The Right Way to Run Go-to-Market Experiments

Optimizing your Go-to-Market motion is a journey of continuous experimentation and iteration. No company begins with a perfect blueprint or a flawlessly tuned engine. Success comes from trying new approaches, learning what works, and refining over time.

However, there’s a right way and a wrong way to run GTM experiments. While creativity and innovation are crucial, they must be paired with a disciplined approach to measuring and analyzing outcomes.

Why Experiments Matter in GTM

Every company runs experiments, whether consciously or unconsciously. For instance:

• Testing Ads: If your paid search ads are attracting the wrong audience—people outside your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)—it wastes money and creates inefficiencies. Adjusting messaging in ads can be a quick fix, but without proper measurement, you won’t know if the change worked.

• Evaluating Sales Processes: When a new sales tactic is introduced, companies often proceed without clear expectations or metrics to determine success.

• Incorporating Product Features: If your product team launches a new feature and your sales team updates their demo, the change is often rolled out without considering it as an experiment.

These examples highlight a common issue: many companies fail to think through how to precisely measure the impact of their experiments.

The Problem with GTM Experimentation Today

Too often, companies:

• Fail to document what they expect from an experiment.
• Lack clarity on which metrics should be monitored.
• Ignore the need for pass/fail criteria.
• Don’t set clear timelines or durations for their tests.

For example, when tweaking ad messaging to attract higher-quality leads, it’s not enough to measure clicks or visits to your site. These metrics might just indicate more non-ICP traffic. The only reliable indicator of success would be an increase in the number of legitimate opportunities that sales teams identify from those leads.

The Right Way to Run GTM Experiments

Companies serious about Go-to-Market efficiency treat every adjustment as a structured experiment. Here's how:

1. Document Expected Outcomes
   Before launching any experiment, define what success looks like. What is the desired outcome? Which metrics will change?

2. Establish Pass/Fail Criteria
   Set specific thresholds that indicate whether the experiment succeeded or failed.

3. Set a Duration for Testing
   Determine how long the experiment will run and commit to evaluating results only after sufficient data is collected.

4. Create Dashboards for Tracking Metrics
   Build dedicated reporting panels or dashboards to monitor how key metrics are trending before, during, and after the experiment.

5. Start Small
   Pilot the experiment with a limited group, such as a subset of sales reps or a small portion of your target audience. Roll it out more broadly only if it passes the test.

6. Monitor Closely
   Keep a close eye on metrics during the test. For example, if you're testing a new demo, watch for changes in demo-to-pipeline conversion rates.

7. Gather Qualitative Feedback
   Encourage team members—such as product marketing—to listen to calls, review demos, or observe prospect interactions to capture qualitative insights.

Why This Approach Works

Structured experimentation reduces wasted spend across marketing and sales by identifying failing initiatives faster. It ensures that only successful tactics and strategies are scaled, avoiding inefficiencies and missteps.

Take the example of a new product feature added to the sales demo. By treating this as an experiment, a company can:

• Track how prospects respond qualitatively.
• Analyze the demo-to-pipeline conversion rates.
• Limit risk by piloting the change with a small group of reps.

This deliberate approach minimizes wasted effort and maximizes learning.

Winning in the Era of Efficient Growth

B2B SaaS companies with a continuous process for experimenting, gathering rapid feedback, and iterating will lead in this era of efficient growth.

When you approach GTM experiments with discipline and structure, you create a culture of continuous improvement. The result? A more efficient, effective, and aligned Go-to-Market motion that drives growth while reducing waste.

That’s how serious companies win at GTM experimentation.