Testing is the backbone of any solid direct response campaign and business. Whether your business is mature or still in the launch phase, testing is necessary to keep your approach fresh and your product valuable to your customers—and profitable to your company.
A solid testing plan—whether you're testing a new audience list, media channel, offer, copy, premium offer, headline, or whatever—must be an integral part of your business.
Setting up a proper testing plan is crucial. There are smart ways to test that allow you to capitalize on results quickly and intelligently. You want to be in a position that leaves no doubt whether the results are statistically valid.
Here are some of the key criteria to keep in mind when testing:
- Why testing must be incorporated in your business strategy
- The key "ingredients" that any testing campaign must contain
- Test smart to increase audience or revenue share (or both)
- Testing = increased revenue to your business
Why Testing Must Be Incorporated in Your Business Strategy
Consistent, smart testing must be done to spell out whether you are targeting the right audience, with the right message, with the right offer, at the right time. There is no way to know this without measurable feedback. Products mature, human needs and values change, and many things (price, message, current events to name a few) can affect how viable and valuable your product is viewed in the marketplace.
By incorporating a sound testing policy for all (or one) of these components, a business has the necessary information to keep their products relevant and valuable to their targeted audience.
Key Ingredients of Any Testing Campaign
There are smart ways to test that keep costs to a minimum and allow you to act quickly on results with confidence:
- Only test one variable at a time.
- Test significant variables that will make a difference in how you market your product.
- Test across a wide segment of your core audience.
- Make sure test cells are statistically significant.
- Make sure results are executable with ease and, preferably, transferable.
Test Smart
Testing takes time and money, so do it intelligently. If possible, test things that are significantly different from what your current offer. For example, if your price point is $0.99 think twice about testing a dollar amount that will give you only a marginal increase in revenue (for example $1.00 vs. $0.99).
The same thinking can be applied to subject lines, offers, premiums, copy, audience breadth, and so on. Test significant differences. The whole purpose behind testing is to increase your audience or wallet share. The premise behind "smart testing" is to limit your testing dollars and time investment to get the biggest bang for your dollars.
Make Sure Test Cells Are Readable and Actionable
The size of your audience and your response rates will dictate how large a test cell will be required to accurately read whatever variable you're testing. The one mistake I've seen time and time again is testing too narrowly. Make sure that you're testing a good cross-section of your core audience. Don't test new audiences that you don't know about.
Too often, when a business tests something, the results are statistically insignificant because the testing cells and protocol were set up incorrectly. It is imperative that a control environment be set up in the beginning of your testing cycle and, if possible, outside influences kept to a minimum while testing is taking place.
Testing to Ensure That Results Are Easily Executable
"Time is of the essence" is a cliché that nevertheless applies to this part of your business. Make sure that once you read results you can act and execute swiftly. We live in a world with constant change and something that is applicable today may not be tomorrow.
If you tested something and it worked, make sure your test is easily executable; you want to roll out quickly and with confidence. The worst-possible scenario is thinking you have a winner but being unable to act immediately.
