How to measure value of a feature? —> Try a Negative Test

The Negative Test is when you run an experiment (for a small segment of population and for a very short period of time) where your variant is a purposefully worse experience than your control.

In essence, you are introducing a “bad” experience and measuring the impact of that. Impact could be drop in acquisition, or drop in retention or something else. This helps you quantify positive impact of a feature.

There are two possible goals with a negative test:

—> The first goal is to test the assumption that some experience is a net positive on overall user retention or engagement.

—> The second goal is to measure how much certain improvements actually matter.