There is a GREAT audio interview of Avinash Kaushik posted up on Eight Black. Avinash Kaushik is a Google Analytics Evangelist. The interviewer, Simon Chen, asks Avinash several times if Google intermingles the data it collects from various sources. Avinash answers “no” each time, which makes each subsequent query even funnier. Seriously though, it’s definitely worth a listen if you’re remotely interested in search, Google or analytics.
Google opened up its Website Optimizer (beta) to the public (anyone can sign-up). Website Optimizer is a fractional factorial experimentation tool (also referred to as a multivariate testing tool) which allows marketers to test various facets of the content and/or design on web page(s) their visitors view. In comparison to A/B testing, fractional factorial experimentation allows testing of a greater number of variables at one time while still providing reliable testing results.
The cost for Website Optimizer? It’s free. The catch? Depends on how you look at it, and more importantly, what your needs are. Things to consider:
It appears, although nothing in the documentation I read says it explicitly, that you can only run experiments on a single page (as opposed to a flow which consists of multiple pages-like a checkout process made up of 4 screens, for example).
I could not find any documentation that ensured me that users who were viewing a specific version of a page would see that exact same version of the page if they returned during the testing period.
Website Optimizer does not allow variable content to be a part of the test. You can apply Website Optimizer ‘experiments’ to variable content pages, however, the variable content itself cannot be tested against.
If you’re looking to test a single landing page which is well trafficked, or a part of a marketing campaign, Website Optimizer is definitely priced right. And, there is no doubt that multivariate testing is a more effective way to perform these types of tests. If you’re looking to perform more involved testing, you’ll likely be looking to other providers such as Offermatica, Optimost, or SiteSpect. Be warned: those tools are decidedly NOT free.
I was poking around over on Information Aesthetics and saw a few posts about 3d Live Stats. If you think Google Earth is cool and have an affinity for statistics or data, this might be up your alley:
