Direct Response Testing

Testing corner: Which website design generated more leads?

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:20:00 GMT

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?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:26:00 GMT

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

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:21:00 GMT

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

Testing Corner: Postcard vs. Envelope Showdown

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:21:00 GMT

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

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:16:00 GMT

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

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:11:00 GMT

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?

Testing Corner: Testing Envelopes to Discover Winners

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:54:00 GMT

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

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:26:00 GMT

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

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:39:00 GMT

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

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:31:00 GMT

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

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:53:00 GMT

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?

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:49:00 GMT

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

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:01:00 GMT

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.

Testing Corner: Surprising Results for Copy Test

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:22:00 GMT

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

Testing Corner: Surprising Results When Testing Magalogs

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:48:00 GMT

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

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:49:00 GMT

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 Corner: Testing Your Offer is Crucial to Response

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:52:00 GMT

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.

Testing Corner: Subject Lines that Bring a Higher Response

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:04:00 GMT

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.

Testing Corner: Emotion Versus Logic

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:28:00 GMT

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...

Testing Corner: Home Address or Office Address?

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:46:00 GMT

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.

Testing Corner: Humor Versus the Straight Approach

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:00:00 GMT

My client 800 Direct needed to get its message into the hands of key telemarketing managers and marketing directors of companies nationwide, a skeptical audience.
The goal was to generate leads for their in-bound telemarketing services.
As I talked about in the previous article, your envelope is a key factor in getting your piece into the hands of the decision maker. But not only is creating the envelope important, so is testing it.
Test: Shown in the image is an example of two envelopes I created for my client, 800 Direct.

Testing Corner: Lower Price Point, Higher Profits?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:27:00 GMT

Price testing is one of the most crucial tests to perform when analyzing your response rate. Price too high and it will scare your customers away; price too low and you don’t make a profit.
Often it can be tricky. What you think might be an accurate price point can be way off, and you could be losing sales daily just by not altering the price by even a small amount.
Recently two price points were tested for a website that provided a searchable database of 211 million names.
Test:The two price points tested were $29 and $34.95
Take a moment to guess which price point generated more profits.

Testing Corner: Envelope Strategies Your Direct Mail Campaign Can’t Be Without

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:34:00 GMT

I created two direct marketing envelopes for a business-to-business client. Both envelopes had the same content inside. However, each one had different teaser copy on the outside. Both envelopes had a “Special Report” enclosed to create value inside.
Test: Envelope A read “Programmer Alert" in larger red font. Underneath in a smaller black font it read, “You are in a competitive race with every programmer, not only in the U.S., but in the world. It’s time you took unfair advantage.”

Testing Corner: Myth—With Email Use Short Copy Only

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:49:00 GMT

Recently, a website that specialized in selling tech products did an interesting test on email campaigns.
Less graphics, more content will boost response
Here is an example of a typical email message that the company was sending to a list of more than 60,000 customers and prospects:
“Christmas Blowout. Coupon code GIFT 5% off any purchase. Offer expires December 31st. Not valid with any other offer. ONLY 1 COUPON PER ORDER.” [Click-through URL] Click here to send this to a friend: [link] [Subscription and removal info].
As you can probably guess, the message was heavy on the HTML/graphics and, as you can see, very low on content.
Test: Both the tone and the content of the email message was changed to include more te

Testing Corner: Website Layouts Are Crucial to Response

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:09:00 GMT

Last week, I talked about recovering abandoned online shopping carts by implementing a method that collected the consumers' email addresses early in the buying process. This method helped the conversion rate by 24%.
Well, in this week’s test, we’ll share a simple tip that improved the conversion rate by more than 80%.
Test: In an A/B split, 2 different order pages of the same website were tested in an 8-day microtest.
Page A had sales copy in two columns of copy.
Page B laid out the sales copy into a single page.

Testing Corner: Picking the Right Price Can Dramatically Boost Your Sales

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:39:00 GMT

Sometimes even a few cents can have a big impact on sales. Case in point: American Express Publishing tested three price points for one of its publications. Three of the prices were within 5 cents of each other. The biggest range in price was 50 cents. But the results were significant.
Test: Starting with a control price of $19.95, American Express compared these three price points to its control price.
$19.97
$19.99
$19.49
Before you read on, can you guess which one resulted in better sales?

Testing Corner: Study Shows Subject Lines Make a Difference...You Guess The Winner

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:16:00 GMT

I recently tested three separate subject lines for an email campaign I sent out for my client Spectrum Holdings. The audience receiving the email was mostly male investors, 50-years and older.
Note that the subject line in this case had to be tame enough for regulatory agencies and by passing filters.
Test:
The first subject line read “$100 million merger sparks growth opportunities for homeland security firm.”
The second subject line read, “Homeland security merger creates $100 million company.”
The third subject line read, “Merger creates $100 million homeland security leader.”

