Overcoming the Resistance to Experimentation in Legacy Organisations
- sandip amlani
- 24 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Note: This article is taken from my course: CRO for complex B2B sales companies. If you would like the entire 6-part email series from the beginning, you can sign up here.
If you’ve tried introducing experimentation in a traditional B2B company, you know it can feel like pushing a boulder uphill.
You want to test, learn, and iterate, but you're up against long approval cycles, rigid processes, and decision-makers who see testing as a distraction or even a threat.
Legacy B2B companies were built before the digital age. They rely on brand strength, infrastructure, and deep customer relationships, but are often governed by waterfall processes, strict hierarchies, and a risk-averse culture.
That makes experimentation hard ...but not impossible.
So how do you introduce a culture of testing in an organisation that resists change?
Let’s break it down.
Why Legacy Companies Resist Experimentation
❌ Waterfall processes – Traditional businesses follow a linear process with set stages. This approach makes iterative testing difficult to achieve.
❌ Fear of failure – testing can create uncertainty and might prove someone's opinion wrong.
❌ Risk mitigation blind spot – Avoiding experimentation can actually raise risk. It makes it more likely to implement changes that damage performance. Yet, many believe CRO is solely for growth, not for managing risk.
❌ Stakeholder inertia – Leaders and decision-makers may stick to old ways of doing things. They may resist new ideas that disrupt existing processes.
❌ Siloed teams – In many organisations, marketing, sales, and IT struggle to collaborate effectively. This makes it harder to try out new ideas across different functions.
How to drive experimentation in a legacy organisation.
You can’t overhaul the company’s mindset overnight, but you can introduce testing strategically.
Start small; prove the value.
Run low-risk, high-visibility tests that don’t require heavy development resources.
A/B test messaging, CTA placement, or form fields. These quick wins can show an impact with little disruption.
Work with the willing.
Instead of forcing buy-in across the board, start with teams that are already open to testing.
Success in these areas will make it easier to expand testing across the organisation.
Frame experimentation as a risk-reduction tool.
Position testing as a way to reduce uncertainty, not as an unnecessary risk.
Highlight that without testing, the company risks launching ineffective (or even harmful) changes.
Agree on the scope upfront.
Legacy companies hate ambiguity, so define the boundaries of experimentation early.
Identify tests that are politically easier to run and prioritise those. This cuts delays and speeds up execution.
Get a seat at the table.
If you’re only involved after major design or copy decisions are made, you’ll be stuck testing in the margins (a.k.a.“meek tweaking”).
Work towards embedding experimentation into the strategic decision-making process, not just tactical optimisations.
Democratise Research
Make all research easily accessible to stakeholders across the business.
Give teams the tools and insights for data-driven decisions.This helps them avoid relying on gut feelings or hierarchy(the HiPPO effect).
Prove the ROI of experimentation.
Companies care about bottom-line numbers, so focus on business impact, not just CRO practices. Skip the slides on statistical significance, confidence intervals, Bayesian vs. Frequentist methodologies. Show the C-suite the money!
Tie testing results to lead quality, sales pipeline contribution, and revenue impact.
Make testing less disruptive.
Try sequential testing or limited roll-outs. This helps risk-averse teams feel less overwhelmed.
Frame experimentation as a way to improve decision-making, not as a hurdle or simply a tick box exercise.
Tap into the Sales team & contact centres for testing ideas
Sales teams and contact centres provide valuable insights.They talk to prospects and customers every day. This helps them understand their pain points, objections, and motivations better than anyone else.
Build strong relationships with these teams and regularly review:
Common objections that stop potential customers from converting.
Identify recurring friction points that frustrate customers(e.g., unclear pricing, form issues).
Check contact centre transcripts and call recordings. Find recurring themes. They reveal genuine customer insights and highlight areas on the website that need optimisation.
Share results widely.
Celebrate small wins and share case studies internally.
Build momentum by using internal champions to advocate for testing across teams.
Send a regular Experimentation Newsletter. Share recent test results, key research insights, and gathered insights.
Include a "Which Test Won?" quiz, inviting colleagues to guess the winning variant of a recent A/B test. This engages the team, sparks discussion, and demonstrates why testing is essential (especially when so many people guess wrong!).
Case Study: How John Deere Transformed a LegacyOrganisation with Experimentation
In 2019, John Deere’s Global IT group found that their old approach was not suitable for iterative testing and optimisation. This made it challenging to implement iterative improvements.
Like many older organisations, they used waterfall processes to implement ideas. This meant they couldn't test quickly.
They used the Scrum@Scale framework to drive change and add agility to their workflows.
This helped teams quickly update, test, and implement improvements faster than ever before.
The Results
The results were staggering: 🚀 a 400% increase in deployments ⏳ an 87% reduction in time to market.
This proves that even established companies can create a culture of experimentation if they take the right steps.
Key Takeaways
Legacy organisations tend to resist experimentation. They rely on structured processes, fear taking risks, and often face resistance from stakeholders. Get around this by:
✅ Starting small and working with the willing can help introduce testing without resistance. Framing testing as a way to reduce risk, not just to boost growth, makes it easier to adopt.
✅ Democratising research empowers teams to make better,data-driven decisions.
✅ Agreeing on the scope upfront prevents unnecessary roadblocks and delays.
✅ Securing a seat at the table ensures that experimentation leads to real impact, not just small changes.
✅ Newsletters and fun quizzes keep teams engaged and highlight why experimentation matters.
I'd love to know what you found works when optimising digital experiences in legacy organisations. Let me know in the comments!
Next week, we’ll dive into how to maintain a culture of experimentation — even when you're working in complex B2B sales environments with long cycles, multiple stakeholders, and shifting priorities.