How Optimizely X Is Enabling Experimentation

Last month, we joined digital marketing leaders and analytics experts from across the country in New York and San Francisco for Optimizely’s annual conference, Opticon. During this year’s events, the company shared many new and innovative ways marketers can embrace science and data-driven decision making to build relationships with customers. We also had a chance to get a first look at Optimizely’s new platform, Optimizely X.

Read on for more information about how marketers can use Optimizely X to better understand their audiences along with some key highlights from Opticon.

About Optimizely X

The announcement of Optimizely X was one of the biggest highlights of Opticon. The platform includes several new capabilities that are focused on continued experimentation. Here are the products that make up the new platform:

• Optimizely X Web Experimentation: Provides an easy, powerful way to create and run experiments on your website.
• Optimizely X Web Personalization: Enables the delivery of dynamic, tailored experiences to visitor in real time, measures impact, and integrates first and third-party data sets.
• Optimizely X Mobile:Allows users to run experiments on apps built using iOS and Android.
• Optimizely X Recommendations: Provides the ability to add product, category, or item recommendations to any page without developers.
• Optimizely X FullStack: Enables users to run experiments in the most popular languages (Python, Java, Ruby, Node, etc.).
• Optimizely X OTT: Allows users to run experiments in any over-the-top (OTT) TV application using tvOS or Android (coming in November).

The complete Optimizely X platform is a powerful experimentation solution, and there are economies of scale and transversal knowledge when the product is used holistically. However, using the products individually can also deliver value through data-driven insights.

The Importance of Building a Culture of Experimentation

A recurring theme for many speakers at Opticon was emphasis on the importance of building a culture of experimentation across organizations. Jay Simmons from Atlassian explained that “being the change you seek” is an integral part of his company’s culture. Microsoft’s director of user experience, Benson Chan, highlighted perseverance and systematic changes as drivers of a robust experimentation culture.

Optimizely’s CEO, Dan Siroker, shared some points around a culture of experimentation that emphasized the number of shared values between Rise and Optimizely. He talked about the importance of transitioning in mindset from temporary and infrequent “testing” to enabling brands to instill an ever-present experimentation mindset. The mindset shift at Optimizely led to the creation Optimizely X for consistent experimentation and personalization. Dan explained how the platform enables marketers to think more like scientists with both speed and depth.

This shift from testing to experimentation resonates with us at Rise. Similar to Optimizely, we believe that there is always a “better way.” Constantly experimenting and challenging ourselves helps us achieve the brightest sparks and the biggest breakthroughs.

We strongly endorse experimentation and agile analytics at Rise. Optimizely X can help marketers execute with agility. This methodology enables brands to prioritize, build momentum, and encourage executive buy-in to do more. We heard this echoed by many at Opticon 2016, and we are looking forward to seeing how Optimizely X’s platform will empower marketers to execute on those goals.

Find out more about the Optimizely X suite here. To receive more information about trending topics in digital media, sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Co-Authored by Howard Diamond, Chief Strategy Officer.