Exploring Experimentation: A Recap of the 2023 European Customer Advisory Board

On October 25th, SiteSpect team members gathered with our European customers at Friends Arena in Stockholm, home of AIK & Sweden’s National Football team. 

“It’s always super exciting to host our annual SiteSpect European Customer Advisory Board!” says Maarten Plokker, Managing Director at SiteSpect Europe. “Bringing together this exclusive group of European optimization leaders and the active participation in strategy discussions is what makes this event a success. I am already looking forward to next year’s event!”

Our main objectives for the annual Customer Advisory Board (CAB) were to have strategy discussions, share market knowledge, show our latest product updates, and present our product roadmap to our customers and partners. 

We welcomed a group of exceptional customers, including Swedbank, de Bijenkorf, RTL, and Stihl. We also received thought-provoking, actionable presentations from Jonny Longden, Digital Experience Director at Journey Further, and Elin Ledenvik, Experimentation Expert at Conversionista.

These keynotes focused on experimentation design and moving from CRO (conversion rate optimization) to strategic thinking. Erwin Kerk, a Senior Consultant at SiteSpect hosted an interactive survey, and Paul Bernier, SiteSpect’s VP of Product Management wrapped up our time by sharing the vision for the product and exciting new capabilities that are coming in the near future. 

Key Takeaways from SiteSpect Customers

In a lively presentation, Åsa Boffardi, Head of Digital Analytics and CRO at Swedbank shared insights on the transformative journey from “CRAP” to “CARE” within her organization. The humorously named “CRAP” approach illustrated the default operational mode, emphasizing the need for a paradigm shift. 

The “CARE” approach, on the other hand, advocated for a more thoughtful process, turning data analysis into actionable recommendations and promoting a culture of experimentation. Åsa also candidly discussed the challenges faced in changing internal culture, acknowledging the nervousness and fear associated with challenging the status quo.

Another engaging session featured Malin Bokström from Aller Media, who detailed the organization’s experience with the Design Sprint methodology. This approach, involving a strict 5-day sprint cycle, encourages collaboration among individuals with diverse roles, resulting in the creation of prototypes from initial ideas. 

Emphasizing early involvement of various organizational roles, Malin highlighted the effectiveness of “mini design sprints” for idea generation. The concept of a “wall of ideas” further stood out, promoting a dynamic and inclusive ideation process within the team.

Additionally, Tom van den Berg, Lead Online Conversie Specialist at de Bijenkorf provided a set of 10 CRO tips to enhance the effectiveness of experimentation programs. He offered valuable insights for running a successful optimization initiative, touching on qualitative research. 

These diverse perspectives collectively underscored the importance of thoughtful processes, collaboration, and strategic experimentation in achieving meaningful testing results.

Looking Ahead

During our gathering, Erwin Kerk ran an interactive survey for all attendees to give us insights on how everyone is utilizing SiteSpect. Here are the results for the question “What are you testing?”:

After the survey, Paul Bernier discussed the future of SiteSpect with our customers. Events like this directly shape our product roadmap and support structure. Here’s what he had to say:

“It was so impressive and humbling to see how our customers are pushing the boundaries of experimentation and CRO, and we are proud to be part of this community with them. It’s a massive motivation to evolve our platform and help them innovate at their companies.”

A huge benefit of working with SiteSpect is our focus on our customers and what they need—as demonstrated in our latest European Customer event. Here’s what Nikolas Korakidis, Owner of CROWS LAB, had to say about attending this year:

“Our journey with SiteSpect spans several years, during which we’ve crafted thousands of impactful tests for our diverse clientele. We take pride in the experiences we build, aiming to create lasting impacts and drive meaningful results.” 

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking to optimize your conversion rates through A/B testing and experimentation, now is the time. At SiteSpect, you’ll have access to client-side and server-side testing all under one unified platform. 

Get started today. Request your demo to learn how SiteSpect creates a superior customer experience that drives revenue, reduces costs, and mitigates risk.