Abstract
The importance of companies' website as instrument for relationship marketing activities is well-known both in the academia and in the industry. In the last decades, there has been great interest in studying how technology can be used to influence people's attitudes and motivate behavior change. With this, web personalization has had increasing research and practitioner interest. However, the evaluation of user interaction with companies' websites and personalization effects remains an elusive goal for organizations. Online controlled experiments (A/B tests) are one of the most commonly known and used techniques for this online evaluation. And, while there is clearly value in evaluating personalized features by means of online controlled experiments, there are some pitfalls to bear in mind while testing. In this paper we present five experimentation pitfalls, firstly identified in an automotive company's website and found to be present in other sectors, that are particularly important or likely to appear when evaluating personalization features. In order to obtain the listed pitfalls, different methods have been used, including literature review, direct, and indirect observation within organizations of the automotive sector and a set of interviews to organizations form other sectors. Finally, the list of five resulting pitfalls is presented and some suggestions are made on how to avoid or mitigate each of them.
Highlights
The importance of companies’ website as instrument for relationship marketing activities is wellknown both in the academia and in the industry (Mahmoud et al, 2017)
While there is value in evaluating personalized features by means of online controlled experiments (A/B tests), there are some pitfalls to bear in mind while testing websites
We discuss some critical AB testing pitfalls that were firstly identified in automotive companies and may compromise the validity of their experiments
Summary
The importance of companies’ website as instrument for relationship marketing activities is wellknown both in the academia and in the industry (Mahmoud et al, 2017). Companies are not anymore using their websites only to inform about their products or services and sell them, they need to persuade their users to engage with them (Rashid et al, 2016). The evaluation of user interaction with companies websites is in the spotlight (Spiliopoulou, 2000; Yen et al, 2007). Regardless of the organization size, website owners try to increase users’ interface persuasiveness by adapting colors, texts, or layout (Hohnhold et al, 2015). Following this attempt to be continuously improving, the positive effects of website personalization in company pervasiveness
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
