VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business

How to Get Your Customers to Grow Your Business for You

This article by VerticalResponse CEO and founder Janine Popick originally appeared on The Huffington Post.

If you're running a successful business by your standards, then good for you. But I'm going to drop this bomb: It could be better by leaps and bounds just by asking your customers the simple question, "How did you hear about us?"

You might think I'm nuts saying you could grow your business that much with word-of-mouth, but I'm not.

We tested this out at my online marketing company, VerticalResponse. Any small business can sign up for our service by providing a few pieces of information to get a free account automatically set up. But for this test (which we ran for about six months), we included a drop down menu on the sign-up page that asked, "How did you hear about us?" In the menu, there were answers like "article," "online ad" and "search engine," but the No. 1 way people heard about us was simply, "friend."

Now, I thought my team members had gone off the deep end telling me that many of our new customers probably came from existing customers. We even had the drop down menu dynamically display these answers in random order so people weren't just choosing the first one on the list. And still, the number one answer was, "friend."

To take it one step further, 50 percent of all people who came directly to our website to sign up for our service cited "friend" when asked how they heard about us.

That's pretty powerful stuff. I'm sure that our business isn't that much different from yours in terms of how people get their information and make a decision.

So what can you do right now? 

• Ask the question on your website. Do it directly to your customers and at your location. Look at trends to see if anything changes. You might find that positive changes you make to your business have an up-and-to-the-right effect when it comes to referrals.


• Start a refer-a-friend program. A few of your customers might not mind getting rewarded for the referrals they bring you; some might just like to be your advocate.


• Crank up your remarkableness. Since you're probably already doing some really great things for your customers to refer you, do even more really great things that are worth talking about. Stay open later, have proactive chats on your website, get to know your customers better by using a contact management software program, and engage with them directly through social networks.


• Listen to your customers. If your customers are telling you they want you to change specific things about your business and you take their ideas and put them to work, great! Tell them they've been heard in an email, on Facebook and Twitter.

The bottom line is that spending money on advertising alone just doesn't work anymore. You are not the proud owner of your brand; your customers are. Listen to them and do whatever you can to make them happy, and watch your business grow – by leaps and bounds.

 

Posted by Janine Popick

Janine Popick is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter at @janinepopick, and check out more of her Huffington Post columns.

 

 

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7 Free Apps That Will Make Life Better

This article by VerticalResponse CEO and founder Janine Popick originally appeared on Inc.com.

Who doesn’t like the word free? I know I sure do. The great thing about being an entrepreneur these days is the huge variety of free or low-cost online business tools out there to help keep everything organized and your company running smoothly. It seems like every day I hear or read about a shiny new app or service promising to save me time and money. It’s hard to resist saying, “Sign me up!” … Especially if it’s free.

Here are seven free (or next to free) business tools that I can’t live without:

Animoto: We’ve all heard how video can increase engagement with customers and attract more eyeballs than just text and pictures alone. But getting a video produced can be pretty expensive. About a year ago, I needed to create a quick video for an employee get-together. I hopped onto Animoto, uploaded a bunch of employee photos, selected a music track from my library and voila! Everyone loved it, and I didn’t need any fancy video editing software. Cost: Tiered pricing, beginning at free

UserVoice: With UserVoice, small businesses can quickly set up a feedback forum and/or helpdesk where customers can submit (and you can track) customer support tickets. This is especially useful if you aren’t at a point in your business where you can have a customer support team or call center. You want your customers to air their concerns in a place you have complete access and control over, versus a third-party forum, as much as you can. Cost: Tiered pricing, beginning at free

Roost: Full disclosure: My company, VerticalResponse, recently acquired Roost … largely because it has a strong reputation for being a super easy social media marketing tool for small businesses. With Roost, you can view and schedule your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn posts in advance. It also provides suggested content, like news articles and quotes, based on your industry and interests – so you don’t have to waste time searching. Cost: Free

Evernote: I admit, until January of this year I was one of those people who still jotted down notes and ideas on paper. One of my resolutions for 2012 was to organize all my thoughts via Evernote, and now I’m addicted. I have it open all the time on my computer, and the iPhone mobile app is a breeze to use whenever I’m on the road and see or think of something I want to follow up on later. Side benefit: I can clip recipes from the Web and have the ingredients list on my iPhone when I’m at the store. Cost: Free for basic version

