Google Optimize Sunset – Now What?
Just announced: Google Optimize, A/B testing is sunsetting
Talk about a Monkey Wrench! As if Google Analytics users weren’t busy enough planning their migration to GA4, now Google additionally announced the sunset of Google Optimize.
How much time do I have left?
Experiments will still continue to run until September 30, 2023, but. no further. The news appears to cover all users of Google Optimize, regardless of whether it’s with
- Google Universal Analytics free
- Google 360 Universal Analytics
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Now What?
Don’t just look for a replacement, e.g. via the popular experimentation platforms from Optimizely, Kibo, Kameleoon, or many others they compete with.
It’s a great opportunity to strategize for giving your testing program an extra boost.
Turn the crisis into an opportunity! Combine your new A/B testing platform with a secret sauce ingredient that will help you create successful tests much more often.
Boost your A/B testing program by integrating it with Digital Experience Analytics
If you haven’t been integrating Google Optimize with a digital experience analytics solution such as Contentsquare, this is your opportunity to rightsize the ship.
A/B testing is the stuff of legends. A great A/B test will turn the experimentation team into an instant hero. But too many A/B tests finish flat. After all that effort and weeks of running the test, zero benefit.
So how can the experimentation team be a hero more often? The secret sauce is not a secret actually.
Change the A/B test game during and after testing
Most A/B test platforms integrate with most digital experience analytics providers so that you can understand why a particular test variation won or failed.
During and after testing
- See heatmaps of variation A vs. B
- See anecdotal session replays
- Understand why a test won, and what were the biggest success factors.
But the real game changer is: Inform A/B test strategy by really understanding what makes customers click
This is where you’ll really make a difference for your program. Use your digital experience analytics to discover what you don’t already know about your customers.
- Discover user journeys and compare successful vs. unsuccessful sessions side by side
- Understand in-page behavior and what. makes customers click, vs. leaves them cold
What you’ll get is a much better informed perspective on which next A/B tests are most likely to move the needle for your desired conversion goals.
What to look for in A/B testing integration with Digital Experience Analytics
And it’s here that all digital experience products are not equal. Look for the following to boost your A/B testing program while you are deciding on your Google Optimize replacement
- Ability to compare customer journeys side-by-side so you can discover customer intent
- Ability to compare in-page behaviors side-by-side so you can discover what makes a successful interaction vs. failure
- Ability to quantify the business impact of differing in-page behaviors with a click so that you can prioritize which tests to invest in.
- Ability to import customer segments from Google/Adobe Analytics so you can further refine the groups of customers you are visualizing — based on segments that you’ve already created in Google and Adobe.
Necessity is the mother of invention
This is your opportunity to really boost your A/B testing program. Don’t just stay the course. Right the ship, be a hero more often!
How are others boosting A/B testing success with the help of Experience Analytics?
That’s one of many things you can learn in my brand new book, Customer Experience Analytics.
- 50 real-life case studies
- 30 cheat sheets
With a foreword by the one and only Tom Davenport, author of Competing on Analytics and other best selling books.
Published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis, the book can be pre-ordered on Amazon here and now.
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