How Do You Build a Culture of Experimentation in Your Company?

Marketing and analytics are constantly churning out new buzzwords: big data, AI, omnichannel… the real test, though, is whether these approaches boost profit or cut costs.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗻: If you want to prioritize economic impact, you can sweep away buzzwords by committing to a hypothesis-driven framework.

1. 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗮 𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲
↳ “By personalizing our email campaigns based on purchase history, we’ll increase average order value by 15%.”

2. 𝗥𝘂𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁
↳ Split your audience so only one segment receives the personalized offer.

3. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀
↳ Measure how much incremental revenue came from the personalized group. Subtract campaign costs to see the net lift.

4. Your hypothesis was valid? 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝘁. Your hypothesis was off? 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 and test the next one.

If you do this consistently, you build a track record of delivering real business value in a methodical way. Prove that a marketing initiative makes more money than it costs, and you’ll earn your stakeholders’ trust for future bold initiatives (e.g. brand-building).
This value-driven approach forces your team to think critically about every marketing dollar and embrace innovation. If a new idea isn’t moving the needle, you’ll know right away and can pivot without wasting resources.

Everyone says they want to test, but the real obstacle is the very first step: there’s no culture of turning opinions or “gut feelings” into formal hypotheses. The experimentation mindset is the cornerstone of modern marketing, but many managers still don’t embrace it, creating a suboptimal culture in their departments.

How do you build a culture of experimentation in your company? It’s quite simple: you promote the ones who work like that. Companies that don’t elevate hypothesis-driven marketers into leadership roles are routinely left in the dust by competitors that do.

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Image: La Forme Blanche (1939), Wassily Kandinsky