Case Crocs: sales optimization of one hundred million. Part 1
Crocs brand is one of the most famous shoe manufacturers in the world, “crocs” are worn in all corners of the planet. In 2011, our team began work on a project related to the development, launch and optimization of the sales process for Crocs. And in 2012, Crocs decided to significantly expand the e-commerce direction, which included the development and launch of new online stores in new geographic locations.
Most of Crocs' existing resources were developed on the Demandware e-commerce platform, so it was decided to continue working and develop the e-commerce direction on this platform. Our tasks included launching new sites on Demandware for Brazil and Japan, and a separate CrocsAroundTheWorld resource dedicated to the company's tenth anniversary, redesign, refinement and optimization of individual elements of existing resources, as well as checkout optimization to increase conversion on Crocs sites, which will be discussed in article.
Introduction
As we wrote in our previous publication , effective design solutions allow increasing conversion and optimizing sales in e-commerce projects. At the same time, design changes are carried out on the basis of tests aimed at improving usability, allowing you to increase the conversion rate for each individual resource. It is worth remembering that in any e-commerce project, effective solutions cannot be guessed - they must be based on an objective assessment obtained in the course of comprehensive quantitative and qualitative tests.
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When it comes to finding solutions to increase conversion, several types of tests are commonly used, the most popular of which are A / B testing (A / B testing) and multivariate testing (multivariate testing). Usually, in e-commerce applications, the goal of their implementation is the identification of optimal solutions for increasing the conversion or optimization of the cost of online promotion. Consider these two types of testing in more detail:
A / b testing
The meaning of A / B testing is to change a single page element or banner and then analyze the two versions (before and after the change) in terms of conversion. Consider a simplified example:
Both pictures were used by us in promoting our activity in the popular social network. One differed from the other only in a green frame around the perimeter. At first glance - a slight change, but the test showed that the option with a frame is twice as efficient as without it. It is not possible to foresee such a difference in each individual case, but A / B testing puts everything in its place. It is a relatively simple and at the same time effective tool for optimization in the case of e-commerce applications. But what to do if there are a lot of variables, if you need to test several elements and several configurations at the same time? In this case, multivariate testing is usually used.
Multivariate testing
Multivariate testing allows you to simultaneously test multiple site configurations. In fact, multivariate testing is a parallel implementation of several A / B tests. For operations with a large number of orders at the global level, the optimization as a result of such testing becomes extremely important. Here it should be noted that in e-commerce optimization is most critical for the order process (checkout), which directly affects the conversion and, as a result, the profitability of the project.
Implementation of checkout optimization for Crocs
While working on the checkout, our team was faced with the problem of the large amount of resources required due to changes and optimization in this section. The problem was that for different countries it was necessary to implement a completely different set of form fields and a completely different logic of the behavior of the checkout steps, while at the same time considering the possibility of testing to optimize the conversion. The task was also complicated by the fact that in standard cartridges of the Demandware platform, including SiteGenesis - the basic version, on the basis of which customization is usually carried out for different customers - the logic of this section is implemented “rigidly”. Each time, adding a site for a new country, it was necessary to expand the basic functionality. As a result, the checkout logic has become too difficult to understand, and it has become almost impossible to expand it further.
In the case of Crocs, especially for the Demandware platform, we developed and proposed a new architecture that allowed us to reach an increased level of abstraction and to present each step of the checkout as a “container”, whose behavior, including the sequence of checkout steps, was determined by the configuration file, and the content could be easily adjusted by arranging the form elements in an arbitrary sequence. To implement the project, it was necessary to conduct an extensive optimization of the existing code. Crocs agreed to this, realizing that the new architecture would later significantly save resources to support the existing and develop new functionality of the checkout, as well as effectively carry out optimization and testing to increase conversion. Currently, several different checkout configurations (five-step and three-step checkouts, as well as one-click checkout) with support for testing and optimization functions are already functioning on several sites of Crocs (USA, Canada, UK and Australia) based on the Optimized Checkout architecture.
As we mentioned in our previous publications, in order to effectively increase the conversion rate on an e-commerce site, design and development should go hand in hand. In parallel with the development team, UX-designers have developed many prototypes and made a lot of recommendations for a significant improvement in the usability of Crocs sites. Our digital design team used Digital Factors to develop Engage UX, an online resource prototyping tool built on the principles of CWE (collective work environment), which allows our customers to make suggestions and comments on functional elements and design in the early stages of project development.
The combination of these factors directly affects the conversion, and, ultimately, the financial success of each individual project. In the next post, we will look in detail at the organization of a framework for automated regression testing, key technologies and the implementation of the code itself, which allowed us to help Crocs in obtaining its sales tasks.
