Discovering patterns in customer behavior on Epson’s website requires lots of data, testing — and for the company, platforms from Adobe. When it comes to budgets, Scott Sturcke, director of online marketing at Epson, says it’s critical to justify all the data and tools. He never wants management to view optimization as an optional expense.

Epson, which makes a whole lot more than printers and wearable technology, turned to Adobe to gain better insights by optimizing the experience of consumers visiting its websites. Existing and potential customers were confused by the page layouts and the checkout methods, which presented challenges to successful checkouts that resulted in high bounce rates.

The company has used Adobe Analytics for years to monitor website performance and track campaigns, and picked up Adobe Target around October 2017 to sort through other site issues. The tools identify anomalies and glitches with help from artificial intelligence. The company also relies on other Adobe products.

In this instance, the idea was to use data to improve the online experience, understand and solve online errors, and optimize campaigns based on testing.

It all begins with data, Sturcke says, in order to gain better insights by optimizing the website experiences for its diverse customers. “It’s about putting the customer first, from images to colors. Testing has been hugely powerful. Everyone has their opinion, but let data tell the story.”

Sturcke, a self-proclaimed data nerd, said that many online shoppers, after adding something to the cart, “bailed” on the next step. The step asked whether they were a returning or new customer. People didn’t understand the choice. The call-to-action button on the right-hand side fell below the fold, whereas the button on the left fell above the fold, so people were filling out both. It seems like a simple step, but it wasn’t.

Tests were run using Adobe Target using two variations that clearly separated the fields — guest from returning customers. After one week Epson saw that the new version outperformed the old.  

The one test related to checkouts provided Epson with data that boosted conversion rates high enough to pay for the entire first year of using the Adobe Target platform.  

In another example, Epson did something similar on the ink-finder page that allows people to search based on their printer. Most of the pages also now have a free shipping message. The company is also looking at various button colors to determine which ones convert more frequently than others, as well as where to buy buttons because not all the products are sold on the site.

Sturcke said Adobe’s tools provides the data that enables marketers and site designers to analyze and understand changes.