Testing Corner: Warning, Not Testing Your Envelope May Lead to a Costly Campaign

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:36:00 GMT

In marketing to pastors of churches, remember that they are among the most skeptical audience you can mail to. Further, they have really tough gatekeepers.
As with business-to-business marketing where you have to get by a secretary, with pastors you have to get by a church secretary.
I tested two envelopes I had created for my client Ministries Today. Both versions had a stamp that read “FREE REPORT ENCLOSED: DO NOT BEND.” However, each envelope was designed with different tease copy on the outside to get the prospect to open it.

Testing Corner: How Color Changes Can Make a Huge Difference in Response

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:07:00 GMT

The test was with a major credit card company looking for new card holders.
The Test: Test A: Entire letter in black with reverse type; Test B: Entire letter in white with black type.
The Results: Version A generated 150% more in response.

Testing Corner: Small Changes Equal BIG Results

Fri, 30 May 2008 18:37:00 GMT

I often find that just one word or small change to your copy has the potential to make a big difference in response.
In a recent test done by Marketing Experiments for an online publisher, two almost-identical sentences located near the order button were tested to see which would better impact the conversion rate.
The Test: Test Sentence A read: “7 Days Free or continue at just $24.95 for eight weeks at a savings of 50%.” Test Sentence B read: “7 Days Risk Free then continue at just $24.95 for 8 weeks (50% savings).”
What changes do you notice between the two sentences?

Testing Corner: Subject Lines Make a Difference

Tue, 20 May 2008 20:07:00 GMT

Like the teaser copy on an envelope, the goal of the email subject line is to create curiosity about the email’s content, to entice your prospect to open it and read further.
We know that 35% of recipients cited the subject line as the most important factor motivating them to open emails. (Not surprising, since the average person weeds through more than 2,200 spam emails every year—and that’s after more than 90% of them have already been stopped at the IP level.)
The Test: We recently tested two different subject lines that we created for Northwestern, one of our clients.

Testing Corner: Teasers That Make a Difference

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:49:00 GMT

The Test: This week let’s look at two pay-per-click ad headlines for the book, 46 Ways to Raise Prices. Headline A read: "The easiest price increases you’ll ever make or your money back." Headline B read: "The secrets of making customers happy to pay more."
Before you read on...take a minute to guess which headline sold more books.
The Results: Headline B pulled 67% more book sales than headline A. But what was even more dramatic, was the results from the website sales.
The website offered a “basic” package at $75 and a premium package at $99 Prospects who saw headline B were more likely to buy the premium package. The difference in profit was 81% more for headline B.
Why the difference?

Testing Corner: Unlocking the Secrets of Digital Personalization

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:44:00 GMT

With the new world of digital printing, your ability to personalize your mailings has increased exponentially.

You can change text and images to match the preferences of each recipient on your segmented list. But does this kind of personalization make a huge difference in results?

This week’s test takes a look at digital personalization.

Testing Corner: Your Prospect List—Lessons to Never Forget

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:45:00 GMT

There is an adage in the sales and marketing world that your best customer is a customer that you already have.

And for this reason you are likely to do well when you send a mailing to people who have purchased from you before.

But what about the almost-ran.

Testing Corner: Email Subject Lines Make or Break Your Campaign

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:28:00 GMT

The subject line you put on your email is one of the two most important aspects of whether your email gets opened or instantly deleted.

As I talked about last issue, over 60% of your prospects are going to use the “from” line to weed out a lot of emails. But the second indicator that will be looked at to see if your email is worthy of a deeper look is the subject line.

Testing Corner: On Your Website Little Differences Mean Significant Results

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:03:00 GMT

The fact is that the Web offers an easy and fairly inexpensive venue to try out everything—from a bold new concept, to comparing headlines, to very subtle little changes to see how they will affect response.

We know of many marketers who routinely use their Web sites as a way to test new ideas before they try them in the mail or in print.

Does Envelope Color Make a Difference?

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:12:00 GMT

Marketers can and should test every individual campaign to see where they can improve customer response and learn important information for the future.

By testing only one variable (such as teaser copy, price, offer or format), you can see what makes a difference, and what does not. This information will lead to a higher return on investment with each mailing.

Test: Graphics-Driven vs. Copy-Driven Magalog Cover

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:12:00 GMT

Marketers can and should test every individual campaign to see where they can improve customer response and learn important information for the future.

By testing only one variable (such as teaser copy, price, offer or format), you can see what makes a difference, and what does not. This information will lead to a higher return on investment with each mailing.

Test: Do Toll-Free Phone Numbers Generate a Higher Response Than Local Numbers

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:54:00 GMT

Marketers can and should test every individual campaign to see where there is room for improvement.

By changing only one variable like product, target audience, offer, creative, or format with each test, you can figure out how to generate a higher return on investment with future mailings.