The authors:
Konstantin Tishchenko
Vitaly Taradayko
Alexander Mamalyga
Most of Crocs' existing resources were developed on the Demandware e-commerce platform, so it was decided to continue working and develop the e-commerce direction on this platform. Our tasks included launching new sites on Demandware for Brazil and Japan, and a separate CrocsAroundTheWorld resource dedicated to the company's tenth anniversary, redesign, refinement and optimization of individual elements of existing resources, as well as checkout optimization to increase conversion on Crocs sites, which will be discussed in article.
Introduction
As we wrote in our previous publication , effective design solutions allow increasing conversion and optimizing sales in e-commerce projects. At the same time, design changes are carried out on the basis of tests aimed at improving usability, allowing you to increase the conversion rate for each individual resource. It is worth remembering that in any e-commerce project, effective solutions cannot be guessed - they must be based on an objective assessment obtained in the course of comprehensive quantitative and qualitative tests.
')
When it comes to finding solutions to increase conversion, several types of tests are commonly used, the most popular of which are A / B testing (A / B testing) and multivariate testing (multivariate testing). Usually, in e-commerce applications, the goal of their implementation is the identification of optimal solutions for increasing the conversion or optimization of the cost of online promotion. Consider these two types of testing in more detail:
A / b testing
The meaning of A / B testing is to change a single page element or banner and then analyze the two versions (before and after the change) in terms of conversion. Consider a simplified example:
Both pictures were used by us in promoting our activity in the popular social network. One differed from the other only in a green frame around the perimeter. At first glance - a slight change, but the test showed that the option with a frame is twice as efficient as without it. It is not possible to foresee such a difference in each individual case, but A / B testing puts everything in its place. It is a relatively simple and at the same time effective tool for optimization in the case of e-commerce applications. But what to do if there are a lot of variables, if you need to test several elements and several configurations at the same time? In this case, multivariate testing is usually used.
Multivariate testing
Multivariate testing allows you to simultaneously test multiple site configurations. In fact, multivariate testing is a parallel implementation of several A / B tests. For operations with a large number of orders at the global level, the optimization as a result of such testing becomes extremely important. Here it should be noted that in e-commerce optimization is most critical for the order process (checkout), which directly affects the conversion and, as a result, the profitability of the project.
Implementation of checkout optimization for Crocs
While working on the checkout, our team was faced with the problem of the large amount of resources required due to changes and optimization in this section. The problem was that for different countries it was necessary to implement a completely different set of form fields and a completely different logic of the behavior of the checkout steps, while at the same time considering the possibility of testing to optimize the conversion. The task was also complicated by the fact that in standard cartridges of the Demandware platform, including SiteGenesis - the basic version, on the basis of which customization is usually carried out for different customers - the logic of this section is implemented “rigidly”. Each time, adding a site for a new country, it was necessary to expand the basic functionality. As a result, the checkout logic has become too difficult to understand, and it has become almost impossible to expand it further.
In the case of Crocs, especially for the Demandware platform, we developed and proposed a new architecture that allowed us to reach an increased level of abstraction and to present each step of the checkout as a “container”, whose behavior, including the sequence of checkout steps, was determined by the configuration file, and the content could be easily adjusted by arranging the form elements in an arbitrary sequence. To implement the project, it was necessary to conduct an extensive optimization of the existing code. Crocs agreed to this, realizing that the new architecture would later significantly save resources to support the existing and develop new functionality of the checkout, as well as effectively carry out optimization and testing to increase conversion. Currently, several different checkout configurations (five-step and three-step checkouts, as well as one-click checkout) with support for testing and optimization functions are already functioning on several sites of Crocs (USA, Canada, UK and Australia) based on the Optimized Checkout architecture.
As we mentioned in our previous publications, in order to effectively increase the conversion rate on an e-commerce site, design and development should go hand in hand. In parallel with the development team, UX-designers have developed many prototypes and made a lot of recommendations for a significant improvement in the usability of Crocs sites. Our digital design team used Digital Factors to develop Engage UX, an online resource prototyping tool built on the principles of CWE (collective work environment), which allows our customers to make suggestions and comments on functional elements and design in the early stages of project development.
The combination of these factors directly affects the conversion, and, ultimately, the financial success of each individual project. In the next post, we will look in detail at the organization of a framework for automated regression testing, key technologies and the implementation of the code itself, which allowed us to help Crocs in obtaining its sales tasks.
The authors:
Konstantin Tishchenko
Vitaly Taradayko
Alexander Mamalyga
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/234273/
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