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1 change - $12 million in profits

by davemiz
12 replies
sounds crazy right?

For those of you who aren't testing your stuff.... here's $12 million dollars worth of reasons to test:

"Online travel firm Expedia has found that data analytics can deliver a multi-million dollar kick to a company's bottom line...

The answer, it turns out, was quite simple: "We had an optional field on the site under 'Name', which was 'Company'," Megibow said. "It confused some customers who filled out the 'Company' field with their bank name." After putting in their bank name, these customers then went on to enter the address of their bank, rather than their home address, in the address field.

"When it came to address verification to process the credit card, it failed because it was not the address of credit card holder," Megibow said.

"After we realised that we just went onto the site and deleted that field - overnight there was a step function [change], resulting in $12m of profit a year, simply by deleting a field."

Need I say more?

Test your F'n stuff!
#$12 #change #million #profits
  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    There is a bonus lesson in there, as well... banks should have mandatory IQ tests before issuing credit cards.
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    • Profile picture of the author Aussie_Al
      Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

      There is a bonus lesson in there, as well... banks should have mandatory IQ tests before issuing credit cards.
      You mean if you fail the test you get a card?
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    • Profile picture of the author JDArchitecture
      Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

      There is a bonus lesson in there, as well... banks should have mandatory IQ tests before issuing credit cards.
      What about the idiot that thought it was a good idea to ask for company information on a personal travel site?

      Sure, this may be a lesson in testing, but it's more a lesson about knowing your audience/market.
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    • Profile picture of the author :Elective-
      Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

      There is a bonus lesson in there, as well... banks should have mandatory IQ tests before issuing credit cards.
      I was looking for the like button LOL
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  • Profile picture of the author 993rs
    Absolutely Love it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Williams
    Regardless, optional 'company' fields are fairly common. Putting a bank name and address there seems a little... unintelligent.
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  • Profile picture of the author davemiz
    unless you're living on the moon, company fields are common.

    Newsflash: corporations and ppl working for them buy tickets and travel online for business travel.

    This is why you test and optimize. (most marketers don't)

    I GUARANTEE those of you who are using a shopping cart (1sc, ultra,infusion etc) can optimize their order forms and get a huge increase in dropoffs/conversions.

    Look at all the extra fields in your forms.
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    • Profile picture of the author JackBenson
      very interesting and just goes to show that just because somethings obvious to you doesn't mean its obvious to everyone.

      A lot of people buying airline tickets online are probably making their first online purchase? Just guessing but it's about the only way I can think that would lead to such a bizarre misunderstanding of the form.
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    • Profile picture of the author Willie Crawford
      Originally Posted by davemiz View Post

      unless you're living on the moon, company fields are common.

      Newsflash: corporations and ppl working for them buy tickets and travel online for business travel.

      This is why you test and optimize. (most marketers don't)

      I GUARANTEE those of you who are using a shopping cart (1sc, ultra,infusion etc) can optimize their order forms and get a huge increase in dropoffs/conversions.

      Look at all the extra fields in your forms.
      Thanks for the reminders Dave.

      Willie
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  • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
    Hi,

    So the company says the charges did not go through because the adderesses did not match.
    How does them correcting this make that now turn to 12 million in profit? I am lost. seems to me that they are saying now they are getting paid.

    Testing is good..... But knowing how to test and then what to do with the results is best
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  • Profile picture of the author JennSpencerIM
    Interesting! And I thought it was bad that I get people giving me TWO addresses since our order page is like this:

    Name
    Address 1
    Address 2
    City
    State
    Zip

    Wish I could figure out how to add Address "LINE 1" so they don't give me two different addresses...I swear people that buy from me have never bought online before...but guess Orbitz is feeling that too!
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  • Profile picture of the author davemiz
    anytime willie.

    good to see another old timer here :-)

    lol.... these companies make tens of millions of dollars (probably hundreds)... don't kid yourself.... they know how to test and what to test.... the stuff they do is very sophisticated.

    They test using enterprise level stuff like omniture which is INSANE tracking/testing software.
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