Testing Matters – Don’t forget
In 2012, Adobe conducted a
Digital Marketing Optimization Survey that questioned participants on their best practices for increasing online conversions. Sadly, their responses to question on testing revealed that it simply isn't a priority for many marketers. Over half of the respondents admitted that they perform little to no A/B or multivariate testing while creating a campaign or developing a website. Only 10 percent of survey respondents said they commonly use testing to improve their campaigns.
Testing brings hard science to a discipline usually regarded as an art form. It's okay for you to believe you have a killer call to action (CTA) or a killer banner ad you can't improve, but why not subject it to some hard numbers? In the movie business, they have focus groups. These people watch new films and give their feedback to the studio. Based on that feedback, studios will often demand changes to the film before it hits the public. This mechanical approach to storytelling may not produce a better film, but it almost always produces a film easier to sell. In the digital marketing realm, you don't have to get it right the first time. Instead, you can use strict testing methods while letting real customers tell you which approach works best. If that means your precious banner design has to go, then that's what it means. After all, are you in the art business or the money business?
Also, what once worked may not work again. Too many digital marketers experience their first successes with a certain approach and then never think to tweak that approach as returns diminish. Making money with an online venture isn't that hard. It doesn't take a genius, but it does take commitment. If you want to make as much money as you would at a full-time job, you have to put in full-time hours. At the least, you must hire someone to put in those hours for you. And many of those hours should be spent in testing. There's no such thing as the perfect landing page or the perfect cover letter. The more time you spend testing, however, the closer you can get to perfection.