Can Machine Learning Replace Focus Groups? 93
itwbennett writes "In a blog post, Steve Hanov explains how 20 lines of code can outperform A/B testing. Using an example from one of his own sites, Hanov reports a green button outperformed orange and white buttons. Why don't people use this method? Because most don't understand or trust machine learning algorithms, mainstream tools don't support it, and maybe because bad design will sometimes win."
Re:Translation (Score:2, Interesting)
The "new" method has the problem of immediately favoring the first design to get a positive response.
My own experience with focus groups is that they were more interested in _WHY_ you chose something the way you did, rather than in just what you chose. I'm not entirely sure how this algorithm will determine that.