Direct Marketing Update

Author:	Craig Huey	Created:	2/7/2008 11:53 AM
Direct Response Testing

Testing corner: Which website design generated more leads?

Prospects seemed to like Rafting America, an informational site with links to rafting trip organizers, outfitters, equipment retailers and more. Seventy percent of visitors clicked through from the home page to a content page…but they weren’t likely to register for brochures.

To get more brochure requests, Rafting America tried a new website layout. Take a look:

Testing corner: Which thank-you email worked best?

Keeping in touch with your customers and expressing your appreciation should be at the top of your to-do list, now that this down economy has sparked such fierce competition.

Many marketers accomplish this by offering a discount for future purchases in their thank-you emails.

Here’s how a large florist with an online presence decided to test their approach:

Subject line A: Thank You for Making Us Your Florist of Choice

Subject line B: 15% Off—Our Way of Saying Thank You!

Testing Corner: Surprising Offer Results

It’s an established fact that deadlines in your direct mail piece will result in higher response rates, but does a deadline work for Internet marketing?

Test: A recent study sought to examine Internet response rates for a 2-day seminar. There was a $100 discount on the registration fee if the prospect signed up before the January 31 cutoff date.

The offer was promoted using proper direct response web rules the offer was near the bottom of the page, and had limited navigation options.

In addition, an email was sent out on the morning of January 31 the day the offer expired to see how that affected response.

How do think the deadline affected the flow of sales?

Results: The answer may astound you. Sales increased by an average by nearly 1,000% during the three days before the deadline!

Janu Read More »

Testing Corner: Postcard vs. Envelope Showdown

In both consumer and business-to-business mailings, it's tempting to plan a postcard campaign. After all, a postcard has a much lower cost.

Test: Recently, cell phone service provider NEXTEL sent out an offer for a pre-approved service plan that came with a top-of-the-line phone for 99 cents. They sent out an oversized postcard with a graphic on one side and the offer on the other.

Testing Corner: Testing Your Offer Can Bring Knockout Results

Testing the variables of your offer is a crucial step in maximizing the profitability of your campaign...and avoiding huge losses.

It doesn't matter if the campaign involves email, direct mail, website, radio or TV. It's a good idea to test one or two variables to see which creates the greatest response.

One of the best variables to test is the offer. There have been situations where I've suggested that the marketer test the price: for example $29.95 instead of $39.95 And just by making this change, the offer had a dramatic increase in response.

Test: Recently a test was conducted to compare an offer for e-book sales. The webpage posted an offer of $47 for a particular report and another offer, which included two reports, for $99.

Testing Corner: Testing Web Headlines for Greater Response

Successful direct marketing should always involve testing. One bonus of the Internet is the ability to continually test a website campaign and make changes based on your response.

You may have spent weeks testing your search terms, but how much time have you spent testing your page headlines?

Your envelope is the first sales piece your prospect lays their eyes on. It determines if they are going to read your sales letter or toss it in the trash.

The copy that goes on the outside of the envelope needs to be convincing enough to make your prospect want to tear open the envelope and read what is inside.

But besides the copy, there are several other aspects you need to consider, such as—do you want a return address on the upper left-hand side? Will you include any pictures or graphics on the envelope? Do you want to offer any free reports or other benefits?

In direct marketing, you test. We often test two or more envelopes. You will often be surprised at the results.

Testing Corner: How to Increase Your Conversion Rate

How can you improve your website conversion rate?

Here is a test of a landing page. The test involved a 2-week time frame of the responses.

The test consisted of these two web pages: Landing Page A and Landing Page B.

Testing Corner: Critical Shopping Cart Test

How important is it to simplify your website's shopping cart for leads or customers?

Here is another test confirming the importance of an issue I have discussed in Direct Marketing Update several times: shopping cart simplicity.

Test: Version A, which had 10,245 unique visitors, required its users to click 9 times before they could purchase the product. Version B, which had 10,314 unique visitors, reduced the ordering path to 4 clicks.

Testing Corner: Surprising Results When Testing Gender Response

Through the years, we have found the response between genders can sometimes be surprisingly different depending on the look and copy content of a direct mail campaign.

