As many of you know, the biggest area of feedback about the Webtrends Optimize product has been how the UI could be friendlier and more usable. Both to users in managing their day-to-day, in feeling "fresh" so it's a nicer product to sell into brands, and being more usable by non-developers. All fair criticisms, especially given the depth of what you can achieve in the product. Addressing this has been the focus of the past quarter and will be the focus for the next 12 months. Instead of our usual broad overview, we will explore this topic in depth as part of this blog.
For customers who opted in to helping us following a survey in the UI, we've had our feedback this quarter and development has been well underway. We can now share with you what the release plan looks like, screenshots of the new interface, and how you can get involved if you'd like to.
This new interface will be the seventh generation of interface for the Optimize product, and we're very thankful to customers who've been around for long enough to have seen our previous incarnations!
Release Plan
We will be releasing parts of the new platform to Beta customers as and when it's ready, with a dual login suggested so you can easily hop in and out of the new interface without it affecting your day-to-day. This is optional, on request, and intended for customers and partners who have the time and are happy to provide feedback on what they're seeing (additional to any interviews). Meaning they can continue to steer us in the right direction.
Phase 1: In QA
This includes a new login, a new app-wide navigation bar, a brand new "overview" dashboard, and a redesigned Experiences List screen. This is in QA, and so we hope it to be ready to preview imminently.
Phase 2: In Dev
This includes an overhauled reporting interface, including all screens for AB/ABn, Split, Target, Baselines and MVTs. This is currently in dev, with significant work done, and so expected to enter QA once Phase 1 goes live.
Phase 3: In Planning
This includes a rework of both editors - the Visual Editor / WYSIWYG and the Advanced Editor. The WYSIWYG will be a reimagining of how that whole mechanism should work, building it in a way that is more accommodating to websites with cookies that are poorly set, those that have problems loading in iframes, those in difficult gated journeys, etc.
Phase 4: TBC
This will be us migrating over the rest of the application. Given how big the interface is, this will be a long-running thread as we work through an area at a time and migrate it to the new look-and-feel.
How you can get involved
If you would like to see the Beta UI and contribute feedback, just drop us a note through Support channels, and we'll include you in the Beta user group. All feedback will come through the Support ticket mechanism, allowing you to share thoughts, screenshots, etc.
