This month's podcast guest is Justin Hobbs, Vice President of Partnership and Demand at Webtrends Optimize. He discusses his role and why he is passionate about partnerships, and how they help businesses to grow. He says, 'They lend themselves brilliantly to the partner model, there is so much value added to take to a client.' As well as expanding your offerings, partnerships can also take you into different markets, territories and geographical regions, introduce you to new clients, provide marketing opportunities, and more! So the benefits for both sides are endless. But, as Justin points out, this is particularly key at a time when so many businesses and agencies are looking for a new experimentation partner to replace Google Optimize.

This week's podcast guest is Shiva Manjunath, Experimentation Manager at Solo Brands. Shiva is passionate about CRO, and is one of the most enthusiastic CRO experts we've had. He says part of his love for it is down to the mystery of experimentation; when you test with live people, you never quite know what the result will be. Shiva also describes the appeal of CRO to most people in the industry, saying 'I think all of us are generally just curious people who all want to continue to learn. I just find it incredibly fascinating.' The idea of testing to learn and not just testing to win is also explored, focusing on the importance of the process to ultimately get the most effective results

Eden Bidani, Head of Strategy and Copy at CAPE Agency, is this week’s #thebiglift podcast guest. Eden talks about her background in sociology and anthropology, and how this first piqued her interest in building a connection through marketing and sales. She says, ‘I think what a lot of people in the industry will emphasise is that marketers need to understand psychology; how we respond to different triggers and how you can position products to appeal to people more.’ Therefore, you need to understand how consumers feel and what they need, to then market to them effectively. Eden also discusses how ChatGPT can be a useful tool for marketing teams or content writers, particularly to generate some idea’s or use it to brainstorm, but you still must know how use it to get the most out of it.

This week’s podcast guest is Matt Turner, CEO at The Creative Group. Over the last 16 years, Matt has developed an organisation of 6 companies, all based around different aspects of marketing which compliment each other.
Matt discusses his view that motivation is a team thing, and each member has a different part to play, so they all need to be treated differently and with their own motivations in mind. He says, ‘Some people are motivated by money, some by freedom, some by recognition… and it’s really important to remember everyone needs to know their own end goal and what that direction looks like. But also, everyone needs to be rowing at the same speed, even if that means some people row slower.’

Matt Smith has been CEO of Webtrends Optimize for 4 and a half years now, and a lot of this time has been dictated by Covid and an economic crisis. But, he argues that the future of CRO is bright, as more and more businesses move online. The key is driving users to your site and getting them to convert. He says, ‘‘A lot of people don't realise that just having a website from Shopify or somewhere similar isn't the best for actually converting. You need to look at data, understand user data and then optimise that experience.''

Is customer experience still a priority in the current economic climate? This is the topic we cover today on #theBigLift podcast. We interview Tim Williams, Planning Director at London based agency Four Forty, which focuses on customer-focused behavioural change. Tim explains that an important part of his job is to help brands improve customer experience both in digital and in real world.
"The customers are messy and not linear" says Tim, "and we should not forget that we do not only operate in the online world, but dip in and out of it many times a day".

"Accepting being open to the outcome of the experiment is the essence of experimentation",  says Nils Koppelman, the founder of Berlin-based 3tech GmbH in our latest #theBigLift podcast.Nils, who made the journey from designing e-commerce websites for friends and family to setting up his own CRO agency, shares with us his thoughts on experimentation, the state of CRO in Germany and why the adoption of experimentation is somewhat slow in his home country in comparison with other markets.

When it comes to understanding the pain points of the customer journey, Contentsquare offers businesses easy to understand, and actionable, data at a very granular level.

My guest on #theBigLift podcast today, James Fearne, Lead Customer Success Manager at Contentsquare, talks about how analytics and data can support conversion optimisation in setting up the priorities for a CRO program, and formulating strong hypotheses. Moreover, granular data can help CRO practitioners to understand the drivers behind the test results and sometimes get an even bigger uplift.

Having taught UX at Arts University Bournemouth George Beverley  at Insightful UX offers a unique perspective on  UX, copy-writing, web-development and data analysis."The most important element of a great website is the ability to welcome and engage a user within the first few seconds. We have to respect the time of our visitors and give them what they want really quickly", says George.

“The transition to GA4 is like moving from driving a car to flying a helicopter", says Jill Quick, a hugely experienced analytics consultant who runs The Colouring in Department. #theBigLift podcast invites Jill today to have an in-depth conversation on how the move to GA4 can redefine the way businesses collect and use data. While the transition period may be demanding, those who get to grips with GA4 quickly will benefit from an opportunity to get new insights with actionable data. Using more sophisticated segment and audience building tools in GA4 will also help businesses to define strategies and measures that can give companies a new angle for growth.

"Every form is different and it all depends on the objective you are looking to achieve" says the latest guest on #theBigLift podcast, Alun Lucas, Managing Director of Zuko Analytics.  Who suffers the most from badly designed forms and what businesses can do to improve forms conversions were just some of the questions we discussed. Alun offers plenty of insight and helpful advice on forms in broad range of industries, both B2B and B2C. A highly recommended episode full of practical tips to anyone who is involved in UX, marketing, customer services and conversion rate optimisation.

