What’s Now? Chapter 7 – Google Uses A/B Testing to Compare Ad Length

One example of the experimental method discussed in chapter 7 is an A/B test. You can read about a real-life example of this in “Google Tested 3 Versions of This Honey Maid Ad to See Which Worked Best Online” (Adweek, April 13, 2016). Google compared :15, :30, and 2:17 versions of an ad for Honey Maid.

After reading the article, figure out how the ad follows each stage of the book’s “five-step scientific approach to the marketing research process” (see Exhibit 7-3). Provide answers to these questions: 1) What is the problem? 2) What are some examples of a situation analysis that Google might conduct (go beyond the article)? 3) How do they get problem specific data? 4) Interpret the data? Do you feel it has validity? Why? And 5) How do you solve the problem?