Automation is highly important to increase the efficiency of Conversion Rate Optimization and Experimentation. Automation can make the process of setting up, running, and analyzing experiments easier, more accessible, safe, and thus more cost-effective.
In this article, we’ll explore two forms of automation and how they can help you improve your CRO process; automation of recurring work, and safeguards
Automation of Recurring Work
There are a lot of repetitive tasks in many steps of the experimentation process. When you only run one or two tests per month, there is no need for automation. It is better to focus your time elsewhere. However, when a dedicated CRO specialist is in the company, she could set up some basic automations.
Several parts of the experimentation process can be automated, including:
- A/B test analysis
- Minimal detectable effect or power calculation
- Funnel analyses
- Prioritization of test ideas
Generally, it starts with automating some parts of the A/B test analysis. This is smart as it saves us a lot of time.
As more members are added to the experimentation team and more teams start testing, you want to automate more recurring work. For example, the minimal detectable effect or power calculation and funnel analyses can be automated. The experiment analysis can, for a large part, be automated, including statistical calculations and the reporting part. And prioritization of test ideas can be automated. Check out this article to learn how to implement an automated, evidence-based prioritization framework.
Airtable is a popular tool for automating recurring work in the CRO process. You can also set up a dashboard to keep track of team goals related to the number of experiments and win rate. It is wise to reflect on this dashboard regularly to improve the team’s quality and reflect on the process. I do this every week in my standups.
And in a tool like Airtable, you can automate specific triggers. For instance:
- Send an email or Slack message when an experiment goes live
- Send an email or Slack message when an experiment is stopped
- Send results of an experiment
- Change the status of a record to inactive when it has not changed for 30 days (this keeps your board cleaned up)
If you are not using Airtable yet, check out my free course CRO Process and Insights in Airtable on Udemy. You can find a link to it in the lecture resources.
Automation of Safeguards
In the later stages of experimentation maturity, you want to automate safeguards. A safeguard is a measure taken to prevent something undesirable, like an experiment causing an error on your website or a massive drop in conversions in the variant.
When your analysis is automated, you can refresh it daily, add the sample ratio mismatch calculation, and have these results sent via email each morning. This allows you to keep track of the data of running experiments easily.
When you have a more advanced experimentation platform, you can stop experiments automatically when it causes an error on the website, when there is a sample ratio mismatch, and when there is a massive drop in conversions in the variant.
Safeguards such as these make experimentation a lot saver so that everyone can run experiments on your website and digital products.
Make CRO easier, more accessible, and safer
In conclusion, automation is a powerful tool that can help you improve the efficiency and accessibility of your CRO process while reducing costs. You can streamline your experimentation process, increase velocity, and have more people run experiments by automating recurring work and installing automated safeguards.
