The Art & Science of Standing Out in a Saturated Market

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Webinar FAQs

• Craig Battin, Head of Growth Marketing @ Earnest• Focus on optimization, acquisition, pricing, and

CRM• Quantitative banking background translated into

career in Growth

Meet our speakers:

• Josephine Foucher, Product Manager @Hotwire

• Specialized in optimization• Background in analytics and data science

Agenda

• Panel Discussion • Optimization program at Earnest & Hotwire• Tip and best practices for how to leverage

data to stand out in a saturated market

What does standing out in a saturated market mean to you?

● Saturation = heavy competition

● Perceived lack of differentiation in consumer financial services

● Standing out: Doing things differently requires excellence across design, product, marketing, customer support

● Travel is a highly competitive market and the industry is constantly being disrupted

● Leniency is the biggest threat

● To survive, we need to be laser focus on our customers, bold, and data driven

What are your priorities?

● Strengthen feedback loop● Increase testing velocity as

business expands in complexity● Better communicate to clients

how financial products work and what they mean for overall financial health

● Customer post-booking satisfaction is our #1 KPI

● Test and learn is a way to get there, with targets in terms of velocity, learn rate and conversion lifts

● The goal is to acquire loyal customers

How does data influence your approach?

Data is at Earnest’s core, and we start by listening intently to what it tells us

● Data > opinions when improving product

● Granular data and and should inform client experience you provide

● Always expanding data gathering to understand more about clients

We use data for everything● Dashboards and reports to

know how we are doing● Business cases for any

large initiative● Test into every feature

release

What tips can you provide people to better leverage data?

● Get aligned on listening to your data, even when it tells you things you don’t want to hear

● Ownership within the org: who is the neutral arbiter of all things data-related?

● Arrive at cross-functional understanding on how the organization will meld quantitative data + qualitative feedback

Don’t get analysis paralysis, if you don’t have anything, start with:

● bounce analysis● fallout reports● error reports

Reports tell you what is happening, talking to customers tells you why

EarnestHow are you leveraging

optimization to stand out in a saturated market?

From 30,000 feet...We use data science to understand people at an individual level and partner with them on their journey to achieving life’s milestonesThree key ingredients:

• Technology• Design• Client Services

Testing informs what technology we build, how we design our products, and it helps us arrive at answers around what clients want faster than “wait and see”Level of personalization within Earnest products requires a massive amount of testing and this feedback loop is core to Earnest and big differentiator for us

Understanding how much information customers want Hypothesis: Removing a list of loan rates will increase application completions.

Variation: Removed loan terms Control

10% increase to application

start

Helping customers make decisions at the right time

Variation: Simple rates Control

Hypothesis: Removing slider tool will limit the number of options clients consider at this stage, reducing confusion/overload and improving conversion.

Winner

Living the customer experienceHypothesis: By allowing users to ‘start rate-check process’ through entering their email on mobile, then following up via email retargeting, we will be able to capture incremental QS on desktop.

Control Variation~7-10%

lift

Gauging sensitivity around personal informationHypothesis: By allowing users to get a rate estimate without entering their Social Security Number, we believe conversion to getting an estimate will increase significantly

Control Variation: No SSN-8% :(

Tips• Open up the experiment ideas funnel and be

sure to include those who interface with clients the most

• Throughput, throughput, throughput• Don’t be afraid to push boundaries• Don’t limit your thinking to online-only

experience

HotwireHow are you leveraging

optimization to stand out in a saturated market?

Get continuous feedback

• User surveys• Pain points from

Customer operations

The Best Ideas Address a Customer Need

For new features, get inputs early

• Field surveys• In house labs• Usertesting.com

We implemented a survey on the confirmation in addition to the email

• Tripled feedback submission• Post-booking satisfaction score added to company KPI

Aim for satisfaction not just conversion

Win in hotel names after listening to customers in labsHypothesis: By changing our Hot Rate Hotel naming convention to

include Star Rating, users will remember hotel names more easily and conversion will increase.

Control Variation Winner!

Be Bold

What does Bold Mean for Testing?

Control Search hotels Horizontal “good trip”

Hypothesis: by changing the call to action to “search hotels”, the prompt will be more action driven and users will quote more

Hypothesis: by changing the picture, copy and layout of the fare finder, we will provide users with a fresh search experience and increase quote rate

LoserInconclusive

Celebrate insights not just customers

Control Horizontal “good trip” Horizontal save 60%

Hypothesis: by changing the picture, copy and layout of the fare finder, we will provide users with a fresh search experience and increase quote rate

Hypothesis: by changing the fare finder from vertical to horizontal, users will find it easier to fill the form and quote will increase

WinnerLoser

Give permission to fail to allow great discoveries

Identify your hypothesis, and validate before you invest

• Highlight what you are proposing• Outline your success metrics• State your reasoning

IF…THEN…BECAUSE...

Bad Example:“Let’s test a different book button colour.”

Good Example:“If we structure the details page in a more digestible way then we can increase GPPQ because customer will find relevant info more easily”

Break up big features into smaller tests to validate user need

Product challenge: Speed• Fast access is a big customer priority, but investing in speed is very expensive• Before rebuilding our APIs, test the value of better perceived speed

Hypothesis: customers care about page load speed, by reducing the page load perceived speed we will reduce customer frustration and increase conversion.

WinnerControl Variation

Q&A

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