Sex doesn’t sell lingerie, it’s all about the emotion. Being able to take a peek at the content on Netflix decreases sign-ups for the platform. A picture of his family helped Obama raise $60 Million in campaign donations. Switching the shade of blue used on advertising links earned Google an extra $200 Million a year in revenue. These findings are all the result of business experimentation and they demonstrate the importance of a customer-centric perspective in marketing.

Successful organizations increasingly adopt what we call “Management by Experiments”: they engage in rigorous evidence-based decision-making by running experiments to find out what customers want and to fuel innovation — to roll out new products, improve customer experiences, increase conversion, or try new business models. What they find does not always match their expectations. Experimentation is not just about discovering what works. It also reveals what doesn’t work. Following some simple rules and tests, organizations can sidestep enormous costs and risks simply by not implementing ideas that, however attractive on paper, will not create value.

This course is designed to look at the value-creation process from a customer-centric perspective and through the lens of experimentation. The course kicks-off with an introduction into key concepts of marketing and customer-centric management. We then cast a glance at causal research and business experimentation from a practical and methodological perspective. The course then culminates in a practical application of experimentation: Focusing on marketing topics with a current relevance (e.g., mass customization, lifestyle branding, sustainable consumption), students will work on several case studies and team-up in small groups to work on two bigger projects.

After the course, students will be familiar with key concepts of marketing and customer-centric management. Further, they will have learned how to assess the quality of empirical findings and how to conduct experiments for market research and managerial decision-making. Taken together, the course will help students to sharpen their skills to analyze and solve practical problems in a causal way. Finally, students will get exposed to important contemporary marketing trends and topics which will allow them to be up-to-date with leading-edge marketing. In short, students will know how to do “Management by Experiments”, which shall allow them to better design, implement, and evaluate effective marketing strategies.

Course attendance is monitored troughout the semester (attendence in 80% of the classroom sessions is mandatory).

The course offers a blend of classic lecturing with special emphasis on in-class discussions and student presentations of project work. The course is highly interactive and students are expected to contribute significantly throughout the semester.

Grading is based on

(1) practice projects (30%)

(2) theory project (20%) 

(3) individual in-class quizzes (35%)

(4) participation and attendance (15%)