Join.me: Virtual meeting providers like WebEx and GoToMeeting certainly offer lots of bells and whistles (with price points that show it), but there are others out there that offer similar features – for the cool price of free. With Join.me, viewers just have to type in your code onto the Join.me home page for instant access to your screen, no app for them to download required. Cost: Free for basic version

Instagram and Postagram: Think Instagram is just for hipsters? Think again. The ability for someone to follow, comment or share photos in your Instagram gallery is another way for people to engage with your content – especially if Instagram’s artsy aesthetic reflects your brand. And with Postagram, you can send those cool photos in postcard form – a blend of old-school and new, and another great opportunity to get in front of customers in a pleasantly surprising way. Cost: Free for Instagram, 99 cents per Postagram postcard

Granted, there are countless tools that I’ve tried out and for various reasons, and they just keep comin’. Just like a good pair of jeans, you might need to do some shopping around to find the ones that truly are a great fit for you.

What business tools are in your everyday arsenal, and how have they improved your life?

 

Posted by Janine Popick

Janine Popick is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter at @janinepopick, and check out more of her Inc.com columns.

 

 

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Don't be Afraid of the Dark, er, Video

Using videos in your email can be great for engagement; including them can help you achieve higher clickthrough rates and help keep your recipients opening your emails. This might sound complicated (or even frightening) to you technophobes out there, but videos don't have to be like a scary B-movie. Here are some Dos and Don'ts to get you using videos with ease:

Host your video with a reputable company. Once you've created your video you'll need to host it somewhere that's public so that others can see it. There are lots of options out there, but a few ideas are YouTube, Vimeo, or Viddler. Any of these companies will host your video, provide embed code (for your website) and a URL to where the video is hosted. You'll need this URL for your emails.

Use the embed code provided by the hosting company in your email. This type of code is what you'll need if you want to post the video on your website or blog. But most email service providers (ESPs) will either find the code too big or won't be able to read it, so the video will not show up in your email.

Take a screenshot of your video, preferably with the 'Play' button placed on the image. The more it looks like a video, the easier it will be for your recipients to know what they need to do. Use this screenshot as you would any image in your email, and once you've placed it in your email, use the URL of where you hosted your video to link your image. The example below shows you how your video will look in your email: just like an image, but the 'Play' button makes all the difference.

Forget alt text! Including alternative text essentially provides you with backup in case a recipient cannot initially see your images because their ESP is blocking them. Just like any image in your email, alt text can help encourage your recipients to turn on the images, and in this case, watch your video.

 

There you have it, easy tips to using videos in your email, nothing to be afraid of at all!

 

Posted by Jill Bastian.

Jill Bastian is the Training and Education Manager at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter @Jillieb3.

 

 

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We Want You! Call for Customer Submissions

If you're a frequent reader of this blog, you may have noticed some new recurring features over the last few weeks. In VerticalResponse Customers We Admire, we take a look at VR customers who are getting it right when it comes to their email, event, and social media marketing. With our The Results are in! series, we take a look at the (sometimes surprising) discoveries we make when conducting split tests.

We have a lot of fun writing these posts and hope that you're finding some value in learning how other marketers are honing their craft - but we can't do it alone. So that's where you come in! At VerticalResponse, we know that our customers are the reason we get to do what we do, so we want to double down on our efforts to publicize the best of you. Here's what we're looking for:

1. Great email, event, and social media marketing examples. Have an email campaign, event, or social media effort that you're particularly proud of and want to be considered for our Customers We Admire series? We'd love to see it! These posts are open-ended in regards to content types (the only requirement is that you must be a VerticalResponse customer), so send us your campaigns!
2. Real-world testing examples. If you've conducted any split tests with your emails, website, or social media marketing, you could be featured in our next installment of The Results are in! Send us a description of the test methodology, the results of the test, and any supporting artwork or screenshots to help tell the story.

