’s time to see what it’s like in the real world. 

Here’s how 2 leading brands have embraced the integration of experience analytics and experimentation into their CX to drive real growth outcomes.

Clarins

Global skincare company Clarins wanted to find out whether a “wishlist” option on their site would help to increase pageviews and conversions. 

Using the Contentsquare integration with AB Tasty, they tested adding a heart icon to their product listing pages (PLPs) and product description pages (PDPs). This heart allowed users to save their favorite products to potentially purchase them at a later stage.

This test increased the overall number of transactions and resulted in

• +1.54% increase in basket page views

• +1.83% increase in transactions

“We are really passionate about continually optimizing what we’re already doing well plus also testing new theories to drive a great customer experience and continue to drive the commercial priorities of our website.”—Roisin O’Brien, Ecommerce Trading Manager at Clarins UK

Hotel Chocolat

British chocolate manufacturer Hotel Chocolat wanted to optimize its digital presence and improve its brand and on-site customer experience. 

Rather than focusing on conversion rates, Mel Parekh, Head of ecommerce at Hotel Chocolate and his team wanted to focus on engagement and clickthrough rates. 

Recognizing the importance of layout and user experience on customer engagement, the goal was to create a more visually appealing and intuitive homepage. 

WithContentsquare’s integration with AB Tasty, his team redesigned the homepage, focusing on the category tiles, which were found to be the most attractive elements on the page.

By optimizing the homepage, they saw a

• -10% reduction in bounce rates
• +1.67% increase in visiting time
• +0.54% increase in overall conversion rates, +7.24% increase on desktop

Mel Parekh, Head of ecommerce at Hotel Chocolate talked about customer loyalty at a recent Contentsquare CX Circle event. 

Smarter insights with Contentsquare

Contentsquare is the all-in-one Experience Intelligence platform designed to be easily used by anyone that cares about digital journeys. With our flexible and scalable platform, you quickly get a deep understanding of your customers’ whole online journey. 

Our AI-powered insights provide those “ah ha” moments you need to deliver the right experiences. You get to work faster and smarter with the confidence to know what to do next to improve your digital experiences. Leading brands use Contentsquare to grow their business, deliver more customer happiness and move with greater agility in a constantly changing world. Our insights are used to optimize the experience on over 1.3 million websites worldwide. For more information, visit: www.contentsquare.com

The post How The Contentsquare & AB Tasty Integration Improves Testing & Drives Results appeared first on abtasty.

What is Online Merchandising?

Online merchandising is the art of strategically organizing, showcasing, and promoting products on your e-commerce site to maximize engagement and conversions. Think of it as combining the precision of data analytics with the creativity of visual storytelling. Whether it’s through well-optimized product pages, eye-catching images, or personalized recommendations, the goal is the same: making shopping intuitive and enjoyable. 

The Rise of Mobile-First Merchandising 

Mobile is king in e-commerce. Have you ever noticed that smartphones seem to be glued to our hands? You’re not alone. According to Statista, over 54% of global website traffic now comes from mobile devices. For e-commerce, this means a mobile-first approach is non-negotiable.

How to master mobile merchandising:

1. Responsive Design: Online shopping is no longer linear. You have to ensure that your site is responsive across devices for a smoother shopping experience. This means making sure your design is responsive on desktop, mobile, and tablets. 
2. More speed = more spending: According to Deloitte, a mere 0.1s change in loading time can improve the customer journey and improve conversion rates. It’s time to start minimizing code, optimizing images, and reducing redirects to speed up your mobile performance. 
3. Streamlined Filters: Simplify searches with easy-to-use filters that don’t feel overwhelming on a smaller screen. 
4. Mobile-Friendly CTAs and Buttons: On desktops, consumers click. On mobile, visitors tap with their fingers. A CTA (or any button) that’s too small can lead visitors to click on the wrong icon and derail their user journey. The CTA should be an optimal size (around 44×44 pixels) to avoid frustration. 
5. Make your words worth it: With the constraints of a smaller screen, you may need to adapt your copy. Something as simple as changing your CTA button from “Contact Customer Service” to “Contact Us” can have a big impact.

Pro Tip: Dive further into mobile-first merchandising with our Smartphone Survival Guide to see how mobile impacts consumer behavior and how you can optimize your user experience to boost conversions.

Merchandising During Sales Periods

Sales periods like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Singles Day, Valentine’s Day, or other seasonal events are more than just discounts galore – they’re an opportunity to drive traffic to your website, clear inventory, and welcome new visitors. 

How to maximize impact during sales

• Curate Themed Landing Pages: Think “Gifts Under $25” or “Holiday Must-Haves.” Tailored pages simplify the shopping journey and give customers exactly what they’re looking for while saving them time browsing. 
• Urgency Tactics: Phrases like “Limited Stock” or “24-Hour Sale” pressure visitors to buy quicker by creating a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out).
• Bundle Deals: Push more products in your inventory by highlighting bundles. Grouping products into bundles with a “frequently bought together” algorithm increases the average order value while offering perceived savings.

These strategies not only boost sales but also make your customers feel like they’ve struck gold on your website by finding just what they’re looking for.

The Power of Personalized Product Recommendations

Ever added a pair of shoes to your cart and instantly been tempted by a matching belt? That’s cross-selling at work. Personalized recommendations, when done right, are like having a helpful salesperson who’s available 24/7 to help you find what you need. So, how do you implement recommendations? 

Implementing Recommendations:

• Use AI to Analyze Behavior: With experience optimization platforms like AB Tasty, you can implement personalized recommendations by using their AI-powered recommendation engine to predict and personalize what visitors might like based on past activity. 
• Offer Related Products: When visitors start browsing different products, you can show complementary items to help your customers have the most complete purchase. Selling skincare? Why not recommend helpful products to help your visitors “complete their nighttime routine.”
• Personalize Email Follow-ups: Abandoned carts? Send a friendly nudge with personalized email recommendations to remind your customers what’s waiting in their basket.

Want to see the results of recommendations in action? Check out Alltricks’s success story where they saw a +5% in average order value or Jacadi earning +13% more revenue per user with AB Tasty’s recommendations and merchandising solution.

Optimizing Product Pages for Search Engines

Your product pages are like magnets for customers – if they’re SEO-optimized. According to AB Tasty’s E-commerce Consumer Trends Report, nearly half of online experiences begin with a search engine. By improving your SEO and therefore visibility, you’ll make it easier for shoppers to find you. 

Must-Have SEO Features: 

1. Targeted Keywords: The more details – the better. It’s always best to use longer, search-friendly terms like “women’s waterproof hiking boots” rather than generic ones like “boots.” 
2. Enticing Meta Descriptions: In addition to a descriptive title, the meta description is your one opportunity to communicate key information about your product with a short, clickable summary to draw in potential buyers.
3. Alt text for images: Not only does alt text help you meet accessibility standards, but it also improves your chances of showing up in Google Image results.
4. Detailed Product Descriptions: write descriptions that are informative and keyword-rich while avoiding keyword stuffing.

Leveraging Customer Reviews and Returns Data

Did you know that the majority of consumers read reviews before buying? In fact, Gen Z considers reviews to be the most important thing to consider before making a purchase (source). Reviews help build trust and provide social proof which helps undecided shoppers feel more confident in their purchases.

Ways to Leverage Reviews:

• Spotlight success stories: We all love a zero-to-hero story! Highlight top-rated reviews directly on product pages to give confidence to your potential buyers.
• Encourage feedback: Be proactive in building reviews for your e-commerce site by sending a post-purchase email asking for reviews (bonus tip: offer a small discount or loyalty points as an incentive).
• Feature photos: Take your reviews a step further by encouraging your buyers to upload user-generated images of your products in real life to help build trust.

Turn returns into opportunities

Returns aren’t the end of the world, they’re learning opportunities. Analyze return trends to identify products, flaws, sizing issues, or misleading descriptions. Then, tweak your strategy accordingly to reduce future returns. 

Conclusion:

Online merchandising is where creativity meets strategy. By embracing mobile-first designs, leveraging AI, optimizing for SEO, and personalizing the shopping experience, you can turn casual browsers into loyal customers. In today’s competitive e-commerce world, standing out isn’t optional – it’s essential. 

With these best practices, you’re not just selling products, you’re creating an experience worth remembering.

