At On Point Global, we have a unique company culture. Myself and my partners like to think it’s one of the main reasons why nearly half of our employees have been with us for 3 years or longer.
To give you a quick snapshot, our culture is built on a set of core behaviors that we always aspire to model. These include moving with urgency to get our priorities complete and collaborating across departments to make well-rounded decisions.
One of my favorite core behaviors is that we always keep our pencils sharpened.
This means that we never simply accept success. If we launch an ecommerce website at 10 a.m. and it gives us a 20% conversion rate, we don’t just sit back and relax in our office chairs and call it a day. That same afternoon, our company’s leaders are meeting to discuss steps we can take to double that conversion rate in the next iteration.
The way we do that is through testing. However, as data, marketing and publishing companies across the country are well familiar with – you need to make sure you’re compliant every step of the way. Here’s how.
The On Point Global Testing Process
The first step we take is to gather data on how a website is performing. The specific data we’ll focus on depends on the specific type of website we launch.
After gathering data for one to two weeks and giving everyone a chance to review, we set up a meeting with the On Point Global Miami leadership team. We’ll use this meeting to discuss the different departments’ ideas for optimization.
Some ideas will relate to adjusting copy. Others will be associated with layout and user experience. All ideas are considered and prioritized. The first test idea that we select will be based on what our team believes will have the biggest impact – based on their experience.
After all, our managers have been implementing tests on our web properties for years now. They have a good understanding of what changes will have positive impacts and what factors may be affecting our rankings or conversion rates.
Next, after selecting a test idea, we implement the change and immediately begin gathering data on how users are interacting with the new iteration of the website.
Oftentimes, we can quickly determine if the test had the desired result. If we see a noticeable decrease in some or all key metrics within a day or two, we may move on to test #2. Otherwise, if the numbers are trending in the right direction, we could let the test run for a week to 10 days.
Then, finally, each successful test’s results are logged so that we can consider them for future sites.
But that’s just half of the process.
In addition to considering possible changes, implementing them step by step and following the metrics for a certain period of days, we also have established checks to ensure that we are being compliant with FTC legislation.
How Brent Levison Combines Compliance Culture With Testing
As I’ve discussed in another post, creating and maintaining a compliance culture is key to your success in 2020 and going forward. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) role is to protect consumers in all aspects of trade. This includes online consumers.
Throughout the testing process, the team members of On Point Global Miami do not lose sight of FTC requirements. We train our project managers and department leaders – as well as all other employees within the company – on the importance of compliance and the steps that we all must take in order to meet federal requirements.
From the brainstorming process to laying out each test idea and the steps we’d need to take, our team is checking to make sure (at each stage of the process) that each proposed change would be considered compliant.
If there is any doubt, we consult our compliance counsel. Then, based on their thoughts, we either move forward with testing the concept or we scrap that idea to focus on other tests.
To ensure that On Point Global websites are compliant, we have a team dedicated to quality assurance (QA), which is also trained on compliance. This team is instrumental during the testing process. Working in tandem with project managers and our other company leaders, our quality assurance team checks to make sure that each step our team is taking during the testing process will not have any issues related to
compliance, among other things.
Final Thoughts on Compliance & Testing
Optimizing your websites through testing is the only way to make sure that your users are having a positive user experience. Checking on compliance requirements each step of the way is the only way to make sure that you’re providing products and services to consumers in a way that is considered legally compliant by the FTC.
Today and going forward, there is no way to separate the two and be successful. All businesses need to prioritize both of these elements at all times. However, if you do have to choose between the two, you must always choose compliance.