Enterprise A/B Testing: Why It Fails and How to Build a Culture of Experimentation

It’s not budget.
It’s not headcount.
It’s not tech.

The biggest blockers to experimentation in enterprise organizations are cultural.

When experimentation is treated like a side project—or worse, a threat to the status quo—it’s no surprise that velocity stalls and progress dies in committee.

In this episode, Arun and David unpack exactly why legacy enterprise companies struggle to build a culture of experimentation, despite having all the resources in the world. And what separates the companies who succeed from the ones who stay stuck.

Why Enterprise Velocity Gets Crushed

There are two core ingredients that make experimentation successful:
– A willingness to tolerate managed risk
– The velocity to move fast and validate ideas

Both are usually missing in large orgs. Not because leaders don’t want experimentation—but because bureaucracy, slow release cycles, and internal politics make it nearly impossible.

Layer in misaligned stakeholders, global complexity, and siloed data, and suddenly even running a basic A/B test feels like moving mountains.

How to Start Small and Build Momentum

The smartest enterprise experimentation programs don’t start with the homepage.
They start where:

  • There’s less internal friction
  • There’s measurable business impact
  • There’s faster time-to-learn

That’s usually deeper in the funnel—lead forms, onboarding flows, paid landing pages. These are the areas where you can move quickly, validate hypotheses, and prove value without ruffling feathers.

Wins here earn trust, budget, and buy-in to scale the program.

Risk Mitigation: The Story Execs Will Listen To

Experimentation isn’t just about growth. It’s about reducing risk.
It’s a safer, faster, more controlled way to validate what works before you commit major resources.

Frame it this way, and suddenly even the most conservative stakeholders start paying attention.

TL;DR: If You Want to Build an Experimentation Culture in Enterprise…

Start where you can win fast.
Show how you save time and reduce risk.
Use those wins to scale the program into something sustainable.


Watch the full conversation on Episode 4, Part 1

Get the full breakdown on why experimentation struggles in enterprise—and how to fix it.


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How to Roll Out a Product-Led Growth (PLG) Strategy Without Breaking Your Funnel

Product-Led Growth (PLG) can be a revenue multiplier—but only if it’s rolled out right.

In Part 2 of this conversation, Arun Sivashankaran and David Janczyn lay out a pragmatic, experiment-led approach to launching PLG in B2B SaaS organizations. This isn’t just about free trials or surface-level A/B tests—it’s about using real signals, smarter data architecture, and practical tests to align PLG with long-term growth.

Here’s what they shared.

Why the Pricing Page Is a PLG Power Move

One of the most overlooked PLG opportunities? Your pricing page.

Every SaaS company has one, but few use it to actively segment high-intent, high-value visitors from those better served by self-service.

By running experiments that route users toward the right experiences—self-serve options for smaller customers and sales engagement for enterprise prospects—you can start gathering data that feeds your PLG motion immediately.

This isn’t about overhauling your funnel. It’s about intelligently opening new lanes.

PLG Doesn’t Work Without This One Thing

A clear hypothesis.

Fivetran’s PLG success story illustrates this well. Their team hypothesized that they were losing revenue from smaller organizations who needed the product but were being ignored by sales. They didn’t guess—they measured:

  • Conversion rates by path
  • Average contract value by segment
  • Payback periods across touchpoints

By identifying these metrics and rolling out with experimentation at the core, they turned PLG into 20% of their net new revenue.

The lesson? PLG works when it’s treated like a strategic experiment—not a side project.

First-Party Data > Third-Party Noise

Many B2B marketers chase intent data from third-party sources like 6sense. But the real gold often sits within your own walls.

The way your visitors engage with your site, forms, interactive demos, and onboarding flows? That’s first-party intent—and it’s faster, cleaner, and more actionable.

This is especially critical when your funnel shifts from static demand gen to interactive PLG motions.

Your Data Infrastructure Has to Evolve

Rolling out PLG without rethinking your data flow is like racing with the wrong fuel.

PLG relies heavily on product data—data that typically lives outside of your CRM and marketing automation tools. To make it actionable, you need:

  • A centralized data warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery, etc.)
  • Reverse ETL tools like Hightouch or Census to push signals back into your marketing stack
  • Coordination between product, marketing, and sales ops

The takeaway? Your source of truth has to evolve if you want PLG to scale.

How to Start Small with PLG

You don’t need to rearchitect your funnel overnight.

Instead:

  • Leverage your existing lead forms to identify PLG-ready prospects
  • Add interactive or on-demand demos to TOFU pages
  • Test routes via your pricing page that surface different options based on user behavior

These low-lift tests validate assumptions, show results, and build internal buy-in—without burning cycles.

Final Takeaways

Here are 3 key steps to a successful PLG rollout:

  1. Map the customer journey: From website visit to in-product action. Identify where intent shows up and what signals to track.
  2. Experiment your way forward: Never roll out without proper measurement. Every PLG element—demo, form, route—should be tested.
  3. Invest in the right data infrastructure: PLG isn’t just a strategy shift; it’s a data shift. You need systems that unify product, marketing, and sales insights.

