Review: Always Be Testing Reviewed by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson - Web Marketing Today - Apr 28, 2009

Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer
by Bryan Eisenberg and John Quarto-vonTivadar with Lisa T. Davis
Sybex, 2008
Paperback, 302 pages
ISBN 978-0-470-29063-7

Why didn't I review this book sooner? It's excellent. Of course, Bryan Eisenberg is widely known for his decade of work in the field of sales optimization. But from the title I expected a rationale for testing and optimization and a manual for using the Google Website Optimizer tool. Yes, I'm not disappointed. All that's included.

What I didn't expect was the book's carefully illustrated recap of the online sales process of which the authors are careful students. Perhaps the book should be entitled: Always Be Selling, since that what they're really explaining.

The book is organized into three parts:

1. A Marketer's View of Testing: The Power of Optimization. Here's the core of the book. The authors discuss the concept of a culture of continual testing, explain in illustrated detail how to use Google Website Optimizer and help the reader through some of the tools "special" definitions of terms. Well done. My favorite parts of this section were the examples that illustrate how to think about testing. The authors distinguish between conversion (optimizing the sales process) and persuasion (optimizing the buying process) -- one of the key distinctions that the authors' company, FutureNow, has clarified in a way that has helped the entire online retail industry.
    
2. What You Should Test. The second part serves as a kind of extended appendix to the core material in part I. The problem that online businesses face is not the expense of testing software (Google Website Optimizer is free). The problem is determining what to test of all the possibilities. Here the authors explain 30 different elements that might have an effect on sales. For each of these elements, they give you questions to ask about your site, exercises that help you understand the concept, and a list of the kinds of tests that could be productive for that particular element. Elements include: WIIFM, Unique Value Proposition, buying decision, categorization, usability, look and feel, searchability, layout, purchasing, tools, error prevention, and a host of others. In Part II authors have created an excellent testing handbook that will be referred to again and again once you get into the testing process.
    
3. Diving Deep for the Technically Challenged. The final part looks at the theoretical and conceptual framework that underlies testing -- a pretty daunting dip into the shadow world of statistical math. They also explain in detail how Website Optimizer's script, and how to use the tool on both static and dynamic sites. they also describe a plug-in for those using WordPress blogging software, and provide a list of other useful resources.

I am convinced that on the battlefield of testing, the larger businesses who can afford to make a commitment to testing will pull away from smaller businesses who can't or won't provide for such a testing commitment. If you're a small to medium online retail business, then for you learning to test and creating a culture of continuous testing will make the difference between success or failure -- "Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life."

Always Be Testing is by far the most readable and in-depth book I've read in this field. Get it and apply it!