Thursday, April 4, 2013

Tool Lets You Gauge 'Gut' Vs. A/B Test Results

Testing is a direct marketing mantra, yet some are still tempted to go with their "gut" instead of disciplined A/B testing. The website whichtestwon.com is a great tool for learning from others and humbling any overconfidence in "gut feel." The site has a weekly showcase of A/B testing examples from marketing efforts by a variety of industries using a variety of channels; it lets you predict which test won and then check your opinion against other marketers and the actual in-market performance results. For an instructive example, take a look at a recent GetElastic e-commerce blog article about whichtestwon A/B testing results for landing pages from the gaming industry. Check your savvy against results. You may find yourself in the majority of marketers who got it wrong! A hint on some of the lessons: clear call to action, clear value proposition, and reduced requirements for action scored better. Seems like a no-brainer? See if you can spot the winners at http://www.getelastic.com/test-your-gut-3-ab-tests-from-the-gaming-industry/, or go to the whichtestwon.com site a take a look at over 350 testing cases by industry, channel, element tested, and more.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Late-Night E-mails Have Top Performance

Go figure: If you call late at night, you're likely to get more curses than revenue; but if you e-mail late at night, you'll reap the best response and profit. At least that's the finding of the recent Experian CheetahMail analysis of 4th Quarter 2012 e-mails. E-mails sent between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m. garnered higher open and click-through rates, more transactions, larger orders, and greater revenue per e-mail than e-mails sent at any other time of day. The improved performance of late-night messaging was dramatic: E-mails sent during the evening time slot averaged a return of 48 cents per e-mail, more than triple the overall average of 14 cents per e-mail. To read more about the study, see http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Want-Better-Email-Revenue-Send-Late-Night/1009771