To be more scientific, marketers should learn and use the scientific method. It's not enough to have a beaker in your logo. This is a short overview of how to keep the scientific method in mind when approaching marketing and business problems.
High-level presentation given to the Houston Interactive Marketing Association (HIMA) on February 12, 2015.
13. is my website effective?
vs.
nverting newsletter signups at the be
ASK BETTER QUESTIONS
14. what if i change the location of the
signup button?
what if i change the text above the
signup button?
what if i change the color of the
signup button?
what if i write a blog that targets a
new audience?
what if i change the size of the
signup button?
what if i require less information for
the user to signup?
nverting newsletter signups at the be
what if i call it a weekly update
instead of a newsletter?
what if i add a time-based offer?
22. things to think about TODAY
asking the right questions?
pushing back on bad advice?
23. things to think about TODAY
asking the right questions?
pushing back on bad advice?
measuring everything that’s important?
24. things to think about TODAY
asking the right questions?
pushing back on bad advice?
measuring everything that’s important?
being true to the scientific method?
25. things to think about TODAY
asking the right questions?
pushing back on bad advice?
measuring everything that’s important?
being true to the scientific method?
drawing conclusions too fast?
26. things to think about TODAY
asking the right questions?
pushing back on bad advice?
measuring everything that’s important?
being true to the scientific method?
drawing conclusions too fast?
28. Google Logo: http://www.google.com
Mad Men Logo: http://cdn3.artofthetitle.com/assets/resized/sm/upload/pt/c7/fd/9c/mm_end_frame-0-1280-0-1024.jpg
Google Labs: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XjmnXeUCjaM/TViuo2UzH-I/AAAAAAAAFIs/AUku7ZItMpA/s1600/Google+Labs.png
Labs images: various
Dog Meme: http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/234/739/fa5.jpg
Question everything: http://trainingandstirring.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/keep-calm-and-question-everything-3.png
Optimizely: http://www.optimizely.com - 2/10/15
Yahoo!: http://www.yahoo.com - 2/10/15
AOL screen: http://www.mikerichardson.name/oldaol/MainMenu.png
Nailed It: http://craftfail.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/cookie-monster-cupcakes-nailed-it.jpg
Jumps to conclusions: http://memeshare.net/memes/11/10818.png
M&M pic #1: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Plain-M%26Ms-Pile.jpg
M&M pic #2: ME
Image Credits
THANK YOU!
JEFF REICHMAN
@fileunderjeff
Hinweis der Redaktion
Largest ad agency in the world.
96% comes from ad revenues.
$45 billion dollars last year. (~$43 billion from ads)
Not Don Draper
Not Madison Avenue
Not intuitive, gut feelings
Not flashes of creative insight in the moment
Data driven. Experimental. Sciencey.
Gmail was in beta from 2004 to 2009.
Google builds products to sell ads. They do it like scientists. That’s why they are the most successful ad agency in the history of the world.
And their influence is profound.
A lot of non-scientists like to see themselves as scientists.
To be a scientist, you need to follow the scientific method. You don’t need a degree. We have citizen scientists, we have DIY scientists.
Also helps to have a beaker in your logo. Wine, coffee, weed. Owls.
There’s nothing stopping you.
Scientific method are guidelines, not a machine
Constantly optimize
Use what you learn to create better questions
Don’t draw conclusions too quickly
Test test test
Inquiry begins with curiosity.
Questions can be broad or narrow, depending on what you want to discover.
They guide the rest of your work.
Asking the right questions is the most critical part of the process, since it has a huge effect on the outcome.
Website example: optimizely. what they do. why this page rocks.
We ask our clients,“what is the one action you want your website visitors to take?”
buy a product? donate money? sign up to your newsletter? etc.
Forces them down a path to ask, “what are we optimizing for?”
Yahoo website today. What is going on here? Unclear. Testing is complicated.
Design by committee.
Design by edict.
Looks like shit.
not much better than this
20 years old
we haven’t come very far
questions can be too general and useless
get specific. it sets you up for testing
good questions lead to more questions.
gets increasingly tactical.
sets you up for a testing plan.
hypothesis should be a statement, not a question.
take a position that is either proven or disproven.
no room to be wishy-washy.
you can be wrong.
definitive statement.
we’re moving something.
what we’re moving.
where it’s going.
what it will achieve.
only three potential outcomes: signups go up, signups go down, signups don’t change.
sometimes i feel like this when i’m testing.
but it’s ok. i’m trying.
it’s easy to get discouraged.
sometimes bad results are exactly what you need to see.
let’s talk about m&ms.
m&ms are the best. delicious. come in all different colors.
but which m&ms are the strongest? what if you need to prop up a wobbly table?
the M&M strength test will tell you.
two m&Ms go head to head.
what color is strongest? brown and red are tougher. blue ones are weak.
over the course of several hundred M&Ms, you can start to draw conclusions.
this is a classic example of an a/b test. aka multivariate test
you might already be familiar with them, but let me stress their importance.
refines testing, isolates differences, usually has a meaningful result
am i asking the right questions?
am i pushing back on bad advice from my boss?
am i measuring everything that’s important?
am i being true to the scientific method in my inquiry?
am i drawing conclusions too fast?
am i asking the right questions?
am i pushing back on bad advice from my boss?
am i measuring everything that’s important?
am i being true to the scientific method in my inquiry?
am i drawing conclusions too fast?
am i asking the right questions?
am i pushing back on bad advice from my boss?
am i measuring everything that’s important?
am i being true to the scientific method in my inquiry?
am i drawing conclusions too fast?
am i asking the right questions?
am i pushing back on bad advice from my boss?
am i measuring everything that’s important?
am i being true to the scientific method in my inquiry?
am i drawing conclusions too fast?
am i asking the right questions?
am i pushing back on bad advice from my boss?
am i measuring everything that’s important?
am i being true to the scientific method in my inquiry?
am i drawing conclusions too fast?
moving a button around and changing copy isn’t a very exciting presentation
here are some tools you can check out.