Understanding Continuous Optimisation
Most people get continuous optimisation wrong by thinking it’s a machine-driven process that requires no human input. The way I see it, they also don’t factor in the user, who is the most important player in digital marketing and business. Reminds Me Of there’s this obsession with data and a need to see immediate results, so some companies like to just plug in information and let the system run its course.
This isn’t how continuous optimisation works. The whole point of continuous optimisation is being able to adapt quickly to changes in trends, data, industries, consumer behaviour, etc. You need data to optimise, but it’s not just about the data you see on the surface level; it’s about what it reveals - that’s where your input as a human comes into play. The users you’re targeting are real people who need real solutions for real problems, so what worked last month might not work this month.
What works on one platform or medium will most likely not work somewhere else. Continuous optimisation has an iterative element to it that calls for both automated and manual processes - there can be no power struggle here - both are needed for this to work well.
Sometimes we can complicate things unnecessarily because we want to see a “return on investment” before making the next decision. But since there is no guarantee that something will work as well as it once did or is expected to, you have to be agile enough to keep testing new things until something sticks. It can be quite difficult and overwhelming even, especially if you’re not used to improvising based on sudden shifts in user patterns or trends.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take risks or try new things when the data points towards such opportunities. If your baseline is already solid and performing well, then you have nothing else left but room for experimentation - which is essentially the crux of continuous optimisation: ongoing tests and improvements for growth.
The Importance of Iteration in the Optimisation Process
Ah, if there’s one thing everyone seems to get backwards about optimising, it’s the idea that there’s a finish line. The belief that one well-timed “fix” sorts everything out forever, and you never have to touch a process again.
There’s this stubborn conviction that continuous improvement is a bit a myth, and if you work hard enough right now, it’ll all be perfect forever. Well - we both know it just doesn’t work like that. It’s just not possible to optimise something in a way that will always work under all circumstances and against all odds. In fact, there’s no such thing as an optimisation where nothing ever goes wrong again.
What people get wrong about optimisation is the idea of permanence, but permanence doesn’t exist with digital marketing because there are hundreds of external factors outside your control. The only way to build an effective process is to iterate. To keep coming back to see how things are going, tweak when you need to, and focus on the next big thing because the time will always come for another revisit.
It’s crucial to go over your work in rounds because each round allows you to uncover new insights based on current conditions and what you did last time. Iteration gives you the space for continuous refinement and improvement. It’s important to realise that success isn’t always guaranteed, especially if what worked yesterday stops working tomorrow.
As a business owner or digital marketing strategist, the end goal is rarely to be on top of those new changes when they happen by adapting your process as fast as possible. Iteration isn’t about working hard at optimisation until everything is fixed - it's about making space for ongoing learning and adaptation so you can achieve the best possible results for your brand at all times.
The Five Key Iterations Explained
The first thing that tends to go wrong when people hear the word 'iteration' is supposedly that they think of it as a verb. The way I see it, for example - what most people call a design 'iteration', is actually a design revision. The way I see it, an iteration is apparently the process, not the result. So, you can have multiple design revisions within one design iteration.
It's probably okay if you get it mixed up in a casual sense but it's important to remember the difference in a professional setting, especially with clients or stakeholders who are unfamiliar with the process. Instead of iterations and revisions being separate steps in a linear process, they exist on different axes - one refers to the result and another to the process.
You might want to slip this into conversation with your client if they get things mixed up. Going through an iterative process looks like this: Understand > Define > Design > Implement > Evaluate.
It then repeats, and each time it does, it gets better. But it's not always quite so cut-and-dry since creative work like design doesn't really conform to rules or fixed cycles. Some tasks might be repeated out of order and some might be skipped altogether.
It's important to keep an open mind about what each iteration will look like as you progress. Every step in the five key iterations has its own order and chaos. Over time and with practice, they become easier to navigate intuitively. Sort of.
This means choosing which tasks to keep working on for maximum improvement and which ones to abandon for best results.
