Of all the mistakes a small business owner can make,
possibly none will cost more than failing to test one
aspect against another. In order words, testing one price
against another. One headline against another. One ad
against another.
There is an “A-B” test. That’s the common terminology for
testing your offer, headlines, pricing, ads, or services.
We create two different ads, an A and a B, two different
headlines, and two different mailings to determine which
obtains the greater response or sales or referrals.
The key to an A-B test is to set it up so you can quantify
and measure it properly and track those results with the
goal to zero in on the one or two choices that are
Preferable over the others.
Then you roll out a new untested product or marketing
strategy in this manner, and by mailing to a small test
area, say 500-1,000, you can save yourself in the event of
a failure untold thousands of dollars.
Most of the time you can conduct multiple A-B tests
simultaneously on the same product, ad, headline, price,
etc. before selecting the final strategy. I recommend if
your product or service is conducive to this type of
approach, in other words, creating a modest direct mail
campaign for conducting the A-B test to do it.
Direct mail is the method of choice because it can be put
together relatively quickly and inexpensively.
The prospects to whom you direct your mailing to in a
one-step approach will either respond or not respond with a
purchase or inquiry. No intermediate steps, calls or
visits. That way it involves a fairly standard set of steps
or procedures to take.
Your two other major goals should be in using A-B tests to
verify what people will actually buy and determine whether
you are able to reach these individuals with the marketing
campaign that you intend to launch so that they will buy
from you.
You must be able to think of the purpose of an A -B test as
a way to uncover the best and most profitable mix of
products, services, price incentives and guarantees that
will encourage your prospects to buy.
A word of caution: many organizations try to determine this
information by sending out surveys. Sometimes this works
and sometimes it doesn’t. There are statistics that show
that people rate the Bible as the highest read book and the
National Inquirer as the least read. When you look at
purchase statistics, they show that more people read the
Inquirer in one week than all other books or pamphlets.
You don’t necessarily want to determine. who will buy
things just by a survey. You want them to vote with their
dollars.
Copyright 2005
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Abe Cherian is the founder of Multiple Stream Media,
a leading performance-based Internet advertising
company dedicated in helping small businesses create
online presence, brand recognition and online automation.
Main company web site:
Abe Cherian’s online automation system has helped
thousands of marketers online build, manage and grow
their business. Learn how it can benefit you too.
