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11.06 – Testing Your Direct Marketing Strategy

Testing various messages and channels is crucial to determining what works best for your industry, customer database, and offers. By experimenting with different approaches, you can find the ideal combination of channels, messages, and offers for your brand and audience.

The Advantages of Testing in Direct Marketing

Direct marketing provides an easy and affordable way to test different strategies. If you’re not testing your campaigns, you might be wasting money and missing opportunities to understand what works, what doesn’t, and how to optimise your efforts.

Guidelines for Effective Testing

Goals

Establish clear goals before executing your tests. Define what you want to learn, when you need this information, and how you will conduct the test. Besides identifying which creative and offer combinations perform best, aim to learn more about your customers. Use each test to gain insights into customer segmentation based on purchase cycles, lifestyles, preferences, and other factors to enhance personalisation and effectiveness.

Variables

 Test only a few variables at a time. Testing too many variables simultaneously can make it difficult to determine the actual influence of each one. For instance, if you’re testing two creative design options, keep the offer the same so you can clearly identify which aspect drove the response.

Metrics

 Establish clear metrics to document responses and sales from each campaign. Use coding systems for response cards, offers, incentives, and campaign timing. For example, if you’re sending a letter package in May 2022 offering a 10% discount, the code might be: DM0522NC10 – Direct Mail May 2022 New Customer 10 percent off

 

Use different URLs and phone numbers for various print packages to track what works best for response and conversion.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is straightforward and powerful. Send out two versions of the same campaign at the same time to similar test cells and compare the results. Once you identify a winner, continue testing that piece against new ideas. This method helps you learn quickly and adapt effectively.

 

A/B testing can involve simple changes like testing different colours, CTA graphic placements, photos, incentives, headlines, or subject lines.

Documentation

Keep detailed records of which customers responded to which offers and when. This information helps you segment customers based on their purchasing behaviours and preferences.

Additional Testing Variables

Consider testing a wide range of variables, such as:

Conducting Clean Tests

To ensure your tests provide reliable results, follow these steps:

  • Randomisation: Randomly assign your audience into test groups to avoid bias.
  • Consistency: Keep all other elements constant except the variable you’re testing.
  • Sample Size: Ensure your sample size is large enough to produce statistically significant results.
  • Analysis: Use appropriate statistical methods to analyse the data and draw valid conclusions.

By following these guidelines and continuously testing different elements of your direct marketing strategy, you can refine your approach, maximise your ROI, and better meet your customers’ needs.