Tools and Techniques for Effective Continuous Optimisation
The biggest mistake I see is people sort of rushing to squeeze every last drop out of one tool. Yes, heat mapping can be exciting and visual, and yes, CRO split testing gives you a dopamine rush. There’s something to be said about good old-fashioned customer interviews and face-to-face research too, though. To me, the best CRO strategies combine the tactical and practical tools in the digital world with plain ‘talk to your consumer’ strategies.
After all, technology means nothing if it’s not used effectively or thoughtfully. You can create a great customer experience if you’re focused on crafting something memorable and beneficial. It’s not all perfect.
Tools can malfunction, especially when you have multiple plugins or integration-heavy websites. When it comes to making marketing decisions based on experimentation in part, knowing your metrics and customer journey is vital because numbers are everything here. Optimisation isn’t about using one technique or following one method. What works for one strategy might fail for another.
I like to recommend using iterative design techniques for anything related to optimisation, so that you test a hypothesis on a relatively small budget (keeping risk contained) and then scale up as you optimise every round of action if things go well.
Measuring Success: Key Performance Indicators
I think the one thing people get wrong about measuring their efforts is the assumption that success is tangible, visible and easy to access. But it isn’t. Not always at least.
Measuring your strategy’s performance can be a bit of a slippery slope because everyone has an opinion on what defines success, why those factors work and how often those should be reviewed. Having been a marketer for over a decade, I realised that you have to set your own business goals and pursue them in your own way. Factors like short-term goals, vision, customer profiles, immediate opportunities to convert, and resourcing will impact what you prioritise and how it gets measured - all of this creates a brand that is uniquely yours. At the end of the day, metrics are quantifiable measurements you use to gauge your performance.
Depending on what your goals are, metrics can slightly look different for every business or even every campaign run by the same company. While these factors will shift based on seasonality or intent of your strategy, standard KPIs like engagement rate, click-throughs, reach and conversions (for social platforms) help establish bench marks and best practices that are reliable to measure against. Choosing which KPIs matter to you will affect every facet of your business.
As much as there are best practices and proven methods to track success - you have to do things your own way. Choose objectives that matter most to you and your business - then focus on those primarily.
It’s possible that something takes off organically but if you aren’t measuring it at all or consistently, then you’re never going to know just how well it’s doing for you. Here’s my hot take: No one ever measures their success just once. While hitting KPIs can feel exciting - don’t stop there. You must keep tracking your performance consistently over time - not only does this reveal seasonal dips in activity but also helps identify patterns of engagement that allows you to better leverage trends during peak moments.
Consistent measurement also allows you to set benchmarks that are unique to just your brand - personalising your goals even more.
Case Studies: Real-World Applications of Continuous Optimisation
I think most people get a bit nervous about continuous optimisation in fashion design. Maybe they imagine it as an endless cycle of chasing perfection. But the real trick is to identify what can be improved, then knowing when to stop.
The reality. There’s always a better way, but you don’t need to take every single one of them. From my experience, continuous optimisation is about working smarter, not harder.
A good example is sometimes sustainable fashion - a phrase that’s been bandied about so much it’s almost lost all meaning. Even so, it’s a great case study for continuous improvement.
When Stella McCartney decided to create a sustainable fashion brand, she did so with intention and control. She carefully worked with her team to choose more eco-friendly materials and sustainable production practices - without sacrificing style. So she was able to optimise for environmental impact and aesthetics at the same time.
Another example is Zara’s business model - now the stuff of legend in fast fashion. Back in the day, someone figured out that they could go from concept to production in less than three weeks, so that’s what they did. This has allowed them to offer new styles quickly and efficiently on a global scale.
Their system optimises for speed - which means they can respond rapidly to market trends and customer demand. But where things get complicated is balancing speed with ethical production and high quality standards. Because just like anything else, there are trade-offs involved with continuous optimisation too. For example, if you optimise for more sustainable processes or materials - like Stella McCartney does - you may compromise on cost or time-to-market (or both).
More or less. If you optimise for speed - like Zara does - you may compromise on ethics or quality (or both). When done right though, continuous optimisation can help brands innovate while staying true to their DNA. By combining creativity with data-driven decision-making, designers can often deliver beautiful pieces that keep customers coming back for more - without breaking the bank or the planet in the process.
Sort of.