The Importance of Testing

Our Leadership Team read an article out of Harvard Business Review recently called How to Design Smart Business Experiments. (This link takes you to the right page but you'll have to wait a few weeks for the February issue to come out...)

The crux of the article can be summarized in the question, "Do lobster tanks increase lobster sales at Food Lion supermarkets?"

The article challenged the grocery store manager who might ask this question to quit wondering. There are tests that can be done in controlled environments to answer that question once and for all.

We have our own version of these questions:
- Does series length affect attendance?
- Do video announcements decrease the number of first time guest information cards we get back?
- Does the placement of our "Information Kiosk" in the lobby affect the number of people who get connected?

I'm sure you've got your own questions:
- Is "time out" more effective than spanking for my rambunctious 20 month old?
- Would I spend less if I stopped using a credit card?
- Does my spouse (kids, friends etc...) want more time or better time?

In agreement with the guys who wrote the article, go ahead and design an experiment and find out. Put the credit card in a drawer for a month and check this month's spending with last month's. You may feel like you don't have the time or energy to figure it out, but I would say you don't have the time NOT to.