If you'd like to submit your company's work to be considered for either or both of these features, please send an email to the VerticalResponse blog team at social[at]verticalresponse[dot]com.

 

Posted by Ellery Long

Ellery Long is the Social Media Manager at VerticalResponse. Connect with him on Twitter at @EL.

VerticalResponse Customers We Admire - Long Realty Takes Social Seriously

Many companies across the globe claim to be social. They have a Facebook Page, a Twitter account and they’ve even jumped into Pinterest with both feet. But does all this effort really make a company social?

In today’s crowded social business environment, just having a presence is not enough…you have to walk the walk. Many of the world’s largest brands are taking the bull by the horns and dedicating serious resources to their social efforts, but a major portion of small and medium businesses seem to be getting lost in the shuffle when it comes to the approach and execution of their social strategy. And this is even more prevalent when we talk about independent contractor businesses such as real estate. Some companies, though, are really getting it right when it comes to execution, and one of them just happens to be a Roost by VerticalResponse customer.

Located in Tucson, AZ, Long Realty is not some Silicon Valley startup that has a culture built on technology and social media. It’s a traditional real estate brokerage that’s been in business since 1926. Taking a look at their social strategy rollout, you’ll see why they are experiencing success with their efforts. 

Unlike most businesses that have employees, Long Realty has independent contractors (non-employees), which makes technology implementations even more challenging. That didn’t intimidate Kevin Kaplan, Vice President of Marketing and Technology though, when it came time to implement Long Realty’s social strategy. Kevin knows that people need education and training to tackle new technology and his approach to social media didn’t vary from that belief. Kevin devised a plan to educate the 1,300+ sales associates across 37 office locations.

Kevin first started by educating himself and his staff. In regards to the Roost by VerticalResponse product, Kevin arranged for me to do a deep-dive training on the Campaign Creator because he was confident it would be an asset to the social efforts of his sales associates and company. He also wanted his training staff to understand the product inside out so they could do a training road show.

Kevin then visited the offices and met the sales associates directly to train them on how the Campaign Creator social product could help them in their social media efforts. Beyond just providing a tool that would help save his sales associates time, Kevin understood that if he could get a percentage of his agents using the product on a consistent basis, it could have positive implications for the company as a whole.

Due in large part to Kevin’s approach of very specific training and education, his company has the largest percentage of consistent users of our social product of any company that we’ve worked with so far.

So what does Kevin’s approach show us? Whether you’re talking about a large real estate brokerage or a small five-person boutique, education and training is key when implementing any social program. From Kevin’s approach to getting all his sales associates comfortable with using a social publishing platform, to getting your staff comfortable with interacting with your Facebook Page, if you take the time to properly educate and train your associates on proper social strategies, only good things can happen.

 

Posted by Derek Overbey

Derek Overbey is the Senior Social Media Manager at VerticalResponse. Connect with him on Twitter at @doverbey.

 

 

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Tap into Kooky Holidays to Engage Your Readers

We’re all aware of the usual national holidays and most of us seize the opportunity to send out holiday related email campaigns or blog posts such as this one. But are you aware of all the random, specialized holidays that you could use for your marketing? If you're in a niche industry, these holidays might be right up your alley. Even if you're not, it's a great way to add a little quirky personality to your brand. And by capitalizing on a lesser-known holiday you can stand out in your subscribers' inboxes.

Check out these upcoming holidays to get your creativity flowing:

 

MAY

National Teacher Day – May 8

Dance Like a Chicken Day - May 14

National Chocolate Chip Day – May 15

National Sea Monkey Day - May 16

Artichoke Day – May 19-20

National Waiters and Waitresses Day - May 21

Tap Dance Day - May 25

Learn About Composting Day - May 29

 

JUNE

Hug Your Cat Day - June 4

World Environment Day - June 5

National Yo-Yo Day - June 6

Iced Tea Day - June 10

Red Rose Day - June 12

Go Fishing Day - June 18

Paul Bunyan Day - June 28

 

JULY

Chocolate Day - July 7

Pecan Pie Day - July 12

Cow Appreciation Day - July 15

National Hot Dog Day - July 23

 

Now that you've seen just a few examples, do your own online search and see what kind of lesser-known holidays you can tap into for your business!

