The End of Google Optimize Asks Important Questions of the CRO Industry
Learn how sunsetting of Google Optimize will impact CRO.
From improving its web ranking to deciding where your content needs to A/B testing, Google optimization has been used by marketers. However, with Google announcing the sunset of Google Optimize, it has left marketers with many questions, especially regarding CRO (conversion rate optimization). Kendall Giglio, VP of Web Solutions at Tinuiti, sheds light on the same.
The practice of performance marketing is part art, part science of increasing the likelihood of achieving conversions through testing adjustments to elements of the entire marketing funnel. For the last decade, Google Optimize provided a shorthand methodology for testing elements of web pages without having to rebuild entire pages to alter one or two elements to test for conversion capabilities. The product was free, with certain limits; users were given access to the full suite of tools once they upgraded to the paid version – a freemium model.
The freemium model works primarily for two reasons. First, it provides a no-risk offer to test the product to see if it meets the need and expectations while also allowing the user to control when to move from the free version to the paid, if at all. Those who pay gain access to the full suite of tools. Those who don’t make do with the limited set of tools provided in the free version.
But the freemium product model for Google Optimize has also allowed users to learn more about conversion rate optimization.
Mom and Pop may not have understood what it meant to optimize their product pages. Still, through an introductory and free platform like Google Optimize, they could see the value of testing and iterating for better outcomes across their website. Changing the color of a linked button, shortening a headline or using present versus past tense are examples of simple tests that can move businesses closer to desired outcomes. Google Optimize has served, for many, as an introduction to this knowledge.
See More: Conversion Rate Optimization: Think Before You Benchmark
Replacing the CRO Industry’s Introductory Course
The conversion rate optimization (CRO) industry has significantly benefited from the availability of Google Optimize being a literal onramp to improving web pages to optimize conversion rates and overall customer experience. If a new marketing hire wanted to evangelize the value of CRO, they could make an early, no-risk case by utilizing the platform to test for improvements and educate their colleagues. Then, if the results permitted, they could employ the full suite of tools or consider an alternative that better met the business’s specific needs.
With the availability of a well-known freemium product, other CRO tools could focus on building differentiated products to step in when Google Optimize reached its limits or companies with a strong culture of conversion testing wanted to find the best product or fit on the market. It also permitted CRO platforms to raise pricing, extend contract terms and embed themselves deeper into the framework of client marketing processes.
Google Optimize’s sunset greatly threatens this dynamic. And the CRO industry must consider how to respond.
Is Conversion Rate Optimization for All? Or Just for Some?
As Google Optimize is set to sunset later this year, the full spectrum of marketers, from mom-and-pop shops to SMBs to enterprise-size businesses, will be faced with whether or not to find a replacement or whether to pay for it. Product offerings that are able to ask users for longer commitments tend to carry with them an inherent, long-term outlook on how the product will be used. A service vehicle can be leased for two years under the assumption the car will serve the business for at least two years. A retail lease is made with the expectation that the business intends to operate from that location for at least the next few years.
But most marketing SaaS products are month-to-month propositions. For example, an SMS service used to share updates and sales with your customer base is nearly duplicative of your email-based CRM – it’s a luxury, a nice-to-have, but not critical to carrying out the primary, revenue-generating business functions. Those using Google Optimize will have to decide whether or not testing for optimization through platforms like VWO, Convert, or AB Tasty is worth the investment or if it’s a luxury their business can do without.
And herein lies the most significant question the CRO industry has to answer. Are optimization platforms only for enterprise behemoths that can spend on niche marketing tools for efficiency? Or can the T-shirt shop in your hometown find increasingly more effective sales copy because they are utilizing the near-free version of the platform?
Marketers have it hard enough to figure out how to get results without the bedrock of the last two decades. Losing Google Optimize in an already challenging economic environment will place higher scrutiny on marketing budgets across the board. Suppose the CRO industry wants to continue to put itself forward as a necessary component of performance marketing. Is it possible to do so without a tool that’s served as the CRO “training wheels” for large and small companies?
Only time will tell.
What do you think the impact of Google sunsetting of Google Optimize will have on marketers? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
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