Males and females respond differently to format, creative approach, color, pictures, offer, benefits and copy.

Testing Corner: The Little-Known Truth About Sales Deadlines—How They Increase Response

Consumers tend to pay more attention to your product or service when you offer them a discount or “special” offer.

However, how much more of a response do you think you would have if you attached a timeline to your discount or special offer?

Recently, a test was conducted to show how consumers responded when given two limited-time offers to react to a discount.

Testing Corner: Cover Copy Questions—Do They Work?

Testing copy concepts is crucial to improving your response. Often what you think will generate a higher response is not always the case.

I have tested hundreds of teasers, catalog covers and magalog covers in search of the highest return. Time and time again, when I speak at conferences and show examples of what I have tested and ask people to pick the winning cover, they chose the one that generated the lower response.

Testing Corner: How Different Images Can Impact Your Result

In the first article of this issue I discussed a magalog cover I created for Capital Holding. If you missed it, scroll up to the beginning of this issue.

The magalog's objective was to generate leads for Capital Holding Corporation, who focused on showing senior citizens the benefits of reverse mortgages and giving advice on other financial concerns.

My mission when developing this piece was to create a cover that the target audience (senior citizens) could relate to.

In the past couple of issues, I discussed some of my favorite direct marketing tools, which include magalogs, bookalogs, catalogs and reportalogs.

These formats are great for promoting your product or service. They showcase the item in a magazine lay-out, which generates interest among consumers or business prospects who would otherwise ignore the marketer’s direct mail.

Let's look at the results of two magalog test covers I created for one of my clients, Health Discoveries & Innovations Read More »

Testing Corner: Surprising Results When Testing Magalogs

I use a wide variety of direct mail tools when creating direct marketing campaigns for my clients, but some of my favorites are magalogs, bookalogs, tabalogs and reportalogs.

These formats always do extremely well in boosting response—and they are great tools for promoting the clients’ products and services.

Recently, I tested two magalogs covers I had created for my client Prosata. The magalogs were aimed at consumers who worried about prostate problems.

Both magalogs contained the same information inside and both featured a picture of Dr. Larry Doss.

Testing Corner: Offering a Little Something Extra Can Go a Long Way

Everyone is attracted to the word FREE. However, sometimes it takes a little more than just one free offer to get your prospects to bite.

Often when I speak at direct marketing conferences, I’ll offer a free 15-minute consultation or a free subscription to my newsletter, which is packed with direct marketing tips.

Test: Recently, an Internet test was conducted to see what would entice people to sign up for a free email newsletter.

Test A: The landing page listed all the benefits of subscribing to the “very valuable newsletter.” Test B: This offer was for both a free subscription of the newsletter and a free “Special Report.”

Testing your offer is one of the most valuable steps you can take. That's because results from an offer test can often be counterintuitive.

Until you test, you really can't be sure what it will take to entice your customers to respond. If you offer them too little, it won't be worth their time. However, if you offer them too much, they might be skeptical of your motive or that the offer is really what it says it is.

Recently, a company wanted to test its offer for free Internet search advertising. Similar to Google, this company directed people to websites they were looking for.

I recently tested two separate subject lines for an email I sent out for my client Ken Coleman's Investment Tracker. The audience was mostly male investors 50-years and older.

Test:The first subject line read, “Don’t miss out on This New Gold Boom” The second subject line read, “My top gold mining stock pick.”

Before you read on, guess which received a higher response.

In the last issue of Direct Marketing Update, I talked about the importance of speaking directly to your prospects' and customers' emotions and needs.

By tapping into their wants, desires, goals, fear, greed, guilt or compassion, you will be able to create a campaign that gets higher response.

Test: Two business-to-business direct marketing envelopes, shown above, were created and mailed to human resources directors and personnel managers...

During a recently created direct mail campaign for one of my clients, I wanted to test the mailing to see which mailing address received a higher response. The mailing was split equally.

Test: Mailing A was sent to the prospect's home address. Mailing B was sent was sent to the prospect's office address.

Which do you think received the highest response?

Results: If you guessed Mailing A, you are correct! Mailing A received a 49% higher response than Mailing B.