Right now is THE best time to step up your e-mail testing. Why? Because many of your competitors are pulling back – both on their marketing budgets in aggregate and on testing specifically. You can gain the advantage and determine what’s working and what is not post haste today because your competition has likely buried their test plans and are afraid to spend.
Yes, testing takes an investment in time and resources, often including additional funds. However, the outcome is often worth the risk, especially now.
Proper testing will increase your ROI, but also enable you to learn. The more you know about what works the best, the better you can market to segments that emerge as your marketing programs evolve.
1. Simple IS Better
It’s imperative to go back to the basics. Think about your business and marketing objectives and what you need to learn to improve. What variables will make the most difference in your results? Create a plan for your testing that will lead to methodical improvements.
Test only one element at a time, and use appropriate quantities to provide statistical significance. Or, if you are testing multiple elements, add separate test cells to your testing matrix. While this seems obvious to e-mail veterans, time and again we have clients who are confused about this. For example, if you test the subject line and sender/from line at the same time within the same test cells, you will never know which element provided a lift.
Recognize the importance of your lists, offers/positioning, creative and the timing of your touches, in that order. No matter what the current economic conditions are like, lists still make up the majority of your marketing success—40% to 50%. This is especially true in e-mail, where rented lists seldom work and house files often go without updates far too long. Understanding this, along with the power of relevant offers (30% to 35% of your success) is critical to jump-start your response rates and lift your results.
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