 

Posted by Kim Stiglitz

Kim Stiglitz is the Director of Lifecycle Marketing at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter at @Stiggy1.

 

 

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The Results Are in! Takeaways from VR Email Tests: Offer Edition

We've given you quite a few ideas lately on the different components of your email campaigns that you could test (CTAs, Personalization, etc.), but had yet to give you any tips on how to could mix up your copy/content itself to generate better results. Time to remedy that!

 

Tale of the Tape

We run sales promotions on a regular basis here at VerticalResponse, but it's proven tricky to find customers' sweet spot in terms of which offer can be most appealing to them, leading them to pull the trigger in making a purchase. 

Looking back at historical data, we discovered, somewhat surprisingly, that two very different offers had been most successful so far: we'll call them A and B, with A presenting a lower barrier to entry and B being on the higher end of the spectrum but offering a higher reward. For example, offer A would be "buy one, get one free," while B would be something like "buy $100 worth of supplies, and get a year's worth of free service." We had also run varying offers in-between, but for some reason people seemed to respond better to these extremes.

 

And the Winner is...

We chose to conduct an A/B test and to do so, split our mailing list into two segments: one that would be receiving offer A and the other offer B. Groups with offers A and B were sent 2 waves of emails, the first to announce the sale and the second as a reminder about a week later, shortly before the sale ended. The from label, subject line, pre-header text and imagery didn't present any huge variation save for the offer amount (obviously). Here are the combined results:

- Offer A: 8,456 recipients, 9.69% open rate, 0.36% CTR, 10 conversions, $334.61 revenue

- Offer B: 8,627 recipients, 10.21% open rate, 0.34% CTR, 6 conversions, $104.55 revenue

So while the email stats were quasi similar, we can see that offer A generated almost twice the number of conversions and over triple the purchase amount than offer B, despite the lower dollar amount. Version A by knockout!

 

Takeaways

We can see that offer A was more attractive than offer B for this particular audience, which seems logical given its lower barrier to entry. What's more surprising though is how it managed to generate such a higher purchase amount especially given the gap between both offers, and how it led customers to purchase in higher quantities even than what B was offering. 

As always, further fine-tuning will be required. For instance, we could take a look at whether these results apply to all channels, the possible impact of seasonality, the age of the accounts that purchased, etc.

 

What have you been testing lately?

 

Posted by My Truong

My Truong is the Marketing Programs Manager at VerticalResponse. Connect with him on Twitter @PtitMy.

 

 

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Effective Tests We Should All be Conducting - But Probably Aren't!

Image Property of MGM

Imagine that Dorothy, Tin Man and Scarecrow are sitting in on your next email or website marketing meeting. “I don’t like this website, it’s dark and creepy!” exclaims Dorothy, “Do you think we’ll see any wild testing strategies?”  “Some,” says Scarecrow, “but mostly buttons, copy and layout.” “Buttons!” screams Dorothy, “and copy!” yelps Scarecrow, “and layout!” exclaims Tin Man. “Buttons and copy and layout! Oh …not again!”

Wizard of Oz analogy aside, testing aspects like buttons, copy and the layout of your website and/or email is wicked important, but since we’re not in Kansas anymore (disclaimer: Some of you may be in Kansas), there are numerous other tests you may never have thought of that could drastically improve conversion, click-throughs, revenue and lead generation.

Now, not all of us have the time or resources to build intricate multi-page testing campaigns, but we do need to break out of the norm. There are hidden (and easy) testing gems all over your website or email just itching to be picked apart. I recently attended the Which Test Won? Advanced Testing Workshop, and soaked up some invaluable tests we should all be conducting, but probably aren't. Here are the details, let’s not disappoint Dorothy:

To view the following examples/screenshots and more, visit WhichTestWon.com. In-depth details may reqiure registration.

Mobile Site

According to presenters at the Advanced Testing Workshop, 95.6 million Americans check email on their mobile phones, and 61% of customers who visit mobile unfriendly sites are more likely to go to a competitor’s site. Having a mobile site is undoubtedly vital, but test it and you could be a winner, just like Vegas.com.

