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- All HBS Web
(78)
- News (12)
- Research (44)
- Events (3)
- Multimedia (1)
- Faculty Publications (38)
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- March–April 2020
- Article
Avoid the Pitfalls of A/B Testing
By: Iavor I. Bojinov, Guillaume Sait-Jacques and Martin Tingley
Online experiments measuring whether “A,” usually the current approach, is inferior to “B,” a proposed improvement, have become integral to the product-development cycle, especially at digital enterprises. But often firms make serious mistakes in conducting these... View Details
Keywords: A/B Testing; Experiment Design; Social Networks; Product Development; Performance Improvement; Measurement and Metrics; Social Media
Bojinov, Iavor I., Guillaume Sait-Jacques, and Martin Tingley. "Avoid the Pitfalls of A/B Testing." Harvard Business Review 98, no. 2 (March–April 2020): 48–53.
- 2020
- Working Paper
Digital Experimentation and Startup Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing
By: Rembrand Koning, Sharique Hasan and Aaron Chatterji
Recent work argues that experimentation is the appropriate framework for entrepreneurial strategy. We investigate this proposition by exploiting the time-varying adoption of A/B testing technology, which has drastically reduced the cost of experimentally testing... View Details
Keywords: Experimentation; A/B Testing; Data-driven Decision-making; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Startups; Information Technology; Performance
Koning, Rembrand, Sharique Hasan, and Aaron Chatterji. "Digital Experimentation and Startup Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-018, August 2019. (Revised September 2020. SSRN Working Paper Series, No. 3440291, August 2019)
- September 2022
- Article
Experimentation and Start-up Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing
By: Rembrand Koning, Sharique Hasan and Aaron Chatterji
Recent scholarship has argued that experimentation should be the organizing principle for entrepreneurial strategy. Experimentation leads to organizational learning, which drives improvements in firm performance. We investigate this proposition by exploiting the... View Details
Keywords: Experimentation; A/B Testing; Data-driven Decision-making; Organizational Learning; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Startups; Learning; Performance; Decision Making
Koning, Rembrand, Sharique Hasan, and Aaron Chatterji. "Experimentation and Start-up Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing." Management Science 68, no. 9 (September 2022): 6434–6453.
- September–October 2017
- Article
The Surprising Power of Online Experiments: Getting the Most Out of A/B and Other Controlled Tests
By: Ron Kohavi and Stefan Thomke
In the fast-moving digital world, even experts have a hard time assessing new ideas. Case in point: At Bing, a small headline change an employee proposed was deemed a low priority and shelved for months until one engineer decided to do a quick online controlled... View Details
Kohavi, Ron, and Stefan Thomke. "The Surprising Power of Online Experiments: Getting the Most Out of A/B and Other Controlled Tests." Harvard Business Review 95, no. 5 (September–October 2017): 74–82.
- 11 Jan 2021
- News
Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups
- 10 Dec 2014
- News
Yes, A/B Testing Is Still Necessary
Avoid the Pitfalls of A/B Testing
The use of online A/B testing has spread rapidly in recent years, fueled by the growing appreciation of its value and the relatively low costs and increasing availability of technology needed to conduct them. Today, it is no exaggeration to say that the successful... View Details
- 06 Sep 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Experimentation and Startup Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing
- June 23, 2021
- Article
Research: When A/B Testing Doesn't Tell You the Whole Story
By: Eva Ascarza
When it comes to churn prevention, marketers traditionally start by identifying which customers are most likely to churn, and then running A/B tests to determine whether a proposed retention intervention will be effective at retaining those high-risk customers. While... View Details
Keywords: Customer Retention; Churn; Targeting; Market Research; Marketing; Investment Return; Customers; Retention; Research
Ascarza, Eva. "Research: When A/B Testing Doesn't Tell You the Whole Story." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (June 23, 2021).
- 18 Apr 2023
- News
Why You Should Start A/B Testing Your DEI Initiatives
- 23 Jun 2021
- News
Research: When A/B Testing Doesn’t Tell You the Whole Story
- Article
Online Experimentation: Benefits, Operational and Methodological Challenges, and Scaling Guide
By: Iavor Bojinov and Somit Gupta
In the past decade, online controlled experimentation, or A/B testing, at scale has proved to be a significant driver of business innovation. The practice was first pioneered by the technology sector and, more recently, has been adopted by traditional companies... View Details
Keywords: A/B Testing; Experimentation; Data-driven Culture; Product Development; Innovation and Invention; Digital Transformation
Bojinov, Iavor, and Somit Gupta. "Online Experimentation: Benefits, Operational and Methodological Challenges, and Scaling Guide." Harvard Data Science Review, no. 4.3 (Summer, 2022).
