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.

via GIPHY

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)

So they really mean it.

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.

Combine this information to create even better tests.

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.