The Reason You Test In Direct Response Marketing Is To Gain Information
Recently, I completed a short email marketing campaign for a an online consumer goods company.
Previously, they sent HTML emails which were produced in house. Their past 8 email promotions resulted in Zero sales. Zilch. Nil. Nada.
They asked for my help
After reviewing their past 8 promotions and looking at their top 2 competitors, I started from scratch. I wrote an entire email campaign that was completely opposite of what they tried before.
It was a multi-step email campaign (instead of a one-off email). The first two emails in the series had long copy rather than their typical short copy HTML email. And it was laid-out in very simple, plain, and “boring” text (no colorful or flashy HTML graphics).
There were other features (which I won’t discuss in this article) such as the use of headlines, subject lines, double offer, A-B test emails, and the angle of the email’s copy.
The client had some resistance accepting my suggestions since the emails I had in mind were “ugly”.
But they went with it since their past promotions brought in Zero dollars.
We sent the emails and …
They weren’t ecstatic with the results
Damn. I hate it when that happens. Especially since we got a response and results from the mailing.
We sold an average of $0.93 per name on their mailing list. It’s not a king’s ransom per name but that’s relative (I’m not mentioning how many thousands of contacts they mailed, nor what’s the industry average for this kind of promotion, nor their margins).
I felt we had a very successful email campaign because…
0 for 8 was their previous track record
I got it to move from zero to almost a dollar in one short campaign. Their product is a consumer good that is bought with disposable (extra) income, in one of the worst economies the World has ever seen.
And by completing this campaign we learned many things about their customer.
And that’s the point — every marketing action you take gives you a result. You might have a successful campaign, but don’t know it because you’re not measuring. Not keeping track.
Data is just that. Data. It’s not good or bad — it has no opinion of it’s own. What you should do, though, is treat it as a point of reference. Use it like a clue in a murder mystery.
Analyzing marketing and sales data is a full-time job in itself
Luckily you don’t need a CSI (crime scene investigator) degree to pull out good and logical information that increases your profits.
Here is some low level analysis that my client learned about his customers in this campaign:
- They do respond to long and intriguing copy
- They respond to a multi-step approach
- They respond to the bonuses we offered
- My client does have customers sitting on the fence who need an extra push to make a purchase
- They respond to direct response style copy
- They have disposable income
Fortunately, I had a chance to explain my point of view with my client and convince them that the campaign created successful results. Results that they can use and mimic in future promotions.
In other words, each marketing campaign or client communication leaves clues that can be used and built upon to help make future campaigns more successful.
Even failed (zero sales) campaigns are valuable. They give you clues of what your market does NOT like. Sometimes that’s more valuable than knowing what they do like.
The good news is we’re in discussions about their next promotion for early 2009.
What’s your opinion dear reader? Leave a comment and share with everyone else.
Filed under: advertising, business leverage, copywriting copywriter, direct mail, direct marketing, email marketing, marketing, street smart marketing | Tagged: copywriting copywriter, direct marketing, low cost no cost marketing, marketing creativity, street smart marketing
Good post, Robert, and spot on.
I find clients come to me with very unrealistic expectations, partly because of wishful thinking and desperation (in the current economy), and partly because they’ve been hoodwinked by all the over-hyped claims made by copywriting and marketing “gurus”. We all know who they are.
Truth is, though, even “greats” like Dan Kennedy don’t claim more than something like a 1:8 success rate, and we never get to see their failures and we hear about them only as if they happened in the dim and distant past.
Testing is of course the key. Trouble is, many clients don’t want to do this – they have the promise and lure of instant cash in their eyes and they don’t want to be told it takes time and <> work!
This is one reason I stopped writing one-off pieces for clients a long time ago, and instead engaged them in a long-term committment to building a system.
Too many people see marketing as an event and not a process.
– Jon
I agree with your comments as well. Marketing, Advertising, and Sales is an exercise in making a profit with a minority of successful situations. Inherently, clients understand this – they just don’t want to listen to it…
It’s not limited to marketing and sales. Successful stock/option/FOREX traders have more failed trades than winners. Venture capitalists have more failed start-ups than winners. In most sports there are more failed attempts to score than actual points scored, and in personal romantic relationships its the same – many more frogs than princesses/or princes.