When it comes to creating a test plan, we often hear companies say, "I'm just finishing up doing a few email campaigns, and then I'm finishing up a new page design, and then I can begin testing."
That mentality, while understandable, diminishes the power of testing by defining it as a project unto itself, rather than as something to be incorporated into your existing plans.
Instead, look at the priorities you've built into your marketing plan: If you're doing an email campaign, test different messages to see which generates the better response. Doing a new product page design? Test it for maximum conversions. If you're ramping up your Google adwords, start by testing your landing pages.
This has two benefits - you will get better results from the campaigns than without testing, and you can use the staff you already have instead of creating a new project with new staffing requirements.
In other words, getting value out of testing doesn't have to be a painful and complicated process, because all you really have to do is take what you're already doing and incorporate testing into it.
Here are 5 steps to help you get started:
1. Match testing with marketing activities
Look at this quarter's marketing mix and plan to test your most important campaigns. For example, if you plan to run a shipping promotion, you might test various thresholds to see which brings optimum results: "Spend $100 dollars and get free shipping" vs. "Spend $150 and get free shipping."
2. Look at the issues that spark arguments
If you find that different divisions within your company continually have differing beliefs about the campaigns or treatments that work best, plan to test those issues.
You may begin the process believing the tests will either vindicate or refute your views. But as you increasingly incorporate testing into your campaigns, you'll discover an interesting thing: Internal battles are soon diffused before the lines are even drawn in the sand. You don't have to argue, because you can test all your best theories and find a winner that really works.
3. What are your ongoing internal questions?
Just as every company has internal battles, every company also has unanswered questions that come up time and again.
Think of the internal debates that plague you. If you continually run the pros and cons of direct campaigns vs. branding campaigns, or whether photos or illustrations inspire customers to purchase more, those are good places to run a test.
4. Consider these particular areas for starters
We find that companies often lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in the shopping cart alone, so a great place to start is with cart optimization. In fact, you can stay there as long as it takes until you reach a point of diminishing returns.
Looking at high-volume, pay-per-click landing pages or email campaign landing pages is a strong next step, because you want to make sure that what visitors see when they hit your website is the most relevant and compelling it can be.
Then consider product pages and category pages: explore large vs. small images, more vs. fewer images, editorial content in paragraphs vs. bullets, and the general usability of those pages.
Finally, test your offers: 10% vs. free shipping, for example, along with the imagery on how you present the offer.
5. Test, optimize, repeat
By having a plan to run ongoing tests in place, you'll find that when the results of a particular test aren't thrilling (maybe you get a solid 6% bump instead of an outstanding 36% bump), it doesn't really matter. There's always the next campaign, and the next test, coming along.
You'll also find that, as you're increasingly able to measure results, divisions between brand marketing and direct marketing begin to blur.
The more you fold testing into your daily business plan, you'll soon realize that you've stopped thinking of the process as testing and started thinking of it simply as marketing.