- March 2021
- Supplement
Artea (A), (B), (C), and (D): Designing Targeting Strategies
By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli
Power Point Supplement to Teaching Note for HBS No. 521-021,521-022,521-037,521-043. This collection of exercises aims to teach students about 1)Targeting Policies; and 2)Algorithmic bias in marketing—implications, causes, and possible solutions. Part (A) focuses on... View Details
Keywords: Targeted Advertising; Targeting; Algorithmic Data; Bias; A/B Testing; Experiment; Advertising; Gender; Race; Diversity; Marketing; Customer Relationship Management; Prejudice and Bias; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Technology Industry; United States
- October 2018
- Case
Booking.com
By: Stefan Thomke and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The case reveals how Booking.com has become the world's leading travel accommodation platform. The company has put online experimentation at the heart of how it designs digital experiences for its customers and partners. To unlock the potential of large-scale testing,... View Details
Keywords: Travel; Product Innovation; Experimentation; A/B Testing; User Experience Design; Product Development; Product Design; Innovation and Management; Transformation; Information Technology; Digital Transformation; Travel Industry
Thomke, Stefan, and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "Booking.com." Harvard Business School Case 619-015, October 2018.
- September 2015 (Revised March 2025)
- Technical Note
FIELD Global Capstone: Developing Customer Empathy
By: Jill Avery
The Design Thinking process begins with empathizing with potential customers. Empathizing, being aware of, interpreting, and understanding the thoughts of others, as well as being able to vicariously experience them oneself, requires the careful and deliberate study of... View Details
Keywords: Market Research; Design Thinking; Customer Behavior; Ethnography; Interviews; Surveys; A/B Testing; Experimentation; Marketing; Customer Focus and Relationships; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers
Avery, Jill. "FIELD Global Capstone: Developing Customer Empathy." Harvard Business School Technical Note 316-082, September 2015. (Revised March 2025.)
- 2013
- Book
Managing Startups: Best Blog Posts
By: Tom Eisenmann
Harvard Business School Professor Tom Eisenmann annually compiles the best posts from many blogs on technology startup management, primarily for the benefit of his students. This book makes his latest collection available to the broader entrepreneur community. Divided... View Details
Keywords: Lean Startup; Startup; Prototyping; MVP; Minimum Viable Product; Freemium; SaaS; A/B Testing; Business Model
Eisenmann, Tom, ed. Managing Startups: Best Blog Posts. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2013.
- June 2023
- Simulation
Artea Dashboard and Targeting Policy Evaluation
By: Ayelet Israeli and Eva Ascarza
Companies deploy A/B experiments to gain valuable insights about their customers in order to answer strategic business problems. In marketing, A/B tests are often used to evaluate marketing interventions intended to generate incremental outcomes for the firm. The Artea... View Details
Keywords: Algorithm Bias; Algorithmic Data; Race And Ethnicity; Experimentation; Promotion; Marketing And Society; Big Data; Privacy; Data-driven Management; Data Analysis; Data Analytics; E-Commerce Strategy; Discrimination; Targeted Advertising; Targeted Policies; Pricing Algorithms; A/B Testing; Ethical Decision Making; Customer Base Analysis; Customer Heterogeneity; Coupons; Marketing; Race; Gender; Diversity; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Decision Making; Ethics; E-commerce; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States
- September 2020 (Revised June 2023)
- Exercise
Artea: Designing Targeting Strategies
By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli
This collection of exercises aims to teach students about 1)Targeting Policies; and 2)Algorithmic bias in marketing—implications, causes, and possible solutions. Part (A) focuses on A/B testing analysis and targeting. Parts (B),(C),(D) Introduce algorithmic bias. The... View Details
Keywords: Algorithmic Data; Race And Ethnicity; Experimentation; Promotion; ＂Marketing Analytics＂; Marketing And Society; Big Data; Privacy; Data-driven Management; Data Analytics; Data Analysis; E-Commerce Strategy; Discrimination; Targeted Advertising; Targeted Policies; Targeting; Pricing Algorithms; A/B Testing; Ethical Decision Making; Customer Base Analysis; Customer Heterogeneity; Coupons; Algorithmic Bias; Marketing; Race; Gender; Diversity; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Decision Making; Ethics; E-commerce; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States
Ascarza, Eva, and Ayelet Israeli. "Artea: Designing Targeting Strategies." Harvard Business School Exercise 521-021, September 2020. (Revised June 2023.)
- August 2018 (Revised February 2023)
- Case
Hubble Contact Lenses: Data Driven Direct-to-Consumer Marketing
By: Jill Avery and Ayelet Israeli
As its Series A extension round approaches, the founders of Hubble, a subscription-based, social-media fueled, direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand of contact lenses, are reflecting on the marketing strategies that have taken them to a valuation of $200 million and debating... View Details
Keywords: DTC; Direct To Consumer Marketing; Health Care; Mobile; Attribution; Experimentation; Experiments; Churn/retention; Customer Lifetime Value; Internet Marketing; Big Data; Analytics; A/B Testing; CRM; Advertising; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Media; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Digital Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Acquisition; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Social Media; E-commerce; Analytics and Data Science; Health Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; North America; Europe
Avery, Jill, and Ayelet Israeli. "Hubble Contact Lenses: Data Driven Direct-to-Consumer Marketing." Harvard Business School Case 519-011, August 2018. (Revised February 2023.)