Experiment, Launch, Iterate, Repeat: Why Product Development Is Never Complete

In an era where customers expect more from their interactions with companies than ever before, taking an iterative approach to experimentation can help digital-first leaders and their organizations gain a competitive edge.

Continuous experimentation on all aspects of their product and customer experiences enables companies to constantly shape those experiences based on feedback and real customer behavioral data. To truly take advantage of every business opportunity, you need to always be testing.

Across all industries, organizations making the biggest impact are transforming their experimentation approach and proactively running tests to deliver product experiences that exceed expectations. Take Tripping.com, for example, which tests every new product feature rollout to discover which features will have the greatest positive impact on their customers' experience - and the company's bottom line. In fact, nearly 80% of new feature rollouts are released as experiments first.

Constant Iteration to Meet Customer Needs

Tripping.com is the world's largest search engine for vacation and short-term rentals. In a rapidly evolving vacation rental industry that is approaching the $100 billion mark, an iterative approach to experimentation helps Tripping.com provide visitors with a wide range of unique accommodations around the world. As VP of Products and Analytics, Colin Gardiner views experimentation as an imperative step to discovering what customers want to see on the site and new ways that Tripping.com can improve those customer's experiences.

"Experimentation is an integral part of my role as it is how we innovate," says Gardiner. "We test iteratively to get a constant feedback loop of data on customer experience so we can continually optimize the business to be a better fit for our customer needs."

By approaching product development as one large test, Gardiner and his team are able to use data to quickly develop hypotheses, prioritize tests, and provide visitors with a fast and intuitive search experience. Each new development is a step towards solving a pain point for customers - if a new feature doesn't adequately increase bookings and user experience metrics, the team will iterate until they can find a solution that works best for customers.

Once the team has 'solved' a certain pain point, they can continue to improve the solution or move on to tackling the next problem. With this mindset, the process of product development is not a static, one-time task that needs to be completed, but rather a fluid, ongoing quest to deliver the best experience. Through constant testing, Tripping.com is able to better anticipate needs and make changes that cement its status as the premier meta-search engine.

For organizations looking to rise above the competition and increase agility with an experimentation-led approach, Gardiner suggests erring on the side of testing quickly and rapidly.

"Don't wait, get testing! Time is the most valuable resource we have and when you're not testing, you're not getting results that take time to get."

To learn more about what Tripping.com is accomplishing through ongoing product testing, and discover techniques from other digital disruptors to help you use the scientific method to innovate faster, download Transforming the Customer Experience: A Digital Disruptor's Guide today.