FAQs: Online Merchandising

1. What is online merchandising, and why is it important?

Online merchandising is the process of strategically presenting products on your website to boost sales and engagement. It’s vital because it directly impacts the customer experience and your bottom line.

2. How does mobile-first design impact online merchandising?

A mobile-friendly site ensures a seamless experience for the majority of shoppers, who browse and buy via smartphones. This boosts conversions and reduces bounce rates.

3. How can I optimize my product pages for better visibility?

Use targeted keywords, detailed descriptions, high-quality images, and SEO-friendly meta tags to improve both search rankings and user engagement.

4. Why are customer reviews crucial for online sales?

Reviews provide social proof, build trust, and influence purchasing decisions. Highlighting reviews can significantly boost conversions.

5. What tools can help with AI-driven merchandising? 

Platforms like AB Tasty offer advanced AI features to personalize recommendations and enhance the overall online shopping experience.

The post Online Merchandising: Mastering Best Practices appeared first on abtasty.

Meet the panel

Taige Eoff, Cloud Data AI Lead at Google, has been at Google for twelve years, leading data and AI initiatives for cloud marketing. Taige focuses on developing scalable solutions that support partners like AB Tasty and AdSwerve in optimizing digital experiences.

Alex Smolin, Senior Optimization Manager at AdSwerve, brings extensive experience in media, data, and technology. As a certified Google Premium Partner, AdSwerve provides data-driven brands with solutions ranging from A/B testing to advanced analytics.

Mary Kate, our roundtable host and Head of Growth Marketing for North America at AB Tasty, leads efforts to help companies create impactful digital experiences through AB Tasty’s suite of experimentation, personalization, product recommendations, and site search tools.

AB Tasty’s integration with GA4 & BigQuery

Connecting AB Tasty with GA4 gives marketing teams insights into visitor behavior through advanced analytics on CPA, conversion rate, bounce rate, SEO, and traffic. This integration allows teams to use data from either tool to measure the impact of experiments pre- and post-rollout, generating data-backed hypotheses and fostering innovation.

Google BigQuery, a fully managed cloud data warehouse solution, offers rapid data storage and analysis at scale. With its serverless, cost-effective structure, BigQuery allows businesses to analyze large datasets efficiently, making it easier to make well-informed decisions.

With Google BigQuery, users can effortlessly execute complex analytical SQL queries and leverage built-in machine-learning capabilities.

Why is data from GA4 foundational to any CRO program?

In experimentation, data is the catalyst that drives actionable insights. Data flows in from multiple sources, and businesses generate detailed reports by working with partners to integrate tracking and tagging. But the question then becomes: what comes next? That’s where experimentation enters. Using data from tools like GA4, teams can transform hypotheses into tests, uncovering which changes impact user engagement or conversions most effectively.

GA4’s role extends further by providing a consistent framework for testing across platforms. When integrated with BigQuery, GA4 allows teams to cross-reference test outcomes with other data points, revealing not just what worked but why it worked. As Alex noted, “We gather good data, run good tests, and then verify results across disparate sources like BigQuery to see if what we tested had the expected downstream impact.”

Data accessibility and agility are also important. Trends evolve quickly, with viral content or market shifts requiring rapid adaptability. “Having partners like Google, with all data in one place, and a platform like AB Tasty, where experiments can be quickly set up, is essential for staying competitive” Alex emphasized.

“Having partners like Google, with all data in one place, and a platform like AB Tasty, where experiments can be quickly set up, is essential for staying competitive.”

Alex Smolin, Senior Manager Optimization at Adswerve

How BigQuery powers scalable experimentation

With the growing volume of data, businesses need a way to consolidate and interpret it to drive impactful decisions. BigQuery, as Taige explained, is a robust cloud warehouse that streamlines data for meaningful insights, making it a key player in the experimentation ecosystem.

“Think of BigQuery as a filing cabinet for your organized data,” Taige noted. By consolidating disparate data sources, teams can create a unified view that informs testing and optimization efforts. Through this approach, tools like GA4 and BigQuery enable accurate decision-making that scales with the business. With BigQuery as the backbone, AB Tasty and AdSwerve can build on this structure to optimize user experiences through precise experimentation.

Beyond just data storage, BigQuery integrates with various Google Cloud tools and supports a wide range of use cases—from standard reporting to advanced machine learning. For marketers, this means fewer technical bottlenecks and quicker access to the data needed to stay agile. As Taige explained, “You may not need deep technical skills to access BigQuery’s benefits; the right partnerships and data structure can give you a powerful, accessible foundation.”

Leveraging BigQuery’s built-in AI and machine learning models

BigQuery offers an array of AI models for specific use cases—from translation and personalization to customer segmentation. These models add value by automating processes, such as localization or customer behavior prediction, allowing for smoother, more targeted marketing.

BigQuery’s flexibility means that companies can incorporate custom or third-party models, ensuring compatibility with a variety of AI solutions. This adaptability helps organizations innovate and iterate on experimentation programs, expanding what they can achieve with data.

Simplifying data access for marketing efficiency

For marketing teams, BigQuery’s role as a centralized data hub allows seamless data consolidation from platforms like Google Ads, Salesforce, and GA4. This integration ensures that marketers aren’t slowed down by fragmented data sources, freeing them to focus on insights and execution. As Taige highlighted, “The peace of mind that BigQuery provides comes from knowing that all data is consolidated and accessible, allowing teams to be nimble and creative.”

With BigQuery, marketers can view performance metrics, analyze customer journeys, and refine strategies—all within a unified environment. This lets teams optimize campaigns in real time as new data insights emerge.

Next-Generation capabilities enabled by Google Cloud

Looking ahead, digital  is paving the way for more advanced experimentation capabilities.  The conversation shifts to AI and machine learning, bringing new opportunities for personalization and optimization. As Mary Kate pointed out, while AI-driven insights can revolutionize customer experiences, many brands are still years away from realizing the full potential of these tools.

True value will come not from adopting every new tool but from understanding the foundational data supporting AI and asking the right questions about how these technologies can serve customer needs. Taige added, “If you don’t have a data strategy, you won’t have an AI strategy.” While AI amplifies data power, it requires organized, high-quality data to work effectively.

By consolidating and centralizing data through BigQuery, teams gain real-time insights and can make informed decisions. This data foundation enables the current wave of omnichannel strategies and sets the stage for future AI applications. Businesses that adopt this holistic approach—consolidating data, optimizing channels, and preparing teams for AI—will unlock new experimentation opportunities and drive impactful customer experiences.

With GA4 and BigQuery, businesses have the tools to streamline data consolidation and power next-generation experimentation. Ready to join your data and experimentation? Discover how AB Tasty can help bring data-driven optimization to life.

The post Unify GA4 with BigQuery to Strengthen Experiments appeared first on abtasty.

Whether you’re looking to captivate first-time visitors or inspire returning customers, the right merchandising strategies can transform your site from a digital storefront into an experience that keeps customers coming back for more.

Ready to dive in? Here are five e-commerce merchandising strategies, with real-world examples, to help you create a shopping experience that truly shines.

1. Branding and Homepage Messaging: Your Digital First Impression

“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a great mantra to apply to our personal lives, however, this proverb doesn’t apply to the e-commerce world.

Your homepage is more than just a landing page—it’s the welcome mat to your online store, and it needs to speak volumes. From the moment someone lands on your site, they should know who you are, what you stand for, and how you can make their life better.

Why it matters:

• First impressions count. A compelling homepage can turn curious browsers into engaged shoppers.
• Returning visitors want to see something fresh and relevant, not the same old same old.

Pro tips:

• Tell your story boldly: Your brand story should be front and center. Use a powerful tagline or headline that captures your essence.
• Test, test, test: Use A/B testing to find out what messaging resonates most with your audience.
• Show, don’t tell: Include social proof like testimonials and customer reviews to build instant credibility.

Real-world example: Homepage

JOTT, a French clothing retailer, noticed that their homepage was experiencing a higher bounce rate than expected. Realizing that first impressions were crucial, they ran a no-code A/B test using AB Tasty’s experience platform to see if rearranging the homepage layout would improve engagement.

By moving product categories to the above-the-fold section and pushing individual product displays lower down, they achieved a 17.5% increase in clicks on the product category blocks. This optimization reduced bounce rates and guided more users deeper into their shopping journey, enhancing overall engagement.

