Milestone: WhichTestWon Publishes its 300th A/B Testing Case Study and 5,634th Reader Comment

This morning at 8:45am, WhichTestWon published its 300th Case Study on A/B testing.  As always, we included creative samples and real-life test results :-).

No, it wasn't easy.  Contrary to what many people seem to think, companies like Avis and Yahoo! don't just hand over Case Studies tied up in a bow for us to post on our site.  First our editors do a lot of research and networking to figure out who's actually conducting interesting tests. Then, they use all their powers of persuasion to beg, plead, and wheedle creative samples, results data, and most importantly, permission to write a story about the test.

It can be a tough sell.  It's scary to hand over your data and 'secret sauce' to be revealed in public.  Every single marketer, web analytics pro and usability expert who has allowed their data to be shared at WhichTestWon is a hero to the community.  They took a professional risk for the greater good of all.  

Lastly, actually writing Case Studies can be tough.  At most, we have space for about 200 words -- compare that to MarketingSherpa where stories routinely ran 1,200+!  Getting the technical details right is also a challenge, often involving hours of review, statistical analysis, emails and phone calls.  Yes, we go through this process even on the rare occasions when a source hands us a pre-written story because we have to be sure every detail is clear and correct.  We redo the math, re-examine the creative samples, query the testing strategy and process used, and rewrite the story to fit our criteria.

I've been incredibly lucky in having a strong editorial team to make our Case Study Library possible -- Natalie Myers Tomasso, Lisa Seaman, and Justin Rondeau all went above and beyond. 

We've also received significant support from the testing services and testing community, including 42 testing tech companies and 115 conversion optimization agencies and consultancies. Everyone has recognized that a rising tide floats all our boats.

Thousands of readers have also contributed their insights to make each Case Study far more valuable -- we've published 5,634 reader notes and comments so far!   

Back when we launched in mid-2009, fewer than 35% of companies marketing or publishing online had conducted a test or scientifically improved their conversion optimization in the prior 12 months.  Our goal then, as it is today, was to double that number. We're on our way....

BTW: If you'd like to see all 300 Case Studies, here's a link to WhichTestWon's complete library.

Why We Sold Subscription Site Insider to InfoCommerce Group

Today we formally announced the sale of our Subscription Site Insider publication line, encompassing a membership site, daily news site, annual Summit and a line of benchmark reports, all focused on the paid online content industry.

Editor Minal Bopaiah will continue with the publication.  And, the new owners, InfoCommerce Group, intend to continue publishing just as before... only better because the information industry is their sole focus.
  
We decided to sell the title because although we're in the information industry, it's not our sole focus as a publisher.  When I founded this company in 2009, my business plan was built as a reaction to my feelings about my last company, MarketingSherpa which focused on one single topic -- marketing.  After nearly a decade, publishing on just one topic, no matter how broad, had felt like a straight-jacket.

My new company, I swore, would be diversified.  We would publish in a whole bunch of different niches!

And so we did.  We were incredibly lucky that all three of the niches we chose to publish in (paid content, conversion optimization, and medical marijuana) took off like gangbusters, especially in the last year.  I found myself leading the editorial and marketing for not one but three rocket ships.  But there came the rub.  If you're not focused, your attention is continually fractured.

Each of our publication lines felt a bit like the red-headed step-child.  Everyone here was racing faster and faster, but we always felt like we were behind.

During our company strategy meetings this fall, we decided our internal theme for 2013 would be, "Go big or go home."  Maybe a larger company can 'go big' with multiple product lines serving very different industries, but with just 10 people on the team here, we couldn't.  We had to take something off our plate.

We chose to divest of Subscription Site Insider in particular because we ourselves are customers.  The information it publishes is critical to our business.  As a customer, I didn't have the objectivity to be able to do a really great job of leading it for all the other companies who rely on it. 

We selected the publication's new home, InfoCommerce Group, in large part because I've known the principals there for more than a decade.  Back in the mid-1990s, Megan St. John and I worked for the same company, then Phillips Business Information; in fact our offices were two doors down from each other.  In the early 2000s, Russell Perkins was one of the speakers I invited to present at MarketingSherpa summits on content marketing.  And, this year, we partnered with InfoCommerce Group to produce Subscription Site Insider's Retention Handbook.

Today, I'm feeling much more secure about the future of my company and the publication we divested. Now they both have a stronger chance to do well in the future.

Will we ever publish in a third niche again?  Possibly.  But, we'd have to be a lot bigger.  I now know my eyes can be too big for my stomach.  So, I'll try to guard against it.