Vegas.com conducted a mobile site test in which they overly simplified one version, and left all aspects of their regular site intact.  Sure enough, the simplified site (easy for finger tapping too) resulted in a 16% lift in page views, a 14% lift in hotel searches, and a 22% reduction in bounce rate.

Try testing your own mobile site by simplifying or intensifying the amount of information you include, see what works best for your audience. Give the option to remain on the mobile version or switch over to desktop.

 

Fine Print

You may think that no one reads the fine print, but Hallmark, the greeting card leader, quickly discovered that tiny print packs a fine revenue generating punch.

Hallmark tested the wording of their fine print using the terms “About shipping & mailing” vs. “Delivery details & shipping costs.” After a conclusive test, they found out that “Delivery details & shipping costs” increased their click-through rate by 14% and their revenue per visitor by 18%. Fine print for the win!

Try switching up your own fine print, whether it's the wording, length, placement, link, or existence at all (unless it’s required).

 

 Privacy Policy

They say the “Facebook generation” has zero fear when it comes to handing out their contact information for just about anything, however, this important aspect shouldn’t be overlooked. Westwood College conducted a test in which they included or excluded a privacy policy statement (also in fine print) under their lead generation sign-up form. The privacy policy simply stated, “Westwood College respects your privacy and will not misuse or sell your personal information.” Can you guess, “Which test won?” The lead gen form including the privacy policy statement generated 19.1% more leads.

Try including a privacy policy statement on your email, newsletter, or lead generation forms. Including customer reviews or statements could also be a reassuring safety indicator for some. A consumer knowing their information is safe in your hands could place more revenue in your hands too.

 

 

Search Box

A search box, is a search box, is a search box, right? Though you may think that a search box is a universal given, making slight changes to it could do wonders. Dell, the computer corporation, tested theirs by displaying a plain box with a “search” button on the side vs. including the word “search” within the box alongside a magnifying glass. Sure enough, the plain box with a “search” button increased revenue per visitor by 6.3%. Who knew?

Change up your own search box by including or excluding a button or magnifying glass. Change the placement of the search box, or try pre-determined search options vs. manual typing.

 

 

Overlay

You know how certain sites may gray out the page aside from one particular pop-up they want you to focus on? That’s an overlay. iRobot, a company that sells “home cleaning robots” (as if their products didn’t already sell themselves!) conducted an overlay test. Here, they left one page alone; on the other they created an overlay with a popup including information about their upgrade program (with discounted robots!). Sure enough, the overlay created an 18% lift in average order value and a 17% lift in revenue per session.

Try playing with the use of an overlay - Test your page with or without it, the size of it, the gradient, and the timing of when it pops up or disappears. See if it reduces friction and directs customers to your main call-to-action, or if it just annoys them. 

 

 

This equates to just a handful of the seemingly unobvious, but super important tests that we should all consider conducting. Continue testing your buttons, copy, and layout, but remember that there are other testing aspects which could deliver you down that yellow brick road to gold.

Posted by: Colleen Corkery

Colleen Corkery is a Lifecycle Marketing Coordinator at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter at @youcollme.

 

 

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VerticalResponse Customers We Admire - How Lotus Bakeries Got it Right for Mother's Day

"VerticalResponse Customers We Admire" is a new series where we highlight a customer and the things they're doing right with their marketing. Below, we discuss a Mother's Day email from Lotus Bakeries, including key lessons and take-aways.

When I was a physical education teacher, one of the first things I quickly learned was that if you constantly tell students what not to do ("Don't talk while I'm talking," "Don't be late for class," "Don't touch your classmates," "Don't swear") they won't actually know what to do. Instead, teaching with examples of what to do instead ("Do raise your hand to speak," "Be on time for class," "Keep your hands to yourself," "Use positive language") is a much more effective method. One of the quickest ways to learn, is when someone leads with positive reinforcement and by example. Many of us know what not to do when it comes to creating our emails. But what's the recipe for creating a successful email? Below is an example of email done right (and by a VerticalResponse customer too!). Check it out and maybe you'll pick up a thing or two to complement what you're already doing with your own rockin' emails!

