Multivariate Testing (MVT) & How It Helps To Grow A Business

A Statistical Process Improvement Tool That Can Be Used To Boost Sales, Maximise Output And Save Money By Reducing Expenses & Lowering Defect Rates.

One of the methods we use to improve your business is multivariate testing (MVT).

MVT is when you test lots of different variables and business improvement processes all together. Then you measure the results and process them with a mathematical algorithm. The results will tell you which factors you can change to improve the yield.

It can literally be applied to improve any business process.

You can use MVT to find the most efficient installation process for telephone cables. You can even use it to find the best converting layout of your website in order to make more sales without increasing the number of website visitors you have (though we prefer A/B split tests for online improvements).

We use a 14 step MVT testing process. This allows you to input multiple process improvement ideas. Then we use an advanced statistical model to remove any harmful ideas and define the most helpful ideas.

You can even use the MVT process to test dozens of process improvement ideas all at the same time. Once the results are in, we can figure out the exact combination that will boost your gains by the largest amount.

When we put those ideas into practice in your business, you will see a positive difference in whatever you were trying to improve (revenue, output, waste/defect rate reductions etc).

The best thing about the MVT process is that it removes guesswork from your decision-making. It helps you to accurately predict which changes will maximise your current output. This means you can focus on the exact processes that you know will make a difference to your bottom line.

Dennis Harris, president SBC/Ameritech: "Some of the ideas that intuitively we'd think would help, didn't. And some that we didn't think would help did. And that's the way it's always been when I get into an MVT project."

Carl Bouckaert, CEO, Beaulieu of America: "Learning occurs when an informative event is combined with a perceptive observer. MVT accelerates the occurrence of informative events. I had no idea such a powerful tool existed. If your competition is regularly using MVT and you are not you are in trouble".

Executives Don't Always Know Best

Every person in top-level management wants the same thing. Higher customer satisfaction, better quality of products, lowered costs and an overall larger profit.

The funny thing is that people on all levels of an organisation will have suggestions on how to boost results. The problem is that no one can safely predict which ideas are cost-effective and how big of an impact they will have on company profits.

Unfortunately, most executives make major business decisions based on judgement, intuition and guesswork around their own personal experience.

And this applies whether they are in areas of business like marketing, business operations, manufacturing and also sales.

So both the CEO and the cleaning lady are as likely as each other, to come up with an idea that
will have a big impact the bottom line.
Even if executives pay experts or consultants for advice, they still end up simply hoping that the chosen solutions will be effective.

Most Business Ideas Don't Work - Beware The 'HiPPO'

It's true. No matter the source of the idea or their level in the company, these are the overall statistics:

  • 51% of all ideas make no difference to the outcome.
  • 26% of all ideas have a positive effect on the situation.
  • 23% of ideas actually have a negative impact on the overall situation.

Research has shown that positive ideas can come from any level of an organisation. So both the CEO and the cleaning lady are as likely as each other, to come up with an idea that
will have a big impact the bottom line
.

But most companies mistakenly choose to go with the highest-paid person's opinion (HiPPO). Members of staff on other levels of the organisation aren't even asked.

Testing Is Essential

The only way to know which ideas will improve your business is to test them. But this is generally not efficient. You can't test every single improvement idea one by one. It takes too much time and costs too much money. So it's generally very impractical.

Another problem with testing ideas on a one by one basis is that you can't see the effect of one idea on the other.

For example, you can test the effect of rain on a brick. You can also test the effect of
wind on a brick. But either of those tests won't tell you what would happen to the bricks if it rained on a windy day. This combination of conditions could produce a whole new area of potential leaks etc.

Testing Conditions Together Is Essential

The final problem with testing factors one at a time is that the test won't represent real life situations. In the real world, conditions are constantly changing.

So any attempt to hold all the other factors constant whilst only one of them changes is not a very realistic simulation of real-world events.

For example, if you were testing wind and water on a brick, you might use a certain speed of wind and a similar amount of mater in each test. But in real life, the wind and rain don't always arrive together. Over time, this will change how the brick gets weathered.

So the simulated test doesn't represent real life conditions closely enough.

Large Issues Cause Executive Guesswork

In an organisation, the above issues are seen as such large problems. So most executives aren't able to face them head-on. Even though they'd like to make data driven decisions, most executives think they don't have the enough time or money to test
solutions to business problems.

The result is that it they end up relying on regular old guesswork. MVT can fix this.

MVT provides an efficient way to use mathematics to test multiple business process
improvements at once.

MVT:

  • Separates the good ideas from the neutral and harmful ideas.
  • Takes into account the effects of each factor on each other.
  • Accurately provides which conditions are the best to implement in the real world.

Businesses that use MVT regularly generate millions in profits and cost savings as a direct result of using the MVT process.

Do You Want To Use MVT To Improve Your Business Profits, Without Needing To Increase The Number Of Customers?

Once you see the effects of MVT in your organisation, it will be a lifelong tool for you.

We can help implement MVT for your company and it will help you with:

  • Boosting sales
  • Maximising output
  • Saving money by reducing waste and unnecessary expenses
  • Lower defect rates
  • Much more...

Get started right now with our limited time 'Lost Profit' Finder: Diagnostic Session. It's a real, customised 'pain point' report for your business.

It will tell you how you can improve your business by highlighting weak areas. It will even reveal certain weak points you may have never even considered before.

Learn more about how MVT can improve profits for your business - contact us today.