2. Group Merchandise into Collections: Curate Like a Pro

Ever walked into a store and felt overwhelmed by choice? The same thing can happen online. Grouping your products into well-thought-out collections can turn chaos into clarity, making it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for—and maybe even discover something they didn’t know they needed.

Why it matters:

• Curated collections simplify the shopping experience, helping customers quickly find what they’re after.
• They also encourage customers to explore more, potentially increasing their basket size.

Pro tips:

• Get creative with collections: Don’t just stick to the basics. Think outside the box—consider seasonal themes, trending items, or even influencer picks.
• Use data wisely: Analyze purchase patterns to create collections that reflect what customers are actually buying.
• Spotlight special collections: Use banners or pop-ups to draw attention to limited-time offers or new arrivals.

Real-world example: Collections

Balibaris, a leading French men’s fashion brand, revamped its e-commerce strategy by intelligently reorganizing its product displays to better match customer preferences and behavior. By dynamically sorting products and emphasizing best-sellers and seasonal items, Balibaris saw a significant increase in conversion rates compared to the previous year, even without special promotions. This strategic move not only enhanced the online shopping experience but also boosted overall sales while freeing up the digital team to focus on more impactful projects.

3. Showcase Products with Visual Merchandising: Let Your Images Do the Talking

In the world of e-commerce, a picture is worth a thousand clicks. Visual merchandising isn’t just about slapping up a few product photos; it’s about creating an emotional connection that makes customers want to reach through the screen and grab that item. High-quality images, videos, and even virtual try-ons can bring your products to life and help customers see how they’ll fit into their lives.

Why it matters:

• Stunning visuals can make or break a sale. They help customers imagine the product in their own lives.
• Lifestyle images and videos build an emotional connection, making customers more likely to hit “Add to Cart.”

Pro tips:

• Go high-def: Invest in top-notch photography that shows your products from every angle.
• Tell a story: Use lifestyle images or videos to show how your products can be used in real life.
• Mix it up: Consider adding videos or 360-degree views to give customers a more immersive experience.

Real-world example: Visual Merchandising

Galeries Lafayette, one of France’s most iconic department stores, sought to enhance the online shopping experience by testing the impact of different product image styles. They compared standard packshot images to premium images featuring models wearing the products.

The results were striking: the premium images not only increased clicks by 49% but also boosted the average order value (AOV) by €5.76, adding a potential €114,000 in profit. This shift towards higher-quality visuals resonated with customers, leading Galeries Lafayette to prioritize premium images across their site, significantly improving user engagement and sales.

4. Implement Effective Site Search: Help Shoppers Find Their Perfect Match

When a customer knows what they want, nothing should stand in their way—especially not a clunky search function. A well-oiled site search is like a personal shopper, helping customers find exactly what they’re looking for, faster.

Why it matters:

• Customers who use search are often more ready to buy, so it’s crucial that they find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.
• An effective search can turn casual browsers into buyers by surfacing relevant products.

Pro tips:

• Optimize filters & facets: Let customers narrow down their search results with relevant filters like size, color, and price.
• Smart error detection: Make sure your search can handle typos and synonyms—because we all make mistakes.
• Autocomplete magic: Help customers out by suggesting popular search terms as they type.
• Never show a dead end: Avoid zero-results pages by offering suggestions or related products instead.

Real-world example: Site Search

VAN GRAAF, an international fashion retailer, recognized the need to elevate their online search functionality to meet the high standards of their physical stores. By integrating AB Tasty, VAN GRAAF significantly improved the customer journey on their e-commerce site. The results were impressive: online orders from search increased by 30%, conversion rates rose by 16%, and the average order value (AOV) saw a 5% boost. Additionally, the share of sales from search grew by 4.3%. This transformation not only enhanced the shopping experience but also reduced the time the team spent managing search functionalities, allowing them to focus on other critical optimizations.

5. Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Products in Your Shopping Cart: The Power of Suggestion

You’ve done the hard work of getting a product into a customer’s cart—now’s your chance to suggest a few more. Cross-selling and up-selling are subtle yet powerful ways to increase the value of each sale by offering customers items that complement what they’ve already chosen.

Why it matters:

• Personalized recommendations can boost your average order value and make customers feel like you really “get” them.
• It’s a win-win—customers discover more great products, and you see a bump in sales.

Pro tips:

• Personalize everything: Use AI to suggest products based on what’s already in the cart or what similar customers have bought.
• Bundle it up: Show products that are frequently bought together as a bundle to encourage more sales.
• Test placement: Experiment with where you place these suggestions—product pages, the shopping cart, or even during checkout.

Real-world example: Cross-sell and Up-sell

Figaret, a high-end French shirtmaker, significantly boosted its online sales by integrating personalized product recommendations. By strategically placing recommendation blocks on product pages and in the shopping cart, Figaret achieved remarkable results: 6% of visitors used these recommendations, contributing to 10% of the site’s total revenue. Additionally, these users spent on average 1.8 times more than those who didn’t engage with the recommendations. This approach not only enhanced customer engagement but also drove substantial revenue growth.

Measuring Success in E-merchandising: Are You Hitting the Mark?

You’ve put in the work, but how do you know if your e-merchandising strategies are actually working? Measuring success isn’t just about looking at sales numbers; it’s about understanding how each element of your strategy contributes to the bigger picture.

Key Metrics to Watch:

• Website traffic: Keep an eye on where your visitors are coming from and what they’re doing on your site.
• Conversion rate: This is the percentage of visitors who actually make a purchase—one of your most important metrics.
• Sales data: Analyze overall sales, average order value, and revenue from specific merchandising strategies.
• Average basket size: Track how many items customers are purchasing per transaction to gauge the effectiveness of your cross-selling and up-selling efforts.

Pro tips:

• Set benchmarks: Compare your metrics against industry standards to see where you stand.
• Use analytics tools: Platforms like Google Analytics or Matomo can give you insights into how visitors interact with your site.
• Keep iterating: Don’t settle for good—strive for better. Regularly review your data and tweak your strategies to keep improving.

Conclusion: Trial and Better—The Heart of E-Merchandising Strategies

E-commerce merchandising isn’t a “set it and forget it” task—it’s a continuous journey of trial, error, and improvement. The best strategies evolve over time as you learn more about your customers and the market. So don’t be afraid to experiment, take risks, and, most importantly, keep pushing for better. Every tweak, test, and change you make is a step towards creating an online store that not only meets but exceeds customer expectations.

Ready to take your e-commerce merchandising to the next level?
Download our comprehensive guide on e-merchandising best practices or schedule a free demo with AB Tasty today. Your journey to better starts now.

The post 5 Ecommerce Merchandising Strategies with Examples appeared first on abtasty.

It’s why I’m so excited to give an update on our performance, and how we’ve worked hard to be the best. We’re now providing loading times up to 4 faster than other solutions on the market. 

In a world where every second counts, slow-loading pages are the fast track to lost revenue. At AB Tasty, we know that speed isn’t just about convenience; it’s about delivering the smooth, reliable experience that today’s consumers expect. 

That’s why we’re thrilled to be recognized by ThirdPartyWeb.today for having one of the lowest impacts on web performance among top experimentation and personalization platforms. This acknowledgment affirms our commitment to speed, scalability, and brand satisfaction.

But what does this actually mean for brands using AB Tasty?

Let’s dive into how prioritizing performance can improve your SERP rankings, customer experience (CX), and overall campaign effectiveness.

Why Web Performance Impacts Your Bottom Line

Imagine clicking on a page that seems to take forever to load. Chances are, you’d be out of there faster than you could say “conversion rate.” And you wouldn’t be alone: slow page load times can lead to increased bounce rates, missed opportunities, and, ultimately, frustrated visitors.

Good performance translates into smoother customer journeys, which leads to better engagement and, most importantly, higher conversion rates.

ThirdPartyWeb.today: The Performance Benchmark 

ThirdPartyWeb.today is an independent performance data visualization initiative that analyzes the impact of various platforms on page speed. It ranks tools according to their performance cost, drawing data from nearly 4 million websites to create an unbiased performance benchmark. For brands aiming to deliver a seamless experience without sacrificing speed, ThirdPartyWeb.today provides a reliable guide for evaluating the performance impact of their tools.

