There’s no doubt that AI is transforming conversion rate optimisation. We are not alone as a conversion rate optimisation agency adopting AI into our workflow. However, there are major flaws to using AI to audit your site which make A/B testing all the more important.
AI audits are not to be taken at face value
If anyone is offering a free AI driven audit, and you aim to implement the findings without A/B testing, you may want to reconsider. As an agency we conduct many conversion rate optimisation audits. These range from in-depth analysis of data to more user-centric focused overviews. We even offer free landing page audits if you want to dip your toe into conversion rate optimisation.
If we didn’t utilise AI for these audits, then we would be doing you a disservice. It can be a great tool for picking up on things that can be missed. But that’s where its usefulness ends in my opinion. Too many times, have I used AI to audit a page and 80%-90% has come back inaccurate, ill informed, or confused. If I had blindly taken the findings and provided them to clients, not only would I be short changing our clients, I would likely be leading them down the wrong path, which is why experience in conversion rate optimisation is so important to sort the good from the bad advice.
Using AI to audit your own site
What if you are not a conversion rate optimisation expert? Using AI to audit your site can seem all the more appealing if you don’t know what to disregard as you simply don’t know any better. This isn’t your fault, but it can expose you to harming your conversion rate further if suggestions are implemented without testing.
As an example, I recently audited the Seedboy website. Two important landing pages were considered as part of the user journey. One of them performed exceedingly well, the other, not as good. The most glaringly obvious downfall to the second landing page was that it didn’t render correctly on mobile. This wasn’t picked up on by AI. Besides the obviously less polished design, this page was also more salesy, pushing the user towards buying throughout.
Now, AI believed that the second landing page was better than the first. It wasn’t until I told it that it performed worse that it corrected itself and stated that the more salesy nature of the page could be harming conversions. If I had taken the suggestions of the AI for the first landing page (to make it more sale orientated), I could have harmed its performance.
A/B testing as a guardrail for AI driven changes
If you are running your own analysis of your site by using AI, you really do have to test the suggestions or risk making a big mistake. If you have plenty of traffic, I recommend Webtrends Optimize for the task. This is excellent A/B testing software with a fabulous support team behind it.
If you have a Shopify store however, Shoplift may be an easier piece of software to use. It’s native to Shopify, meaning you can make changes to your store within the test editor just like you would on the live theme.
If you are struggling for traffic, then AI A/B testing software such as Squoosh can offer huge reassurance. Yes, I appreciate the irony of telling you to use AI software to validate the findings of an AI audit. But tools like Squoosh are advanced and can be tailored to your specific target audience in a way that accurately predicts the results of an A/B test 81% of the time. Whilst this isn’t 100%, that level of certainty is hard to achieve, even with conventional A/B testing tools.
Reach out to us for support with A/B testing (or auditing)
I may be biased here, but I think the best way for you to utilise AI for the conversion rate optimisation of your site is to hire a conversion rate optimisation agency like Credo. We fully embrace AI and what it can offer, but we have the expertise to filter through the rubbish and only suggest changes backed by real insights into your target audience and data analysis.
We will support you in making the right decision about A/B testing software and guide you through the conversion rate optimisation process, taking into account AI, but steering you away from the pitfalls of relying on it too much.
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Hi, I’m Charlotte. I love writing about user psychology and tips I’ve picked up from leading user research and CRO projects. Get in touch if you’d like to work with me to improve the user experience on your site or click here to learn more about your future CRO team.