Whether you’re A/B testing the subject line of your email newsletter or designing new packaging for your product, running business experiments can give you valuable insight into what your customers prefer. If you never test your new ideas before implementation, you cannot know if the changes you’re making are an improvement.
However, problems arise when we test less. When the C-suite starts getting nervous about strategy effectiveness, the tendency is to put too many moving parts into play. It’s possible to spend so much time, energy, and money on testing that it cancels out whatever additional profit might arise from the test results.
It’s also possible to hide behind testing a business hypothesis to put off making a stressful decision. By continuing to test, we complicate the process and delay the point at which our success or failure will be determined. Eventually, it would be best if you pulled the trigger in situations like this.
The key to successful testing is to develop a process that must be followed every time. Here are a few suggestions for running more effective business experiments:
Are you interested in maximizing the effectiveness of your business experiments and other leadership tactics? Sign up for my email list for weekly articles about leading and operating businesses delivered directly to your inbox.
Coach Dave
One way to jumpstart growth in your business is to reevaluate your key performance indicators…
Who do you listen to in business and life? Are they experts or pretenders? In…
Open-mindedness in business is a crucial trait, yet one that's often lacking. Leaders are praised…
In chess, as in business, the match is usually decided by one wrong move. Once…
How often have you left a meeting and thought, "That could have been an email?"…
In 1998, psychologist Daniel Goldman wrote an article stressing the value of emotional intelligence in…