Being recognized as one of the most performance-friendly Experience Optimization platforms by ThirdPartyWeb.today means our clients know they’re partnering with a technology designed with speed in mind.

What Makes AB Tasty the Fastest?

Our tech teams have worked tirelessly to make AB Tasty not only an intuitive experimentation and personalization platform, but one that prioritizes high performance. Here’s a quick look at the innovations that make AB Tasty so fast and reliable:

1. Modular Architecture with Innovative Dynamic Importing and Smart Caching Technology
   Our platform is built with a modular architecture, where only essential code is loaded for each campaign. This keeps file sizes lean, reducing load time and resource consumption. Our proprietary smart caching technology ensures that visitors only need to load the data they haven’t accessed before. By minimizing redundant data calls, we significantly reduce load times across all devices. We also provide worldwide API endpoints and have a global CDN presence with multiple Edge locations and regional Edge caches for fast response times no matter where you and your site visitors are.
   
   
2. Performance Center
   AB Tasty’s dedicated Performance Center allows you to monitor your campaign performance in real-time. This tool gives you full transparency into what’s happening behind the scenes, so you can make adjustments as needed to keep things running smoothly. It provides recommendations to help you monitor and improve tag weight. Learn all about it here.
   
   
   
3. Single-Page Application (SPA) Compatibility
   AB Tasty’s platform is SPA-compatible without requiring custom code, making it easier for developers to integrate AB Tasty into their tech stack. AB Tasty is running on a native Vanilla TypeScript framework. Our tag is compatible with modern JS frameworks, including React, Angular, Vue, Meteor or Ember. The tag is unique for all environments and doesn’t require any additional implementation. Many of our customers have left their previous provider due to challenges with SPA pages. In these tools, changes are often not “sticky” or flicker when there is a dynamic content load. SPA tests in these environments often require custom code for each test, which makes testing more complicated and less user-friendly.
   
   
4. Flicker-Free Experiences
   AB Tasty’s tag uses a blended approach of both synchronous and asynchronous scripts to eliminate flicker, while maintaining optimised performance. Other solutions will prescribe “anti-flicker” snippets to eliminate flicker, which is not a recommended practice. It means hiding the body’s content while the tag loads, which ultimately delays the rendering of the site. This causes a worse user experience, increases your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metric, and may ultimately lead to increased bounce rates and decreased conversions. In contrast, AB Tasty’s synchronous tag uses 3kb of render-blocking to allow the tag to execute quickly before the page loads, as opposed to blocking the visibility of the page for the full package size.
   

And that translates to…

First loading time < 100ms
Caching loading time < 10ms
Execution time < 500 milliseconds
Minimal Lighthouse Core Web Vitals impact

Cheers to Our Product and Tech Teams

This wouldn’t be possible without the dedication of our Product and Tech teams (thanks team!). We’ve dared to innovate, pushing the limits of what’s possible with web performance in the experimentation and personalization space.

The Bottom Line

When brands choose AB Tasty, they’re choosing a platform that prioritizes both innovation and performance. By minimizing impact on web performance, we’re helping brands deliver faster, better experiences that delight customers and drive results.

Curious to learn more about? Contact us today to discover what else sets us apart.

The post Why AB Tasty Delivers 4x Faster appeared first on abtasty.

Our speakers, each experts in testing, optimization, and conversion rate, provided insights into how brands can increase revenue through personalized, thoughtful customer engagement.

Meet the experts

• Nicole Story: Co-Founder & Director at Hookflash Analytics, leading experimentation in testing, optimization, and personalization.
• Collette Carlson: Director of Optimization at Astound Digital, a seasoned expert in conversion rate optimization.
• Gerred Blyth: Chief Product Officer at Giftory, with a background in interaction design and e-commerce.

In this article, we’ll explore actionable strategies from the webinar to help you personalize to existing customers and drive growth through upselling and cross-selling—not just new customer acquisition.

1. Optimizing the cart for upsells

Upselling at the cart and checkout stages can significantly increase AOV, but it requires a carefully planned approach. As Colette Carlson explains: “Before implementing anything, it’s crucial to understand how you’re going to measure success and ensure that your conversion rate is solid. When it comes to the cart and checkout process, if those aren’t optimized, adding upsell and cross-sell strategies will only introduce more noise.” Shoppers who have reached the cart are already primed to convert, so it’s important not to disrupt their momentum with irrelevant or poorly timed offers.

“Before implementing anything, it’s crucial to understand how you’re going to measure success and ensure that your conversion rate is solid. When it comes to the cart and checkout process, if those aren’t optimized, adding upsell and cross-sell strategies will only introduce more noise.”

Collette Carlson, Director of Optimization at Astound Digital

Coordination with internal teams is also important when designing upsell strategies. For instance, if an upsell is introduced at checkout, the process should be seamless – will the original product be automatically removed from the cart if the customer selects an upgrade, or will they need to make the changes manually? Likewise, if you’re offering a bundle or cross-sell, is your system prepared to handle it without disrupting the customer experience?

Effective upsell offers are relevant to the customer’s purchase. Suggesting complementary items or upgrades can boost AOV, as 80% of consumers are more likely to complete their purchase with brands offering personalized experiences. From upsell testing experience at Giftory, Jared advises against pushing unrelated or overly expensive items, which can confuse or deter customers altogether. 

Using product recommendation algorithms can streamline upselling. Automating this process ensures that customers receive relevant suggestions without the need for manual curation, creating a smoother experience for your team and the customer. AB Tasty’s product recommendation engine allows upsells based on several criteria, including most recent products, associated products, similar or more expensive items, complementary items, and top promotions.

2. Strategic product recommendations for cross-selling

To effectively cross-sell, brands must identify the right moment in the customer journey. If you offer relevant products at key points without disrupting the experience, similar to upselling. But first, establishing cross-selling metrics can lead to stronger effectiveness.

The primary metrics will vary depending on what you’re testing—whether it’s an algorithm change, a new carousel design, or a different recommendation format. There are some essential KPIs to consider: 

• Engagement: Track how often customers interact with cross-sell offers, such as clicks or add-to-basket rates.
• Conversion rate: Measure how many customers who engage with offers complete their purchases.
• Average order value (AOV): Gauge how effectively cross-sell strategies are increasing the total order value.
• Items per order: Monitor if cross-sell efforts lead to additional products being added to the cart.
• Overall revenue: This ultimate metric reflects the total impact of your cross-sell strategy.

Once these metrics are in place, refine your strategy by determining where cross-sell offers should appear. For example, adding a cross-sell option in the mini cart or as a pop-up at checkout can add complexity, so testing can help avoid disrupting the customer experience.

Testing cross-sell algorithms in action

Nicole Story shared a valuable example of testing product recommendation carousels. Inspired by Amazon’s success, many brands rushed to implement carousels on their websites, but forgot the importance of context. Placing multiple carousels on the homepage often leads to irrelevant suggestions and a poor experience.

Nicole’s team tested various algorithms by tailoring product recommendations to the customer’s journey. On product detail pages (PDPs), carousels that showed “related product suggestions” outperformed those with generic recommendations. The tests revealed that adjusting algorithms based on context and customer behavior was far more effective than placing standard carousels throughout the site.

As Nicole explains: “Simply introducing product recommendations and checking that box off the roadmap isn’t going to deliver real value. The key is continuous optimization and discovering what works across the entire customer journey—that’s where the real value lies.”

“Simply introducing product recommendations and checking that box off the roadmap isn’t going to deliver real value. The key is continuous optimization and discovering what works across the entire customer journey—that’s where the real value lies.”

Nicole Storey, Co-Founder & Director at Hookflash Analytics

Relevance is everything

Cross-sell strategies must be highly relevant to what the customer is already doing. As Gerred Blyth from Giftory mentioned, “We have high expectations as customers and irrelevant offers can break that trust.” Customers expect brands to know their preferences and behaviors, so it’s important that recommendations feel personalized and timely. 

3. Experimentation and testing for long-term loyalty and CLV

Continuous experimentation is critical for building long-term customer loyalty and increasing customer lifetime value (CLV). Instead of relying on a single strategy, brands should constantly test and improve their approach. Colette points out that starting by analyzing existing order data can uncover natural cross-sell patterns. This provides valuable insights into which products are frequently purchased together.

