The Total Cost of Website Testing

THE TOTAL COST OF WEBSITE TESTING The near century-old financial estimate known as Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can help determine direct and indirect costs of a purchase. Adopted by Gartner to help measure the true cost of software or hardware investments over time, companies should consider TCO when deciding which website testing tool to use. THE TOP WEBSITE TESTING CHALLENGES ACTING UPON TEST RESULTS DECIDING WHAT TO TEST PRIORITIZING TESTING CONDUCTING THE ACTUAL TESTS OBTAINING ENOUGH TRAFFIC FOR STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE INITIATIVES ROI+ To accomplish these and other challenges, marketers are turning to website testing tools that promise to deliver higher conversions and a positive return on investment. DRE But how much do they really cost? The cost of paid website testing tools can be higher than just the "sticker price." And are "free" tools really free? The cost to own a website testing tool includes the money for software acquisition, labor costs, fees for services, or cost for lack of a service (such as downtime). Costs can be further broken down into direct costs and indirect costs. WHAT IMPACTS TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP? DIRECT COSTS: TRACED TO ACTUAL ACCOUNTING LINE ITEMS WHAT COULD AFFECT THE DIRECT COSTS OF WEBSITE TESTING TOOLS? Tools that offer a fixed, flat FLAT, FIXED FEE Tools that charge by the number of server calls or fee (supported by unlimited usage) encourage continuous - testing. As a result, there is campaigns discourage continuous testing, as face a choice between rising costs or throttling usage. no limit to the ROI you can achieve. USAGE-BASED FEES When a testing tool has unlimited logins, many people in your company become experts in website - optimization. The result is a top-down, bottom-up culture based on continuous improvement through testing. UNLIMITED LOGINS Limiting the number of logins (or charging for additional ones) discourages knowledge - and ownership in your company. As a result, website optimization does not become a part of your culture. LIMITED LOGINS INDIRECT COSTS: RESOURCES ASSIGNED TO DIFFERENT COST CENTERS WHAT COULD AFFECT THE INDIRECT COSTS OF WEBSITE TESTING TOOLS? When tests don't require any code, the time from creation to deployment - is minimized-often to just minutes. CODE-FREE CAMPAIGNS Tools that require you to write code for each campaign - introduce resource and time constraints into the testing process. WRITING CODE When someone else does QA for your campaigns you don't need to divert - internal resources from VENDOR HANDLES QA Time is finite, so when you - QA your own campaigns, you cannot QA other projects. other valuable projects. CLIENT HANDLES QA Experience across a diverse set of clients and verticals STRATEGIC GUIDANCE FROM VENDOR Understanding how to prioritize testing opportunities is critical to achieving a strong ROI quickly. If you lack this skill set, you'll need to develop it quickly and at significant cost. means you benefit from - expert strategy and the latest best practices. DEVELOPING IN-HOUSE EXPERTISE Resources are pre-allocated to assess the revenue impact of every test and develop a post-test action plan. VENDOR-DAIVEN ANALYSIS You'll need available resources, an understanding of statistical significance, and ideas for how to act on campaign results. CLIENT-DRIVEN ANALYSIS THE COST OF FULL SERVICE VS. SELF SERVICE OPPORTUNITY COSTS SELF SERVICE The cost of full-service A tool's cost includes the time and resources you devote internally to support its use. Once allocated, these resources are no longer available to support other organizational priorities. Your Opportunity Cost is the cost of not devoting these resources to the next best activity, and the value these activities provide to the company. management initially seems higher than self-service because full-service is priced into your contract. However, the cost of full-service management remains fixed over time. FULL SERVICE The cost of self-service management typically increases as companies realize they lack the resources to do strategy, campaign execution, and analysis in-house. Addressing these resource gaps requires building new competencies in-house (often hiring new staff). which can escalate costs dramatically. MONTH1 MONTH 6 MONTH 12 QUESTIONS TO ASK WEBSITE TESTING TOOL VENDORS O WHAT IS YOUR PRICING MODEL, E.G., FIXED OR BASED ON USAGE? O WHO IS THE TOOL'S TYPICAL USER? O WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR AN INITIAL SETUP OF THE TOOL? O HOW MANY SIMULTANEQUS CAMPAIGNS ARE OTHER CLIENTS RUNNING? O HOW MANY CAMPAIGNS AMI ALLOWED TO RUN FOR WHAT I'VE AGREED TO PAY? O WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR ONGOING CAMPAIGN CREATION? QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF: O HOW MUCH IS MY TIME WORTH? O HOW MUCH WILL MY TEAM COST? OWHAT OTHER TIME-SAVING FEATURES ARE INCLUDED IN THE TOOL? Don't make a decision on a website testing tool based on sticker price alone. Instead, consider its TCO. The bottom line: A tool might be cheap, or even free, but your time and people are not. SOURCES: WEBSITE TESTING & OPTIMIZATION BUYER'S GUIDE FOR THE ENTERPRISE | FORRESTER RESEARCH|GARTNER monetate Follow OMonetate on twitter .******. LLLLL