I just returned from the Online Marketing Summit in San Diego where, among the many sessions, I found myself in a room of over 80 marketers who claimed to be A/B testers. I could believe it if it were a direct marketing conference, but an online marketing conference? Has the world of direct response finally made it's way online in a disciplined and systematic way?


We were all listening to a presentation by the senior director of marketing from TrustedID, Lomit Patel, reporting about his nearly 100% increase in the all important conversion funnel. Assisted by VP of client services from Interwoven, Andrew Eisner, we learned how a multi-variate approach to testing is the next frontier in e-commerce.
Apparently online marketing is growing up in sophistication -- not just in optimizing sites for search or bidding for ad spots on Google -- but in the elements most in the control of marketing, website graphics, copy and offer.
Please help me confirm this trend.