I continue to see the propagation of one of the worst myths in our industry. The way to get more value from your testing program is to run more tests. That is just lazy speak for spend more money with us or give me more money if you want real results. That is a sign that you haven’t spent the time to learn how to test, and are just propagating the myths of the industry and using it to make yourself look good.

The key is to be efficient and to design your tests in a way to insure that you CAN NOT HAVE A FAILURE. I am dead serious that I can say that I have not run a test in 2+ years now that has failed to deliver both insight and meaningful actionable results that make money. In almost all cases, it took doing things that took LESS resources then what the people I was working with wanted to do. It is not magic, it is hard work, constantly finding better ways, challenging assumptions and doing everything I can every day to prove myself wrong and to find a better way. This is not about me, I have shown many people that care how to do the same, and some of them have gone on to make what I was doing at the time look foolish. I love those moments and appreciate every time they happen.

Its only when you are lazy and doing “better” testing that it is even possible to have a failed test. If you are not seeing value, change how you do things, don’t just keep throwing more resources at it until you find a story to tell your boss. So many people are afraid to challenge the thoughts of others, or to find out how wrong they are, and because of that, they just use whatever tool is fashionable to keep doing what they were already doing. If that is what you are doing, then it doesn’t matter if you do get positive lift, you are still losing almost all your money. It is not about the number of actions, but the value of the action. Doing more low value things is just throwing away money. The entire point is to figure out efficiency and to put resources in the most efficient way possible. Actions are not random, and just blaming others and resources is not the answer.

Fix what you are doing. Learn, get better, learn what about the system and stop trying to force it into some preconceived notion. You may get more if you have more time/resources, but that is not an excuse for not using what you have in the most efficient way possible. Stop making excuses, stop looking for outside reasons for your failures.

Your success and failure comes from the actions you choose or don’t choose to do. It isn’t magic, it isn’t a great conspiracy from others against you. It is your actions that get results. Stop trying to do more with more, do more with less or the same and you will find much better resources.