6. Gathering evidence for Experiments
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Evidence is the information you gather while running an experiment. It is what helps your team move from “we think” to “we have learned”. Good evidence makes your next decision easier.
What counts as evidence?
Evidence can come from any activity that helps you test the hypothesis of an experiment. Common examples include:
- Customer interview notes.
- Direct quotes from users or stakeholders.
- Prototype feedback.
- Survey results.
- Landing page or campaign results.
- Sales conversations.
- Observations from tests, workshops or field research.
- Links to documents, spreadsheets or external tools.
Add evidence while the experiment is Active
Once an experiment is set to Active, add notes as your team learns. Do not wait until the end of the experiment. Capturing evidence as it happens helps preserve context and makes the final decision more reliable.
Keep evidence connected to the hypothesis
Before adding evidence, ask whether it helps prove or disprove the experiment's hypothesis. Useful evidence should make the experiment clearer, not just add more noise.
When writing a note, include enough detail for another teammate to understand what happened, who was involved, and why it matters.
Use evidence to decide what happened
When you have gathered enough evidence, review the experiment with your team and choose the most accurate state.
Valid means the evidence supports the assumption and gives you confidence to continue.
Invalid means the evidence did not support the assumption. This is still useful learning. It may mean you should change the idea, test a different customer segment, or stop investing in that direction.
Design the next experiment
The final step is to turn what you learned into the next experiment. Each piece of evidence should help your team prioritise what to test next, what to build, or what to stop doing.