How Testing Your Marketing Can Improve Your Bottom Line
How Testing Your Marketing Can Improve Your Bottom Line
I recently ran a direct mail campaign for a new product I was launching. I was excited about it. I had thought through all of the details. It looked like a winner to me.
I decided not to worry about testing. It was relatively inexpensive, but the sample was large. I could have easily broken it down into several groups. Each one receiving a different offer. However I was impatient I wanted to get on with it. After all, I had done this many times, I was sure it would work.
Guess what, it bombed! How could I have been so wrong?
I received one of the worst response levels I have ever had. I could have mailed a test to a small sample of the list I used, measured the response and tweaked my mailing for the next round. Now it is too late. I have spent the money and have nothing to show for it. The mailing cost more than I received in orders.
Do this on a large scale and it can break the bank. Especially if you do it often. (Perhaps I qualify as a Marketing Moron.)
So what should I have done. One of the biggest advantages of direct mail is that you can test your offer on a small group of your target prospects. If it works, you can then mail to a larger group and it is reasonable to expect similar results. On the other hand, if your test does poorly, you shouldn't bother mailing that offer to similar lists.
So, what should you test? Here are two suggestions that can significantly impact your profitability:
1. Test your mailing with and without certain elements. You may find that you get a much better response with one headline versus another, or you may find a mailing without a brochure out-pulls one with a brochure included. Wouldn't you want to know that before spending the big bucks on mailing a more expensive package?
2. You can try different prices. For example if you are selling seminars, you can offer one group a price of $279 while offering another group $349. You may be surprised to find that the lowest price does not always create the best response.
There are many other elements you can test: your envelope, your offer, your list, response mechanism, personalization…
How Testing Your Marketing Can Improve Your Bottom Line - To learn more about this author, visit Michael Hepworth's Website.
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No one knows for sure if any marketing idea is going to work until they try it, yet many business owners get an idea and implement it. While taking action is an important contributor to success, this approach can be costly.
I recently ran a direct mail campaign for a new product I was launching. I was excited about it. I had thought through all of the details. It looked like a winner to me.
I decided not to worry about testing. It was relatively inexpensive, but the sample was large. I could have easily broken it down into several groups. Each one receiving a different offer. However I was impatient I wanted to get on with it. After all, I had done this many times, I was sure it would work.
Guess what, it bombed! How could I have been so wrong?
I received one of the worst response levels I have ever had. I could have mailed a test to a small sample of the list I used, measured the response and tweaked my mailing for the next round. Now it is too late. I have spent the money and have nothing to show for it. The mailing cost more than I received in orders.
Do this on a large scale and it can break the bank. Especially if you do it often. (Perhaps I qualify as a Marketing Moron.)
So what should I have done. One of the biggest advantages of direct mail is that you can test your offer on a small group of your target prospects. If it works, you can then mail to a larger group and it is reasonable to expect similar results. On the other hand, if your test does poorly, you shouldn't bother mailing that offer to similar lists.
So, what should you test? Here are two suggestions that can significantly impact your profitability:
1. Test your mailing with and without certain elements. You may find that you get a much better response with one headline versus another, or you may find a mailing without a brochure out-pulls one with a brochure included. Wouldn't you want to know that before spending the big bucks on mailing a more expensive package?
2. You can try different prices. For example if you are selling seminars, you can offer one group a price of $279 while offering another group $349. You may be surprised to find that the lowest price does not always create the best response.
There are many other elements you can test: your envelope, your offer, your list, response mechanism, personalization…
How Testing Your Marketing Can Improve Your Bottom Line - To learn more about this author, visit Michael Hepworth's Website.
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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