You should be Testier!

A wise man, Edward Eggleston, once said "Persistent people begin their success where others end in failure."

That's almost a definition of the marketing process. Put out your best effort. Wait for the result. Tweak. Relaunch. Wait. Tweak. Relaunch.

Testing helps speed up the launch-wait-tweak cycle. The goal of testing is to define and refine your materials until you have achieved the optimal presentation. The result of testing is that you get to that optimal presentation faster.

There are two philosophies to testing.

#1. Launch an almost identical package, but make one item different. Then you are testing that one element. For instance, if you mail some letters with a meter and some with a stamp, you are then testing if a meter or a stamp pulls better. Or you can test a personalized letter vs a generic letter; a closed face envelope vs a window envelope.

You can create one catalog with a blue cover and one with a red cover, but the internal content and presentation are the same. Then you're testing color vs color.

If one ad/email/billboard has a picture of a young girl and one has a picture of a young boy, but the content and presentation are the same, then you are testing the photos against each other.

You can test offers and price points to get the optimal mix of returns and ROI.

Got it? You can only test one element at a time to see if using that element enhances or detracts from your responses. If you test more than one element at a time you lose the pureness of the test and you won't be able to ascertain which change affected your results.

And of course, you need a head-to-head test to maintain accuracy. Both campaigns have to launch at the same time. Otherwise, time becomes an unknown variable, too.

If you want to move faster, launch three simultaneous tests (ie test stamp against meter against indicia). But the same rule holds: only one thing can be different from test to test to maintain your scientific honesty.

And of course, you have to maintain scrupulous records.

#2. On the other hand, you can create materials that are entirely different and test not just one specific design/copy feature but format against format.

For instance, in direct mail, you can test a #10 package against a 9x12 package or a Monarch. You can test copy about saving the whales against copy about saving polar bears.

You can test a tri-folded brochure against a bi-folded brochure, or a single sheet brochure against a multi-page brochure. You can test a 5.5x8.5 catalog against an 8.5x11 catalog.

You can test direct mail against email... or against radio, TV and cable, for that matter. You can test if ads or billboards or special events draw in more business... If an on-line catalog or a mailed catalog produces the best results... If electronic media workyou're your message... if social media has a place for you...if special events like golf tournaments or masked balls are worth the effort... if this trade-show giveaway is better than that give-away... if a PURL or an 800-number or a QR code produces the most results.

What you can test is virtually unlimited.

Why you test remains the same: to keep getting your message tighter, your presentation sharper, your ROI higher.

How you test is up to you. That's where marketing creativity — and persistence — comes to bear.

People who don't test, don't get it.

Greatness (and great marketing) is, as Edward Eggleston intimated, the performance of persistence.

Dear Upset Client

What is the dumbest thing you have seen/experienced/ heard about in Direct Marketing? We want to hear about it! Leave us a comment at the bottom!

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Dear Upset Client,

I am truly sorry that your latest mailing produced abysmal results.

Yes, I’m pretty sure that the post office has delivered your mail. It’s been 3 weeks. No, they wouldn’t have any reason to hold 50,000 of your letters hostage.

I know that you were hoping this package would produce the same results as the weekly mailings we have been doing for you. Sorry it hasn’t worked out that way.

Yes, I know that you and your staff need this income to keep the doors open and the lights on.

Yes, I know your kids need new shoes for school.

Yes, I know this is painful for you.

But what I don’t know is What exactly were you thinking??

You took a package that has worked week in and week out for months and you changed it. No, that’s not strong enough.

You took a package that was working and you jettisoned it completely.

You changed the copy. You changed the graphics. You changed the offer. You changed the teaser. You changed everything you could change about a letter.

I assume you were bored and wanted a change. But not every change is a good one.

Just ask the geniuses behind New Coke.

Maybe your new partner, the important lawyer, felt he needed to make an early impact. And wow! Did he ever! You’ve gone from 100 mph to dead in the water.

Yes, I’m sure he’s a smart lawyer, but he truly doesn’t understand diddlysquat about marketing. You wouldn’t go to me to ask for help with injunctive relief, would you? What the heck is that, anyway? Why would you go to him to “help” with your marketing?

Even if he wanted to shake things up a bit, flex his muscles, and make changes, maybe it would have been appropriate to be more cautious. Does his money make you beholden to him? Does he understand “No”? Can you say “No” and make it stick? We women have been battling this problem for generations. Lots of luck.

By the way, if he ran his lawyering the way he ran your marketing, he’d be in jail and you’d be out of business. Seat-of-the-pants doesn’t even start to describe his ham-fistedness.

Maybe we can regroup.

I know we’ve talked about testing before. That’s how you ended up with the format that was working so well for you.

But if it was working so well, why did you so radically change the format? You didn’t just “tweak it a little” you threw the baby out with the bathwater!

You should test. Make changes incrementally. Take baby steps.

Here’s a brief refresher course on testing. Please share it with your new partner.

Start with an absolute base of knowledge on previous performance. Know how your previous mailings were doing. % returned. $ generated. Cost per lead. (You have kept those records we talked about, haven’t you?)

When you want to test a new format, take a small percentage of your weekly mailing—maybe 5 or 10%--and send the new format to that limited number.

Keep track of how many you mailed…% returned and $ generated, etc.

Compare the old “control” piece against the new “test” piece. If the test piece did appreciably better, next time mail a larger percentage of the test piece. Maybe 25%.

Keep track of how many you mailed…% returned and $ generated.

Repeat several more times until you are absolutely convinced that the test piece is doing better than the tried-and-true control. Then pull the plug on the old control. The test package now becomes the control.

In time you’ll want to develop another package to test. Take the steps above and repeat…with statistical evidence to back you up and with caution every step of the way.

The response you’re currently getting (or more precisely, not getting) is the public voting with its feet on your new presentation.

Like dirty gym socks, it stinks.

And speaking of feet, maybe your new partner, the lawyer, can buy your kids the school shoes they need.

Baby steps.

What is the dumbest thing you have seen/experienced/ heard about in Direct Marketing? We want to hear about it!

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