Move forward: The A/B testing mindset guide

A robust testing platform is a must, but you will not get far without the right mindset. The world of A/B testing is brutal. Everything is exposed, and the stats speak for themselves: You'll fail, most of the time. After thousands of tests and tons of painful learnings, here is my clear take: your mindset might be the most significant factor that can help you systematically reach winning. This guide aims to give you practical principles to develop that mindset. Principles that will help you survive, thrive, and systematically reach the 20-30% test success rate that creates dramatic impact in your bottom line.

What you should do | Practical testing principles

1. Prepare to lose - Most tests fail. Industry benchmarks demonstrate a 12-30% success rate. If you can't stand losing, you're in the wrong job. If you're here to win, losing is not the opposite - it's just the path. The goal is to learn and move forward.‍
2. Don’t lose too early - Many winning tests start off looking like a failure. But sometimes it’s hard for your team or yourself to accept this. We're human, and losing hurts us three times more than the feeling of gain (loss aversion). So stay cool. Use your analyst to calm the team. Set a losing threshold, and don't rush the call. Some of your best wins will show up late.‍
3. Prepare your next hypothesis in advance - Every new idea you test has many moving parts: placement, copy, design, and more. My tip: write your next hypothesis before you launch. It sharpens your thinking, and helps you act faster if your current test fails. Being ready for what's next is part of moving forward.‍
4. Do the "Why might this fail?" drill - Before you launch, write down the main reasons your test might fail. This quick pre-mortem surfaces your blind spots and leads to great future iterations.‍
5. Dig Into the data obsessively - This one sounds like a cliché, but works like magic. Your results are trying to tell you a story. The best insights often come on your third or fourth review of the same data. Look at segments, timeframes, devices, and again. The win is often hidden inside the loss.‍
6. Move forward with a hypothesis - You lose. All eyes are on you, and sometimes you panic. We all do. I see teams jump into a new iteration just to do something. But losing isn't an excuse to throw out ideas. Step back, think it through, and move forward with logic. Otherwise, you won't get far.‍
7. Go again - even when you win  - This one might be the hardest. A green result after a series of tough iterations can feel like the end, but it's not. You can always improve, especially now. Go for one more.

What you should be: The testing mindset

These mindset principles are what I believe separate the best A/B testers from the rest:

Stay humble - Remember: you don't know the answer. You'll be proved wrong time and again. Take off that "I know" smile, and never fall in love with your work. Let reality, customers, and data teach you.

Be obsessed - You check results more than you should. You run through your funnels again and again. Your head swarms with ideas. You’re not crazy, you’re exactly where you should be.

Keep resilient - You'll lose and lose again. You'll get excited, then crash. You'll think you found gold, then come back empty-handed. Accept the rollercoaster. Keep moving forward. Resilience means one more try, and one more. Eventually, persistence wins.

Be curious - You know you can always do better. You know you don't know the perfect answer, but you'll try. And it keeps you moving. Curiosity means passion and ongoing motion to improve what you have now. Embrace it.

What you should have | Organizational support & tools

Having the right mindset is amazing, but not enough. It's an ecosystem that involves organization, tools, and culture. Here are the key elements you need to build a winning testing environment:

Organizational culture - Your mindset needs an organization that supports it. One that encourages people to take risks, experiment, and always push forward

Clear processes - Do you have solid guidelines for research, monitoring, iterating, and making decisions? A clear, repeatable process turns testing into muscle memory and builds natural flow across the organization.

Professional expertise - CRO is a craft. Find the people, the content, and the companies to learn from. Apply. Get your hands dirty. Make mistakes. Most importantly: keep evolving.

Great tools - Use high-quality, reliable measurement and testing platforms. They’re the foundation of effective testing. No compromises.

Move forward

Beyond all the tactics and tools, two words should guide your approach: Move forward.

You’ll lose. You’ll learn. You’ll iterate. But you have to keep going until you get the results you want.

The teams that succeed at testing aren’t the ones who win every experiment. They’re the ones who never stop trying.