If you’re treating PLG like just another campaign, it won’t work.

But if you build it on experimentation, align it with buyer behavior, and ground it in real data—your sales team will thank you.


Watch Part 2 of Episode 3 of the FunnelEnvy Podcast


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Product-Led Growth in B2B SaaS: How to Design a Scalable Funnel, Identify Intent Signals & Align Sales

Buyers today don’t want to talk to your sales team. At least, not until they understand what your product does—and how it will deliver value.

In this episode of the FunnelEnvy podcast, Arun Sivashankaran and David Janczyn unpack a critical but often misunderstood strategy: Product-Led Growth (PLG) in B2B SaaS. If you’re navigating enterprise complexity or trying to make your funnel more efficient, this conversation is a must-listen.

What is Product-Led Growth (PLG)?

David defines PLG as an onboarding approach that allows customers—especially lower ACV ones—to engage with your product and achieve value without requiring a sales conversation upfront. Think free trials or freemium models.

Arun expands on this, calling PLG a strategic response to changing buyer behavior. Your prospects want value before they speak with a salesperson. PLG helps you deliver that value early, using the product itself as the primary driver of acquisition and conversion.

Why PLG Isn’t a Fit for Every SaaS Company

One key takeaway: PLG doesn’t work for everyone. If you sell a complex product that requires a consultative sales cycle or implementation services, it’s unlikely you’ll get far with a self-service experience.

But if your product offers a straightforward experience that allows users to ramp quickly—PLG can shine.

The Risk & Reward of a PLG Rollout

Rolling out PLG is risky.

You’re exposing part of your product to the market without the insulation of a lead form or salesperson. That’s why Arun emphasizes the importance of iterating through experiments, measuring outcomes, and optimizing accordingly.

David adds that cross-functional alignment is critical. Sales and marketing often operate with different KPIs—and a new PLG motion will impact lead volume, rep quotas, and expectations.

PLG Rollout Strategy: Use Your Forms

FunnelEnvy’s approach? Use multi-step forms and data-driven routing to separate low-intent leads and send them to a PLG experience, while keeping high-fit leads routed to sales.

This allows you to:

  • Reduce sales team frustration with low-quality leads
  • Improve efficiency by filtering in the right buyers
  • Introduce PLG without disrupting your entire GTM motion

Identifying Intent Through Engagement Data

Done right, PLG is an intent engine. Whether through form interactions or in-product behaviors, you can surface buying signals that warrant higher-touch sales engagement.

That’s where Arun highlights the power of AI and machine learning. You don’t need to build static models anymore. With the right feedback loop, Machine Learning can help continuously evolve your ability to predict which behaviors correlate to revenue.

How to Measure PLG Success

The team stresses that revenue should be the north star. Even if you’re capturing incremental signups or engagement, it doesn’t matter unless those leads eventually convert.

That means:

  • Measuring cost vs. ROI of routing prospects into PLG
  • Tracking pipeline contribution and revenue impact
  • Validating PLG performance through real sales outcomes

Website Resources to Support PLG

To support your PLG strategy, Arun references Gartner research highlighting interactive demos as one of the most effective resources on a SaaS website. David adds that while interactive tools work, their quality matters.

Don’t launch underwhelming experiences that fail to communicate value. Consider:

  • Ungated demo videos
  • Product briefs
  • ROI calculators

Start with lightweight options. Validate interest. Then invest.

Final Takeaway: Optimize for Time to Value

Both Arun and David stress this: time to value is everything.

If users don’t immediately experience the value of your product, your PLG motion won’t succeed. And when users stray from the happy path, your data should alert your team to intervene.


Watch Part 1 of Episode 3 on YouTube


Relevant Resource: FunnelEnvy’s Done-for-You Custom Forms


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The Secrets to Successful Marketing Automation Campaigns

Marketing’s a tough old game, isn’t it.

There’s a lot to consider when you sit down to think about it. Contrary to what many may think, we’re not in the business of sitting around and coming up with witty messages or punny slogans to help sell products. Sure, that might be a small part of it, but the truth is a good marketer is as much a statistician and entrepreneur as they are a creative mastermind.

It can sometimes feel as though there aren’t not enough hours in the day to pore over your data reports and get timely, creative and compelling messages out to your audience. It’s a problem we all know too well.

While I’m averse to saying there’s a shortcut (because that’s definitely not what this is), there is a way to take some of the hassle out of your ongoing marketing woes.

I say that this isn’t a shortcut because, well, it requires a hell of a lot of work up front. But if you can dig deep and soldier on through the initial hardships associated with setting up an automated campaign, you’ll have more time to focus on the other areas of your business that help make you money.  (more…)

By |2025-05-12T04:36:36-07:00December 1st, 2015|Marketing Automation|0 Comments
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