Q&A with Eric Hansen

Next in our Conversion Conference speaker Q&A sessions is Eric J. Hansen, CEO & Founder SiteSpect. SiteSpect provides the world’s only non-intrusive web optimization solution, enabling marketers to perform rapid A/B testing, multivariate testing, targeting and personalization, mobile content optimization as well as web performance optimization across all of your sites and landing pages … all without having to implement page tags or change your site in any way.

1) What do you think is currently a hot trend in optimization or conversion?The hot trend amongst elite web operators is optimizing for fast page load times. The reality is that sites these days are weighted down third-party tags, large images, widgets, “like” buttons, and the like. Fast Internet connections just aren’t enough to compensate, particularly when it comes to web-enabled mobile devices which buckle under congested, high latency 3G connections. Fortunately, more and more web marketers are getting clued in to the relationship between speed and user behavior. Fast site’s aren’t just usable, they are perceived as more reliable and trustworthy. All of these things, in turn, have a direct and significant impact on conversion, retention, and overall user engagement. So don’t just optimize creative, optimize speed!

 

2) What would you say is the biggest mistake people make when it comes to optimization?I see recurring mistakes around optimizing for a single goal or site objective when there are nearly always multiple success outcomes from the perspective of both the marketer and end user. The reality is that users aren’t linear beings, and marketers must account for many possible paths that can be followed to any number of goals. In terms of optimization, the best approach is to quantify the value of each type (or “bundle”) of path and then measure the composite user behavior, across visits, to optimize for overall revenue, lead quality or profitability.

3) Which speaker(s) are you most excited to hear, beside yourself, at Conversion Conference East? I’m looking forward to hearing Steve Krug speak. I’ve always appreciated his grounded, graspable approach to usability, and at SiteSpect we’re big fans of his work.

4) What’s your favorite restaurant to visit while in New York?That’d have to be Angelo’s Pizza on West 57th.

 

More about EricEric J. Hansen, CEO & Founder SiteSpect.Eric Hansen is the Founder & CEO of SiteSpect, Inc., and the chief architect of the firm’s non-intrusive technology for multivariate testing, behavioral targeting and digital marketing optimization. SiteSpect enables web marketers to optimize their web and mobile sites quickly and effectively without IT involvement.

Prior to SiteSpect, Eric was the founder and CEO of Worldmachine Technologies, an Internet development and consulting firm specializing in large-scale web engineering projects for organizations such as John Hancock Insurance, Putnam Investments, Hearst New Media, and The New England Journal of Medicine.

Prior to Worldmachine, Eric held product management and software engineering positions at several Boston- based technology firms including Princeton Transportation Consulting Group (Logisitcs.com), Raytheon Company, and the Center for Clinical Computing at Harvard Medical School.

Eric is a frequent speaker at conferences covering web analytics and optimization, and writes regularly on topics dealing with the intersection of marketing and technology. He received a degree in Cognitive Science and Psychology with honors from the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY.

See Eric Live!

Eric will be speaking with Neil Patel, from KISSmetrics about “Getting Started with Landing Page Testing: From Baseline Data Through A/B & Multivariate Testing” at Conversion Conference East 2011 in New York City. See the full agenda and read more about this session.

Want to save on your Conversion Conference Registration? Follow Eric on Twitter and contact him to request a discount code!

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