Think Big when Testing

Written By Ted Grigg

There are numerous articles related to testing. So why publish yet another list?

For one, this list disagrees on some points made by other marketers. The other relates to the length of the list.

The shorter the list, the easier it is to remember and apply.

DMCG Results

When discussing testing with one of my respected fellow direct marketers, I mentioned that companies really hire direct marketing consultants to advise them of what to test. Experienced direct marketers should know that time, money and resources to test and analyze results are always limited. In this context, consultants should know what testing scenarios are most likely to succeed.

In my opinion, here are the primary objectives of direct response testing.

  1. Improve results - beat existing controls that consistently yield the allowable cost per sale or cost per lead.

  1. Scalability - make sure that successful tests deliver significant rollout potential in order to maximize revenue.

  1. Breadth - test broadly to uncover breakthrough opportunities as quickly as possible.

  1. Media synergies - test media combinations that lift response to penetrate target markets more cost effectively.

  1. Quantifiable results - make sure your test quantities provide enough quantity to analyze the backend results reliably.

The area that breeds significant conflict for professional direct marketers is "testing broadly".

My take is that marketers need to concentrate on the big things rather than small incremental improvements that rarely beat existing controls. The differences are often less than 5-10% in lift. 

Focus rather on breakthrough opportunities that beat controls by at least 20-50%. Doing so still isolates small incremental lifts as a by product.

In large programs, it is a waste of time trying to figure out if that 4 page letter outputs a 2 page letter. Or adding a lift note increases response by 5% or even 10%. These mini steps take too long. The market will change during the one to two year period it takes to test all of these things.

Think big and resist the temptation to over think the small stuff. Small yields small results. Big, on the other hand, brings business changing new opportunities.

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
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