"You cannot grow the brand without hitting short-term targets", says James Addlestone, Chief Strategy Officer at Journey Further, the guest of #theBigLift podcast today.

Recognition for individuals happens in many industries. In recent weeks we have celebrated the achievements of those in the film and TV Industry. However, there is little or no recognition for those individuals that work tirelessly inside of companies, large and small who make significant impact on the way that that those company websites deliver increased conversions.

Join Joe Doveton, organiser of the Experimentation Elite Day and the Experimentation Elite Awards who explains why it’s now time to highlight testing and to recognise those who quietly make an impact. 

In this full version of the podcast, Joe also talks about how he believes that testing is still to reach maturity across all industries and why it’s still a long way off being a commoditised solution.

"Crafting a hypothesis and knowing what data points would confirm or deny it" lies at the core of optimisation says @AJ Davies, founder of @Experiment Zone, our guest on #theBigLift podcast today. AJ was part Google Optimize product launch team and has a real passion for data, optimisation and user experience. Her track record, coupled with a background in research and economics puts her in a unique position to talk about understanding data, coming up with hypotheses and setting up experiments that can give stakeholders the confidence to make informed decisions.

Every single project we do starts with question "Why have you not made a purchase today?", says Ross Davies MD at Strafe Creative, the guest of this month's episode of #theBigLift podcast.Our conversation touched on some compelling topics from how you can overcome low traffic and the diverse user journeys conundrum when working with B2B clients, to why working with start ups is fun and how to convince people to invest into CRO when the budgets are tight.

#TheBigLift podcast starts the new year with an in depth interview with Andrew Furlong, Managing Director of REO Digital and one of the most experienced CRO practitioners out there. 

Andrew believes that conversion rate optimisation has massive potential in maximising acquisition spent and driving greater life time value from existing customers; but that as an industry it can sharpen the way it engages business stakeholders in demonstrating the quantifiable value of an experimentation programme.

Today #theBigLift podcasts welcomes @Chloe Thomas, international keynote speaker, author and the host of the eCommerce MasterPlan and Keep Optimising podcasts. Having had vast experience of both traditional and online marketing, Chloe is unambiguously passionate about marketing delivering sales. She advocates that successful marketing relies on quality traffic, understanding conversions in different marketing channels and getting your visitors to transition from viewers to repeat buyers.

Join us for a fascinating conversation with Ben Parr, the founder of Octane AI about doing business in a world without third party cookies, on #theBigLift podcast. Ben firmly believes that the demise of third party cookies will massively change the way eCommerce players do their business. With the focus having to change from acquisition to optimisation: "If you want to grow and prosper, strengthen the channels you own such as e-mail and SMS, and optimise your funnel". We could not agree with him more! 

Is Conversion Rate Optimisation essential to eCommerce? This is the question posed to Matt Abbott, Head of Growth, and Samantha Fraser, Digital Strategy Manager, at Swanky.In the latest edition of #TheBigLift podcast they aim to answer this, plus, discuss how important it still is to know your customer and where to find them, how delivering great customer experience drives growth, and how societal shifts as much as the pandemic have accelerated the drive towards online retail.

"The value of experimentation is that it fuels innovations." says Jonny Longden, the head of of CRO at @Journey Further, who has joined us at #theBigLift podcast today.Jonny shares his vision about what conversion rate optimisation can bring to businesses, and it's not just about the focus on ROI and successful tests. Jonny is confident that using the real customer data you get during experimentation will allow you to transform your business and ultimately make it more profitable in the long run.

Chris Kennedy, Services Director here at Webtrends Optimize has a passion for the truth. Since studying Mathematics for Decision Making at university, Chris has always used analytical analysis to determine what he believes is an accurate representation of the truth which stands up to close scrutiny. 

The well known saying there are “lies, damned lies, and statistics” is often quoted as many see different versions of the truth, but during this podcast we discuss how using web statistics and CRO results can facilitate a single version of the truth that can be recognised across the company.

A complex digital marketing landscape gave rise to the concept of "T-shaped marketer" and has changed collaboration between teams, client and agencies. This is the theme we discuss today on #theBigLift podcast with Kerry O'Brien (who now runs her own marketing consultancy, KOKO) and Nicki Moody (Project Management Director @Fresh Egg Digital Marketing Agency). Our guests met each other when they worked for the Thomas Cook Group a few years ago and then both took a turn in their careers to focus on digital marketing from the agency side. Tune in to listen to their intriguing discussion about real life challenges marketers face today.

"You should get more comfortable with failing in CRO" says today's guest of #theBigLift podcast, Veronica Bogdacenco, Digital Marketing Specialist. Veronica,  who is also a trainer in digital optimisation, advocates a holistic view on conversion rate optimisation, which should not come to the detriment of the performance of the site, its SEO or long term customer retention.  We love how Veronica gently emphasised the importance of failing and that every effort in optimisation brings us close to understanding our customers. Tune in to listen the full episode on all major podcast platforms.

In the latest episode of #theBigLift podcast we discuss the hot topic of how Google's decision to remove third party cookies from Chrome will influence the advertising market and the public with @Simon Short, Digital and Media Director @Huawei and @Sandeep Shah, Product Director at Webtrends Optimize. Whilst the move is likely to benefit Google itself, advertisers will need to change the way they engage with their potential customers and it will result in reshaping of the advertising market.