How organizations—including Google StubHub Airbnb and Facebook—learn from experiments in a
data-driven world. Have you logged into Facebook recently? Searched for something on Google?
Chosen a movie on Netflix? If so you've probably been an unwitting participant in a variety of
experiments—also known as randomized controlled trials—designed to test the impact of different
online experiences. Once an esoteric tool for academic research the randomized controlled
trial has gone mainstream. No tech company worth its salt (or its share price) would dare make
major changes to its platform without first running experiments to understand how they would
influence user behavior. In this book Michael Luca and Max Bazerman explain the importance of
experiments for decision making in a data-driven world. Luca and Bazerman describe the central
role experiments play in the tech sector drawing lessons and best practices from the
experiences of such companies as StubHub Alibaba and Uber. Successful experiments can save
companies money—eBay for example discovered how to cut $50 million from its yearly
advertising budget—or bring to light something previously ignored as when Airbnb was forced to
confront rampant discrimination by its hosts. Moving beyond tech Luca and Bazerman consider
experimenting for the social good—different ways that govenments are using experiments to
influence or nudge” behavior ranging from voter apathy to school absenteeism. Experiments they
argue are part of any leader's toolkit. With this book readers can become part of the
experimental revolution.”