For first-time visitors, bombarding them with upsell offers might backfire. Instead, let them become familiar with your brand and key products before introducing additional offers. In contrast, repeat customers may be more open to cross-sells that align with their previous purchases.

Upselling with product recommendations

According to our data a customized UX can boost revenue and increase basket size by up to 10%. Product recommendations can be seen as a form of personalization and, as our panel pointed out in the webinar, experimenting with different formats—such as carousels, quizzes, or other interactive tools—can help identify what resonates with your audience and drives engagement.

We use AI to analyze visitors’ site interactions and purchase behavior, delivering targeted recommendations, each with a specific goal. This means you can better understand which products to offer, to whom and when during the customer journey:

• Product Page: Guide users to explore more products or categories.
• Last Seen Products: Help users quickly resume their browsing.
• Add to Cart: Encourage users to add complementary items to their basket.
• Cart Page: Suggest additional items to increase order value.
• Homepage: Showcase personalized content and help users navigate the site.

Our panel also discussed how different types of algorithms are necessary depending on your vertical. You can divide your algorithms into three distinct types and choose how you prioritize:

• Convert: These recommendations would offer top sellers, top trending products, top converting products, top reviewed products etc.
• Upsell: This could suggest most recent products viewed, associated products, similar products, compatible products etc.
• Personalize: This could suggest last visited products, last bought products, user affinity or similar or associated to cart products

If you work for a beauty site, customers will replenish their favorite products, whereas home and decor might recommend accessories or similar products. While personalization drives relevance, maintaining control over the recommendation process means you can speak directly to your customer’s needs. 

Giftory: fostering loyalty with timely engagement

Giftory is beginning to focus on lifetime customer value. Their approach involves using cross-sell and upsell strategies similar to a CRM initiative, introducing customers to a broader range of products both during and after their purchase. They gather data on why customers buy gifts, such as birthdays or anniversaries, and use that information to send timely product recommendations in the future.

By reaching out to customers at the right moment, such as 11 months after an anniversary purchase, Giftory can re-engage them with relevant offers without overwhelming them with constant promotions. This creates a personalized experience that encourages long-term loyalty and repeat business.

4. Subscription models for upsell and retention 

Offering subscription products to upsell can improve both immediate revenue and CLV. The challenge is to find the right balance: How can you encourage customers to subscribe without overwhelming them, while also ensuring the offer feels relevant and valuable over time? 

Before launching a subscription model, look at your data to understand customer behavior. Consider the difference between a one-time purchaser and a subscriber. While offering a small discount for subscribing may lower the initial AOV, the long-term benefits of recurring revenue from a loyal subscriber can make up for it. 

Testing and data-driven strategy

Launching a subscription model requires more than just adding an upsell feature—it involves a data-informed approach. Starting small with a minimum viable product (MVP) allows you to test how customers respond and fine-tune the offering. Metrics like renewal rates, engagement, and overall CLV will help guide decisions about whether to scale the program.

As Gerred advises: “Walk before you run. Start with the first test—an MVP. It doesn’t have to be the final version you’ll roll out, but that initial test will help you understand the value and prove the benefits. From there, you can evolve and continuously improve. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you hear about advanced strategies and algorithms, but you don’t need to get there all at once.”

“Walk before you run. Start with the first test—an MVP. It doesn’t have to be the final version you’ll roll out, but that initial test will help you understand the value and prove the benefits. From there, you can evolve and continuously improve. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you hear about advanced strategies and algorithms, but you don’t need to get there all at once.”

Gerred Blyth, Chief Product Officer at Giftory

Offering personalized options, such as different subscription tiers or flexible renewal cadences (monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly), can make the experience more appealing to a wider range of customers. Testing, refining, and adapting based on customer feedback will ensure that the model evolves in a way that meets both business goals and customer expectations.

Wrapping up 

Just as you approach CRO with care and precision, cross-selling and upselling require a high level of attention. 

Upselling and cross-selling don’t have to be complex when you have the right tools and the right strategy. If you want the expert’s opinion – watch the webinar below: 

The post Test, Optimize, and Upsell appeared first on abtasty.

It’s important to remember that the digital customer journey does not begin and end with a purchase – it’s a web of all customer interactions and touchpoints with your brand.

AB Tasty has mapped out seven customer phases that we consider crucial in the journey. To craft unique experiences, you’ll need to differentiate these seven phases customers pass through and understand how to animate their digital journey.

Once you have a better understanding of these phases, you will be better equipped to set your business goals and properly optimize your website for growth and impact.

Click to view the full-sized infographic in a new tab

How exactly can you optimize each phase of the digital customer journey? Let’s dive right in and take a look at some examples.

Phase 1: Awareness

When visitors land on your website for the first time, a great first impression is crucial. Your page needs to be both visually appealing and intuitive. A dynamic above the fold design is a great place to start.

In this first phase, it’s important to let your best ideas shine to capture and keep your visitors’ attention. You can accomplish this by creating personalized welcome messages for first-time visitors, displaying your value proposition and organizing high-impact elements for better visibility.

Let’s take a look at Just Over The Top’s experiment to modify the layout of their homepage. They used AB Tasty’s experience optimization platform to test if their users responded better seeing a layout with product categories rather than individual products.

Original:

Variation:

After creating a test variation to run against the original layout, they saw a 17.5% click increase on the three blocks below the hero image. This brought many more users into the second phase of their customer journey.

Phase 2: Discovery

When consumers reach the second phase, they’ve already discovered your brand and they’re getting curious.

To accommodate visitors during this phase, your website should be optimized for an excellent browsing experience. Whether this means making your search bar more visible, creating dynamic filters while searching, or using a virtual assistant to get to know your visitors’ interests with a series of questions, an easy browsing experience with intelligent search is key.

In this example, Claudie Pierlot focused on optimizing the customer browsing experience by testing the search bar visibility. In their variation, the small search icon was made more visible by adding the word “recherche” (or search in English) in the top right-hand corner.

Original:

Variation:

This clear above the fold design made it easier for visitors to identify the search bar to begin their browsing experience. With this simple A/B test, they saw a 47% increase in search bar clicks and a 7% increase in conversion rates coming directly from the search bar.

In another example, Villeroy & Boch, a ceramic manufacturing company, wanted to leverage intelligent search on their website. With the help of AB Tasty, they implemented an AI search algorithm to navigate online shoppers.

With our solution, they designed a new and intuitive navigation complete with filters and a comprehensive autosuggestion feature.

By changing their search functions, Villeroy & Boch saw a 33% increase in search results clicks and a 20% increase in sales through the search function.

Phase 3: Consideration

Now is the time when your visitors are considering your brand and which products they are interested in. Showcasing your product pages in their best light during the consideration phase might be exactly what your visitor needs to continue moving down the funnel.

Let’s look at how Hanna Anderson optimized their product pages during this phase.

The clothing retail company wanted to experiment with the images on their product listing pages. Previously, their toddler line had only images of clothing sizes for an older child. They were convinced there was room for improvement and decided to run a test by changing their images to include toddler sizes.

Original:

Variation:

After implementing age-appropriate clothing images, the results were clear. During this test, the clicks on PLPs increased by almost 8% and the purchase rate on those items skyrocketed by 22%.

Phase 4: Intent

During the intent phase, your visitors are on the verge of becoming customers but need to be convinced to make a purchase.

Social proof, urgency messaging, and bundling algorithms are a few ideas to lightly nudge visitors to add to cart or add more to cart.

Let’s take a look at the impact that urgency messaging can have: IZIPIZI, an eyewear retailer, decided to add a special message flag next to their product description to show viewers how many people have purchased this product. The idea of this message is to show viewers that this product is popular and to encourage them to take action.

With this simple sentence of social proof to validate a product’s desirability, they saw a 36% increase in add-to-basket rate.

In another scenario, you can see that adding a progress bar is a simple way to upsell. With a progress par, you are showing your customer how close they are to earning free shipping, which entices them to add more to their cart.

Vanessa Bruno experimented with this additive with the help of AB Tasty and saw a 3.15% increase in transactions and a €6 AOV uplift.

Phase 5: Purchase

Purchase frustration is real. If customers experience friction during checkout, you risk losing money.

