With all the changes going on with customer demands and expectations, consumer behaviors and preferences, and changing market conditions, rolling out the right marketing campaigns is essential for business success. Over half of the success of a direct marketing campaign is due to having sales leads with the right target, targeting the right audience, and using the right list.
Why Test?
Unlike traditional marketing and advertising, testing is the foundation of direct marketing. Because of quantitative nature, direct marketing and its elements are very conducive to testing.
Testing is done to learn what works and what doesn’t work with your respective target markets. It is when two or more variations of one variable are compared to one another simultaneously with all other variables the same.
Testing your direct marketing in small groups will help you determine which variables will lead to the greatest success. Once testing is complete, you can roll out your entire campaign based on the most successful test results. Testing takes businesses closer to defining the best campaigns.
What to Test?
There are several variables that have an effect on your purchase and response rates:
The format of the marketing vehicle. Should you mail out a postcard or a letter?
The offer. Are you offering something for free, or a premium conditional upon a sale and/or response?
The target. Are you delivering your target to the right audience?
Color and design. Which set of creative artwork get more response than another?
Subject line of an e-mail. This is the most common place to start the testing of a direct e-mail marketing message.
When to Test
• When you want to improve response/sales
• To improve profitability, cost control, and ROI
• When you want to expand to a new audience or new market
• When considering a new marketing vehicle
• To test a particular demographic variable within your target market
• To test particular timing for delivery of your marketing (seasonality, frequency, etc.)
Tips
• Keep track of your testing.
• Keep testing methods simple.
• The larger the test sample. The more reliable the results.
