WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM A/B TESTING?

Transcription

1 MARKETING ADVISOR COMMUNICATIONS GROUP ISSUE FORTY-SIX WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM A/B TESTING? ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: DO YOU KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS CHANNEL PREFERENCES? GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR ONLINE PRINT PORTAL

2 Do You Know Your Customers Channel Preferences?

3 Using multichannel marketing to stay in touch with customers and increase engagement? Effective marketers are. But how do you know which channels to use and when? How do you stay abreast of the ways your customers want to receive information from you? Are you just guessing? Customer-centric marketing starts with knowing your customers channel preferences and working within them. For example, if your customers consistently order out of your product catalog, don t switch to simply because you think it saves money. If your customers are more likely to remember appointments when sent text reminders, don t send them a postcard. Brands are becoming increasingly sensitive to these issues. According to Experian Marketing Services State of Cross-Channel Marketing Report (2014), the number of brands collecting customers communication channel preferences increased by 50% year over year. Channel preferences include not just which channels customers use, but the types of messages sent and how frequently. According to Experian, brands are 65% more likely to allow customers to select the types of messages they Watch what they do. What offers are customers responding to and by which channels? Did they respond to the catalog or the ? The postcard or the Facebook ad? Add channel response as a field in your customer database. If customers consistently use certain channels for certain types of interactions, you need to know that. would like to receive and 48% are more likely to let them choose how often they would like to receive . Asking (and honoring) channel preferences not only increases response rates, but it improves customer loyalty. By respecting customers preferences, you show that you care. In fact, those who don t honor channel preferences risk higher levels of customer attrition. According to Accenture, 44% of insurance customers, for example, say they would switch providers if they couldn t use their preferred channels during the claims process. Channel preferences matter. Ask them. Use surveys, feedback forms, customer service interactions, , and even the point of sale. Each time you interact with your customers, give them an opportunity to provide or update their preferences. (This is also a great HOW CAN YOU FIND OUT YOUR CUSTOMERS CHANNEL? way to gather additional data, such as mobile numbers!) Knowing customers channel behavior and preferences is foundational to any multichannel marketing program. Need help gathering those preferences? We can help. photos istock.com 1

4 GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR ONLINE PRINT PORTAL So you ve added an online resource for ordering and managing your printed projects. Whatever you call it Web-to-print, print commerce, online document management these web-based portals allow you to streamline ordering, more tightly manage your inventory, and improve your costs.

5 Some companies centralize control by requiring all of their employees to use the portal. Others simply store their documents online for easy access, customization, and ordering ad hoc. However you use these solutions, there are some simple steps you can take to get the most out of them. 1 Make the link accessible. 2 Have a launch plan. 3 Add it to your onboarding process. 4 Be responsive to how people are using the system. 5 Have a champion inside the company. How do you access the system? Place the link in an area of your website that users are regularly accessing throughout the course of their day. Make it easy to find. Don t assume that just because the solution is there, people will use it. Set up a plan to let employees know about the system, educate them on how to navigate it, and continually promote it within the company. (Need help developing a plan? Ask us to help!) When people get hired within your company, include the print portal as part of their onboarding. If they start using the system from the outset, they ll keep doing it. If you already manage your documents online, ask people how they use it and how you can make the process easier. Is the site easy to navigate? Does it contain the documents employees need and use? (Many portals contain old and outdated documents that are rarely or never used.) Do you need to add new documents? If so, which ones? Have someone inside the company whose job it is to continually champion the system. Maybe that s someone inside your communications department. Maybe it s a super user inside each department. Maybe it s you! Companies that regularly utilize their print portals experience significant benefits from streamlined ordering, lower costs, less waste, and better brand management. But those benefits can only be achieved if the system is actively used. These five steps will go a long way toward helping you maximize the benefits of these powerful tools. photos istock.com 3

6 WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM A/B TESTING? Think you know everything about your customers? After all, you already target based on demographics. You regularly send out surveys to better understand their behavior. You even update their channel preferences. What else can you still learn? A lot. On the marketing blog of Unbounce, which allows marketers to build, publish, and test landing pages, Unbounce described four case studies and the critical lessons learned from A/B testing in each one. The conclusion? Never take your understanding of your customers for granted. Let s take a brief look at each one. TEST SafeSoft Solutions One marketer, SafeSoft Solutions, had a slick, professional ad that was doing well. The headline promoted productivity and efficiency. It used attentiongrabbing, easy-to-read bullet points to outline the benefits of its services. It offered an easy call to action. But the ad did not contain pricing information. SafeSoft decided to test the addition of a green starburst with the pricing inside. The result? A 100% increase in conversions. Lesson learned? Customers want to know the pricing upfront! TEST HubSpot Not all trial offers are created equal. For some companies, a seven-day offer might be perfect. For others, customers might need a longer trial period to fully explore the solution. When HubSpot A/B tested its trial offer, for example, it found that prospects needed more time to make a decision. By switching from a seven-day trial to a 30-day trial, it boosted conversions by 110%.

7 TEST Inbound Strategy photos istock.com Does placement of the CTA make a difference in conversions? Inbound Strategy wanted to find out. It tweaked the site s landing page, added more information, and played with the location of the CTA. The results? When the CTA was moved from the right-hand side of the page to the left, there was a 217% increase in conversions compared to the control landing page and Variant A. These examples have lessons for us, TEST as well. Whether you are working EA Sports with print, , landing pages, or any other channel, if you re not doing A/B testing on a regular basis, you re missing EA Sports, known for its high-end image, created and tested two versions of one of its ads. One was a traditional advertisement on a black background with slick photography. The other was a sketch done in Microsoft Paint with a childlike drawing of a race car. Guess which one performed best? Lesson learned sometimes more simplistic ads can pique people s interest more. opportunities. What insights and higher conversion rates might you be missing? 5

8 MARKETING ADVISOR PRSRT STD U S POSTAGE PAID ORLANDO FL PERMIT NO COMMUNICATIONS GROUP 110 Atlantic Drive Maitland, FL Scan the QR code & take a tour of ACG Get the free QR Code Reader application for your phone at or /2016 Referral Rewards Program TELL OTHERS ABOUT US AND YOU COULD WIN A $100 DARDEN RESTAURANT GIFT CARD AND A NEW 60 LCD TELEVISION! Abbott Communications Group Referral Reward Program We ve built our business by taking special care of our customers. And it shows in the large number of people who call us because you recommend us. Naturally we want to grow - but only with the right kind of client. Clients like you. Our best new clients call us because you recommend us, so we LOVE it when you talk about the special treatment & exceptional service you receive from us! Now we want to add a little FUN and reward YOU for referring us. Tell a client, a friend, a co-worker, an acquaintance... whoever... about us. When they contact us and tell us you sent them, you receive: #1 A chance to win our Monthly Drawing for a $100 Darden Gift Card. #2 A chance to win the grand prize. On Wednesday, August 3, 2016 we ll conduct a random drawing from all chances for the Grand Prize that qualified from September 1, 2015 to July 29, The grand prize winner will receive a 60 LCD Flat Screen TV. There is NO limit to the number of people you can refer (they don t even have to become a customer) or the number of times your name can be entered to win. As an added bonus, for every referral we receive, a $5 print donation will be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Call Us Now! or send an to info@abbottcg.com Or have your referral call your CSR or Sales Representative directly.