Friction refers to any issues the visitors may encounter such as unclear messaging during the payment (did the payment actually go through?), confusing or expensive shipping options, discounts not working, double authentication check-in delays, difficult sign-in, and more.

Optimizing your checkout sequence for your audience with rollouts and KPI-triggered rollbacks can help you find a seamless fit for your website.

Let’s look at an example for this phase: Galeries Lafayette, the French luxury department store, saw an opportunity to optimize their checkout by displaying default payment methods that do not require double authentication.

During this test, they saw a €113,661 increase in profit, a €5 uplift in average order value, and a 38% increase in the conversion rate by adding the CB (bank card) option for a quicker checkout.

Phase 6: Experience

Optimizing the buyer experience doesn’t end after the purchase. Now is the time to grow your customer base and stop churn in its tracks. So, how do you keep your customers interested? By maintaining the same level of quality in your messages and personalization.

Let’s look at how Envie de Fraise, a French boutique, leveraged their user information to transform a normal post-purchase encounter into a personalized experience.

One of their customers had just purchased a maternity dress and had been browsing multiple maternity dresses prior to their purchase. By knowing this information, they experimented with using the “you will love these products” algorithm to gently nudge their customer to continue shopping.

With a customized recommendation like this, Envie de Fraise saw a €127K increase in their potential profit. As your customer spends more time with your brand, you will learn more about their habits and interests. The more time they spend with you, the more personalized you can make their experience.

Phase 7: Loyalty

In the final step of your customer’s journey, they move into the loyalty phase. To turn customers into champions of your brand, it’s important to remind them that you value their loyalty.

This can be done by sending emails with individual offers, social proof, product suggestions, or incentives for joining a loyalty program to earn rewards or complete product reviews.

Another example of this is sending a personalized email displaying items that are frequently bought together that align with their purchase. This will remind the customer about your brand and give them recommendations for future purchases.

Why Optimizing the Digital Customer Journey is Essential to Boost Conversions

The fierce competition in the e-commerce marketplace is undeniable. In order to attract and retain customers, you have to focus on crafting personalized user experiences to turn passive visitors into active buyers.

Understanding their needs in each phase and optimizing your digital space is your best solution to nudge visitors down the purchasing funnel.

By personalizing the experience of your customers during each phase of the digital customer journey, you can ensure an optimal shopping experience, boost purchases, increase customer satisfaction, and see more repeat customers.

AB Tasty is the best-in-class experience optimization platform that empowers you to create a richer digital experience – fast. From experimentation to personalization, this solution can help you activate and engage your audience to boost your conversions.

Using personalization to enhance your customer journey

With the vast array of products and brands to choose from, customer loyalty has become more important than ever. By focusing on personalizing the digital customer journey, you can reduce the chances of your customer abandoning their purchase or opting for another brand.

An individualized customer journey is beneficial for the following reasons:

• Option overload: As online brands fight for the attention of consumers, it’s important to set your brand apart from the rest, with a customer journey that is tailored to their needs.
• Analysis paralysis: With a plethora of information now readily available to customers who are researching and comparing potential purchases, your digital customer journey can help to deliver the information they need with ease and offer them the best shopping experience, thereby tipping the scale in your favor.
• Lack of loyalty: The ease with which a customer can change service providers has increased the pressure and importance of meeting their needs during the entirety of the digital customer journey. Every interaction matters.

Offering a personalized experience elevates the customer journey and helps to ensure customer satisfaction. By leveraging the power of personalization, you can adapt the individual phases of the customer journey to each customer’s needs for an optimal e-commerce experience.

Personalization is the key to customer satisfaction

There is no way to deny the intense competition in the e-commerce space. Attracting and retaining customers is more difficult now than it has ever been. To advance ahead of the competition, you must understand customer needs and personalize each user journey with the help of a customer journey model.

By personalizing each experience your customers have with your brand, you can be sure to give your customers an optimal shopping experience, guarantee customer satisfaction, and encourage customer loyalty.

The post Understanding the Digital Customer Journey appeared first on abtasty.

Whether your customers are researching products or making purchases, their mobile experience can make or break their journey with your brand. While it’s clear that more shopping is done on mobile devices than on desktop, the real question remains: how significant is mobile shopping overall? Today’s mobile-savvy consumer isn’t just using their device for convenience, but to blend their in-store and online shopping into one seamless experience. In fact, nearly 80% of shoppers globally use their smartphones to browse  a retailer’s website while shopping in-store, and 74% use the store’s app. However, only 33% of consumers prefer making purchases on their phones, with 49% reporting a smoother experience on desktop or tablet. This highlights just how important it is for brands to enhance their mobile offerings for a seamless experience across all devices.

To delve into the complexities of mobile optimization Mary Kate, AB Tasty’s Head of Growth Marketing for North America, teamed up with Allie Tkachenko, a UI/UX Strategist at WPromote, for a webinar on mastering mobile. AB Tasty’s platform enables brands to deliver personalized customer experiences, while Wpromote helps design and optimize engaging web experiences that convert.  They emphasize a key message: mobile optimization isn’t just about resizing for a smaller screen – it’s about creating an intuitive, seamless journey that aligns with today’s mobile-first consumer’s behaviors and expectations. 

It’s critical that mobile  websites  excel in areas like speed, navigation, and user-friendliness. Let’s dig into three actionable strategies from the webinar to help your brand stay ahead and deliver an improved mobile experience for your customers. 

1. Maximizing limited space

One of the biggest challenges in mobile design is maximizing limited screen space without overwhelming users. The key is to keep crucial content above the fold—on mobile, this means placing essential elements like navigation bars, CTAs, and product highlights in a prominent position, visible without scrolling. This is particularly important on search landing pages, the homepage, and other high-traffic areas. A well-organized and streamlined navigation system that helps users quickly find what they need can lead to higher engagement and reduced bounce rates.

While desktops offer ample space to break down navigation into detailed categories, mobile design requires a more simplified structure due to space constraints. Consider grouping categories under broader buckets like “Top Categories” or similar, allowing users to easily explore the site without feeling overwhelmed by too many options. Another key strategy is leveraging responsible design, such as implementing sticky navigation bars or menus that stay visible as users scroll. This approach, widely adopted across industries, ensures easy access to important links and minimizes the effort required to navigate the site.

AB Tasty in action

The UX team at Clarins wanted to make their product more visible on their category pages. In the original layout, filtering and sorting functions were stacked, removing space from the second row of products appearing. After testing a column layout for the filtering and sorting menus, the team saw a significant improvement—bounce rates decreased, and clicks to products increased by 34%.

Optimizing screen space solutions

• Keep key elements above the fold 
• Simplified navigation 
• Use responsive design  

2. The thumb zone

The “Thumb Zone” refers to the area of the screen that is easiest for users to reach with their thumbs, typically the lower portion of the screen. Since most users interact with their phones one-handed, placing critical CTAs, buttons, and interactive elements within this zone is important for accessibility and ease of use. 

Consider this: a navigation bar that starts at the top of the page but shifts responsively to the bottom as the user scrolls. This keeps it in an expected spot initially, avoiding any disruption to the user’s flow, and then moves it to a more reachable area as they continue browsing.

Another thing to keep in mind is sizing. Whether it’s buttons, images, form fields, or menu links, the size of these elements plays a huge role in usability. You can’t just shrink them to save space—you have to ensure they’re “tappable” so users can easily interact. While reachability is key, think about what doesn’t need to be within reach, like informational banners or logos. You can place those outside the thumb zone, saving prime space for interactive elements.

Brands that prioritize the thumb zone in their mobile designs see improved user engagement and lower frustration levels. This small shift can make a significant difference in usability and customer satisfaction. 

AB Tasty in action

The team at Club Med, a leading travel and hospitality brand, observed that their original mobile site displayed a navigation bar at the top of the page, which would disappear as users scrolled down. To increase user engagement with different category offerings, they created a variation of the mobile homepage with a sticky navigation bar which remained at the bottom of the screen while scrolling.

The results of the A/B test revealed a 12% increase in click rates, a 12% increase in access to the transaction funnel, and a 2% decrease in the bounce rate for users showing the variation with the sticky navigation bar. This approach effectively makes information more physically accessible.

