David Ogilvy
Have you ever thought about the difference between real world knowledge and book smart knowledge? Reading a book about how to garden and actually spending your time working in a garden are two very different things.
As a direct marketer, one of the best ways to improve your mail campaigns is to test them. If a marketer wanted to grow some flowers in his hypothetical garden he could read a book about how to do it or he could go outside and start planting seeds in his yard. By actually getting his hands dirty (pun intended) he would figure out what flowers grow better in the summer and what flowers require more/less water than others.
The first thing to do before a test is identify the 5 W's:
Who am I testing?
What am I testing?
Where am I testing?
When am I testing?
Why am I testing?
Also identify the most important variables and how many restrictions you have. Restrictions can be anything from location to budget to time frame.
Do you know what you are testing now? If you are working on a new marketing program, focus on big issues. This includes the actual product or service you are promoting, the list you are sending to, prices, and offers. If you are testing an already established campaign, look at the format of your piece. Are there any new creative outlets you can incorporate into the mail to make it stand out more? Are you using color effectively? To make the most impact with an already existing piece, keep it simple and focus on enhancing the basics.
As with anything you do, it's important to recognize your ultimate goal. This helps your overall focus. When testing a campaign your goal should be to boost response rates and increase your ROI. Every market is unique. When testing the basics, your mail piece should be just that. Basic. Use simple and straightforward copy. Stick to copy and formatting that has been successful in the past. It is important to feel confident in your mail piece when testing new lists, offers, prices, or products.
When is the best time to test your mail? With every mailing, there is an opportunity to learn and boost your ROI. Don't miss out on valuable opportunities to make each mail piece more successful than the last. You also don't want to test too many variables at once. Stick to one variable at a time so that your results are focused. If you test five different variables at five separate times, you are going to have a very strong mail piece in the end.
We want to know: How often do you test your mail? What variables, in your opinion, are the most important for you to test?