Optimizing the thumb zone

• Bottom Navigation 
• Sizing 
• Reachability  

3.  Improving processes 

Lengthy forms and cumbersome checkout processes are major obstacles to conversion in mobile digital experiences. Mobile users expect a seamless, fast journey, and frustration with complex forms often leads to abandoned carts. Streamlining these processes—especially form fills and checkouts—can reduce friction and improve conversions. We’ve all experienced the annoyance of having to redo a form, fearing progress might be lost, which can lead to users abandoning the process entirely. Key areas for optimization include simplifying checkout by offering guest checkout options and exploring one-click payment methods.

Search and product discovery also present unique challenges on mobile devices due to limited screen space. With condensed menus and site navigation, users often rely heavily on the search function. Optimizing your search results pages to help users quickly find specific products can drastically improve the user experience. The space constraints of mobile mean that every element, including search results, should guide users efficiently to what they’re looking for.

Lastly, page load speed plays a vital role in retaining users. A slow-loading site can deter users, leading them to abandon your site altogether. Reducing load times is crucial for keeping users engaged. Understanding your audience and continuously optimizing these processes will help ensure your site meets their needs and encourages conversions.

AB Tasty in action

Travel insurance company, DirectAsia, needed users to fill out a form to generate an insurance quote. The team observed that customers were not completing the forms as smoothly as expected. To address this, they implemented a variation in the test where bolded check marks appeared to validate each completed field. This change created a sense of progress for users as they navigated the form and alleviated any uncertainty about needing to go back to correct errors.

As a result of this test, DirectAsia achieved a 1.97% increase in quote generations and a 7.78% increase in transaction rates. By reassuring users throughout the form-filling process, DirectAsia successfully guided more customers through their quote generation form.

Optimizing mobile processes

• Checkout 
• Search and discovery 
• Speed & image loading 

Wrapping up

Mobile optimization is about much more than making your website look good on a smaller screen; it’s about crafting a seamless, user-friendly experience that enhances the customer journey. Whether you’re focusing on improving site speed, optimizing design for better accessibility, or streamlining complex processes, the suggestions above provide a solid foundation for mastering mobile optimization. By understanding the nuances of mobile behavior and catering to the needs of your users, your brand can create a frictionless experience that drives conversions and fosters customer loyalty.

Stay ahead in the mobile-first era by ensuring your website design and processes align with the expectations of today’s consumers. AB Tasty can help achieve this goal by providing innovative tools and data-driven testing to enhance your mobile strategy. As mobile usage continues to grow, so does the importance of providing a smooth, engaging, and conversion-focused experience. 

If you want to get all the details. – watch the webinar below.

The post Mastering Mobile Optimization: Tactics for Higher Commerce Conversion appeared first on abtasty.

Understanding the E-Commerce Landscape During the Holidays

The holiday season, particularly around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, represents a critical period for e-commerce businesses. Last year alone, consumers spent over $9 billion on Black Friday. With more and more customers shopping online, the opportunity for e-commerce businesses to capture market share is immense.

However, this opportunity comes with challenges. The influx of traffic can strain your website, and the sheer number of competitors vying for attention can make it difficult to stand out. That’s where a well-designed strategy comes into play.

Prioritize Website Performance and Reliability

One of the first steps to ensure a successful holiday season is to prepare your website for the surge in traffic. Testing your website load is crucial. Even a one-second delay in page load time can lead to a 6% reduction in conversions.

Start by simulating high traffic volumes to identify potential bottlenecks. Optimize your servers, compress images, and streamline your code to ensure your website can handle the holiday rush. Remember, a smooth user experience is non-negotiable.

Craft Compelling and Urgent CTAs

The holiday season is all about urgency. Limited-time offers, countdowns, and exclusive deals create a sense of urgency that drives conversions. We can’t emphasize enough the importance of A/B testing your calls-to-action (CTAs) to find the most effective wording, design, and placement.

Experiment with phrases like “Limited Time Offer,” “Exclusive Black Friday Deal,” or “Shop Now Before It’s Gone.” The goal is to create a sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) that compels customers to take immediate action. A/B testing here is an ideal way to help you find the messaging that works best for your audience.

Personalization is Key

Consumers expect a personalized shopping experience, especially during the holidays. Tailoring your content and offers to individual users can significantly increase engagement and conversions. Use previous interactions, browsing behavior, and purchase history data to deliver personalized recommendations and offers.

For example, if a customer frequently purchases tech gadgets, highlight your latest electronics deals in your email campaigns and on-site recommendations. We strongly advocate using dynamic content that changes based on user behavior, ensuring that each visitor sees the most relevant offers.

Optimize Your Mobile Experience

With more than half of all e-commerce transactions now happening on mobile devices, optimizing your mobile experience is no longer optional—it’s essential. A seamless mobile experience can differentiate between a sale and an abandoned cart.

Ensure your website is responsive, with easy navigation, fast load times, and simplified checkout processes. Test your mobile site thoroughly, focusing on the user experience from landing to checkout. Our mobile-first world demands a smooth mobile experience, so it’s crucial to run mobile-specific A/B tests to identify and fix any friction points.

Leverage Social Proof

Social proof is a powerful tool in the e-commerce arsenal, particularly during the holiday season. Customer reviews, ratings, and user-generated content can significantly influence purchasing decisions.

Consider showcasing recent customer reviews on your product pages or adding a “Trending Now” section highlighting popular items. Social proof can increase trust and encourage hesitant shoppers to make a purchase.

Experiment with Pricing Strategies

Pricing plays a crucial role in holiday season sales. Dynamic pricing, flash sales, and bundling products are just a few strategies that can entice customers to buy more. Running A/B tests on pricing strategies can help you determine what resonates most with your audience.

For instance, you might test a “Buy One, Get One Free” offer against a “25% Off” deal to see which drives more conversions. The key is to stay flexible and willing to experiment until you find the ideal message for your audience.

Use Email Marketing to Drive Conversions

Email marketing remains one of the most effective channels for driving holiday sales. A well-crafted email campaign can keep your brand top-of-mind and encourage repeat purchases. Segment your email list to target different customer groups with personalized offers.

You can test subject lines, send times, email content, and more to optimize open rates and conversions. Consider sending reminder emails for abandoned carts and exclusive early access deals to your most loyal customers.

Streamline Your Checkout Process

Cart abandonment is a major challenge during the holiday season, with many shoppers dropping off at the checkout stage. To combat this, ensure your checkout process is as smooth and simple as possible.

Minimize the number of steps required to complete a purchase, offer multiple payment options, and provide clear shipping information. Test options like a one-click checkout option to see if it reduces cart abandonment rates.

Invest in Retargeting Campaigns

Retargeting is a powerful way to re-engage visitors who have shown interest in your products but haven’t yet made a purchase. During the holiday season, retargeting can help you recover lost sales and boost your conversion rates.

Set up retargeting campaigns that display personalized ads to users who have visited your site or abandoned their carts. Timing is so important when it comes to retargeting—start your campaigns early and increase frequency as the holidays approach.

Offer Free Shipping and Easy Returns

Shipping costs and return policies can make or break a sale, especially during the holidays. Offering free shipping can be a strong incentive for customers to complete their purchases. Likewise, a hassle-free return policy can reduce the perceived risk of buying online.

We suggest promoting these benefits prominently on your website and in your marketing materials. Consider running tests to see how different shipping and return options impact conversion rates. Another great option is to test using a progress bar to encourage larger orders in exchange for free shipping.

Plan for Post-Holiday Retention

While the holiday season is a prime time for acquisition, it’s also an opportunity to focus on retention. Customers acquired during this period can become repeat buyers if nurtured correctly.

Post-holiday, consider running loyalty programs, offering exclusive discounts for future purchases, and sending personalized thank-you emails. Maintaining engagement with your customers beyond the holiday season will build long-term loyalty.

Conclusion: Prepare, Test, and Optimize

The e-commerce holiday season is a marathon, not a sprint. To truly win big, it’s crucial to prepare in advance, test rigorously, and optimize continuously. By implementing the strategies outlined in this blog—and leveraging the proven tests from AB Tasty’s “30 Tests for Black Friday“—you can position your business for success during the most critical time of the year.

Remember, the key to a successful holiday season lies in your ability to adapt and respond to the ever-changing needs of your customers. Stay agile, keep testing, and make data-driven decisions to maximize your holiday sales.

The post Winning Big During the E-Commerce Holiday Season: Strategies and Insights appeared first on abtasty.

Finding the right areas to test can be tricky, but knowing where to focus is important for getting results quickly. That’s why we’ve identified five key questions to help guide your experimentation efforts:

• Is the content relevant to “me” (the visitor)?
• Is the next action clear?
• What may be distracting?
• What could cause anxiety?
• What is creating urgency?

By addressing these questions, you can start identifying the areas on your website—what we call Experimentation Hotspots—that offer the most potential for improvement. In this guide, we’ll explore these important areas, from the homepage to the checkout funnel, that are ideal for testing. Whether you’re optimizing for mobile, app, or desktop, these tips will help you kickstart your experimentation journey and start making impactful changes. 

1. Homepage

The homepage is where you show people who you are and what your brand means. It serves as the gateway to various sections, from product categories to special offers, and is where users often return mid-session. Your homepage often sets the tone for the rest of the user’s journey, making optimization crucial.

One effective strategy is to experiment with the placement and labels of your call-to-action (CTA) buttons. Ensuring that users can quickly locate key actions, such as signing up or starting their shopping journey, can make a significant difference in engagement. Testing different CTA labels, such as “Explore Now” versus “Shop Now,” helps determine which drives the most conversions.

Additionally, it’s essential to test the layout and how content is presented. Category links, sales promotions, and other critical pieces of content should be placed in a way that draws attention without overwhelming users. Small adjustments—like changing the placement of sales banners or highlighting popular categories—can enhance the overall user experience and increase interaction with your content.

Areas to optimize

• Header
• Main Navigation
• Categories
• Content Pushes
• Layout

AB Tasty customer success in action

The beauty brand, Lush, shifted its homepage messaging by testing two variations—one focused on self-care and another on gifting care packages. The version centered on gifting led to a 250% increase in engagement, showing how even minor tweaks in messaging can significantly improve user interactions.

2. Product listing page (PLP)

The product listing page (PLP) is where users begin narrowing down their choices. This page is most effective when visitors can scan and compare products easily, helping them make decisions more efficiently. While it might seem like there’s limited space to display information, there’s a lot of room for optimization that can smooth the path to purchase.

Testing how high-quality images, clear pricing, and CTAs like “Add to Cart” are displayed can improve product visibility. Adding reviews or badges like “Best Seller” can boost credibility and urgency. Experiment with hover effects to show additional details when users hover over a product.

Experiment with the placement and functionality of filters to make product discovery easier. Test whether a sidebar, dropdown, or dynamic filtering works best for your users. Simple adjustments to category labels or sorting options, like by price or ratings, can enhance the shopping experience.

Areas to optimize

• Product Card Information (e.g., imagery, price, CTA)
• Reviews and Badges
• Hover States
• Filters and Sorting Options
• Headers/Banners

AB Tasty customer success in action

Clarins UK reintroduced the wishlist functionality to their PLP and PDP. This allowed users to save their favorite products for later, which led to a 1.54% increase in basket page views. It also increased the number of transactions by 1.83%, showing the value of small user experience enhancements. 

It’s also important to consider the differences between mobile and desktop experiences when testing. A solution that works well on desktop might not perform the same on mobile due to varying user behaviors. Despite a long-standing focus on mobile optimization, it’s still common to overlook these differences. 

3. Product display page (PDP) 

The product description page (PDP) is the centerpiece of any e-commerce experience and at the center of a customer journey. Many retailers are now asking, “How can we make the PDP feel more like a landing page?” With more customers arriving directly on PDPs from social media, rather than the homepage, the PDP often serves as the first touchpoint. This makes it even more crucial, as it’s where customers ultimately decide whether or not to make a purchase. Reducing friction and providing clear, relevant information are essential to driving conversions at this stage.

Testing how high-quality images, clear pricing, and CTAs like “Add to Cart” are displayed can improve product visibility. Adding reviews or badges like “Best Seller” can boost credibility and urgency. Experiment with hover effects to show additional details when users hover over a product.

Experiment with the placement and functionality of filters to make product discovery easier. Test whether a sidebar, dropdown, or dynamic filtering works best for your users. Simple adjustments to category labels or sorting options, like by price or ratings, can enhance the shopping experience.

Key areas to experiment with

• Product Imagery and Descriptions: Ensure your images and descriptions are high-quality, answering common questions about the product (e.g., size, fit, material).
• Call-to-Action Buttons: Test the wording, design, and placement of your CTAs to find what drives the most conversions.

Additional areas to optimize

• Page Layout (order of information)
• Product Images and Videos
• Shipping & Return Messaging
• Cross-Sell Items
• Call to Actions
• Reviews and User-Generated Content
• Experience for New Visitors
• Mobile vs Desktop Experience
• Add-to-Cart Behavior & Mini Cart

AB Tasty customer success in action

French beauty product L’Occitane implemented a social proof widget on its PDP, showing how many people had recently viewed a product. The first variation displayed “X people are viewing this product,” while the second version said “Selling Fast.” This simple tweak created urgency and reassurance, leading to a 5.76% increase in transaction rate and a 3.36% increase in revenue per visitor. 

Social proof taps into user psychology—when customers see that many others are viewing or purchasing a product, it creates a sense of urgency and reduces anxiety, helping to drive sales.

4. Checkout funnel

The checkout process is where the real magic (or frustration) happens. It’s the final step in the customer journey, and even small obstacles here can lead to abandoned carts. Simplifying the checkout funnel can make the difference between completing a sale and losing a customer at the last moment. This stage is not just about speeding up the process—it’s also about building trust and ensuring customers feel confident in their purchase.

Optimizing your checkout involves refining everything from the mini basket to the confirmation page, making the experience as seamless as possible. 

Testing opportunities

• Product Imagery and Descriptions: Ensure your images and descriptions are high-quality, answering common questions about the product (e.g., size, fit, material).
• Call-to-Action Buttons: Test the wording, design, and placement of your CTAs to find what drives the most conversions.

Additional areas to optimize

• Basket Summary
• Step Progression
• Login and Guest Checkout Options
• Account Creation
• Form Field Labels & Microcopy
• Payment Methods
• Coupon Field Visibility & Design
• Cross-Sells & Product Recommendations
• Confirmation Page

AB Tasty customer success in action

Calvin Klein ran a test where they displayed a “last viewed” carousel on the empty cart page after a user removed all items from their cart. This reminded users of previously viewed products, reducing the bounce rate by 4.19% and increasing orders by 7.5%. By preventing the cart from feeling empty and offering product recommendations, the brand successfully retained potential customers and increased conversions.

5. Personalization

Personalization is key to creating a unique and engaging experience for each visitor. In an online shopping survey, 88% of respondents rated personalized product recommendations as helpful when asked to score them on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being very helpful and 1 not helpful). By understanding user behavior and segmenting audiences, you can deliver tailored content that enhances user satisfaction and drives higher conversions. Personalization not only improves the shopping experience, but also fosters customer loyalty, encouraging repeat purchases over time. 

Start with

• Behavioral Targeting: Personalize content based on how users interact with your site. For example, use data on past clicks or scrolling behavior to serve more relevant offers.
• Abandoned Cart Reminders: Encourage users to complete their purchase by reminding them of items left behind.

AB Tasty customer success in action

French fashion retailer, Maje created a personalized campaign for users who abandoned their carts. When those users returned to the site, they were shown the products they had previously left behind, making it easy for them to continue shopping. This strategy resulted in an 11% increase on click rate on the pop up, with a significant portion of those users completing their purchases.

In addition, AB Tasty tools like Emotions AI can help recognize emotional triggers or online body language (e.g., scroll behavior or clicks) to tailor content even further, providing users with the most relevant experiences.

Wrapping up

From optimizing your homepage to personalizing the user experience, every aspect of your website offers an opportunity for growth. Even small tests—like changing the placement of a carousel or adjusting CTA wording—can lead to significant results.

By regularly experimenting and optimizing key hotspots on your site, you can improve user engagement, reduce friction, and ultimately increase conversions. Remember, every site is different, so test frequently and use data to inform decisions. This approach helps ensure that you’re continually refining your site for optimal success.

If you want to get all the details. – watch the webinar below.

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