Lotus Bakeries has been a VerticalResponse customer since 2010. They're headquartered in Belgium and have been focusing on authentic specialties from the biscuit and cake world for over 80 years. According to their website, Lotus' specialties include caramelized biscuits (speculoos), gingerbread, cake specialties, waffles, and pepparkakor biscuits produced in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Sweden. The company is founded and owned by Boone family members who have turned a once-small enterprise into a world-renowned business by honoring a tradition of craftsmanship and personal service.

In this aesthetically pleasing, seasonally relevant email below, Lotus' purpose is clear: to drive recipients to place orders by Mother's Day. They lead readers down a path to purchase with a few distinct strategies. Lotus offers three value propositions or incentives to address the concerns most individuals consider when placing an order online: price, delivery and quality. 

1. Price - Offering free shipping on orders over $50 not only makes people feel like they are getting a deal and saving money, but it also encourages them to place larger orders. Free shipping is always a great incentive to offer, especially on holiday promotions when people are likely to ship gifts/incur unexpected expenses, and are looking to save a few dollars in the process. In addition, placing a purchase threshold to get free shipping is an effective strategy to drive revenue and higher total purchase amounts.

2. Delivery - Giving information about the last day to order to ensure delivery for Mother's Day implies Lotus is both well aware of the Mother's Day deadline and cognizant of the importance of meeting the delivery date. They also provide a sense of urgency here by including the date in which the promotion ends, as well as the last day to order in time for delivery on Mother's Day. Including incentives to order early and calling attention to promotion deadlines encourages recipients to make purchases right away rather than wait, forget to order, or take a competitor's offer.

3. Quality - Highlighting that orders are made risk-free and with 100% satisfaction guarantee not only calls attention to the quality of Lotus' products, but also to the reliability of their service. Including the 100% satisfaction guarantee removes the risk and fear (yes fear, no one wants a phone call from an empty-handed mom on Mother's Day) associated with placing an online order. The statement confirms a confidence in their ability to deliver fresh, quality goods on time. Including customer testimonials as well as satisfaction and money-back guarantees are effective methods for providing evidence and support of your company's excellent service.

Final Take-Away - Think from your customers' perspective to acknowledge common concerns or barriers they may face when doing business with your company. Lotus called upon many barriers consumers face when doing online shopping and addressed them in a visually pleasing and timely email to instill a sense of confidence in their ability to deliver affordable, quality goods on time.

 

Posted by Savannah Stewart

Savannah Stewart is a Lifecycle Marketing Coordinator at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter at @savannahstewart.

 

 

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How to Get Executive Buy-in for a Testing Program at Your Company

As you know, VerticalResponse takes testing very seriously. While we personally make an effort to dissect each and every facet of our emails in order to optimize the effectiveness of our campaigns (be it CTAs or Personalization), we also realize that lack of time and resources or other seemingly more lucrative priorities can be major roadblocks for others. As marketers, we all know testing is important, however not everyone in your company may agree (and/or don't want to be bothered by it).

Colleen and I recently attended an advanced training workshop organized by the good folks over at Which Test Won?, presented by chief evangelist Justin Rondeau. We learned a few tips on how to bring testing to the forefront of your company's marketing strategy, and noticed that this was a touchy subject for a lot of people in the room, as most of them were faced with this very problem in their respective organizations. So here are some of the key strategies that were presented. If you've had some issues yourself getting any testing off the ground, hopefully these will prove useful.

 

1. Get Executive Leadership Onboard

Of course, your first order of business should be to convince the people who are going to pay for your venture (and your bills on a regular basis) of the benefits of running with your testing proposal. There are 4 very simple steps to getting your execs' approval:

    a. Strike fear in their hearts: OK, so maybe not literally, but get a visceral reaction out of them by pointing out that you might have a very serious problem by illustrating your points via numbers (high bounce rates, low conversion rates), graphics (heatmaps, pie charts), or survey results. Not only will this show them you've done your homework (score!), but they also won't be able to deny your rock solid data (double score!).

    b. Show them the money: After cold hard facts come conjectures. Do some forecasting on potential conversions and revenue lifts, but also on increased savings. It is always better to under-promise and over-deliver, but still make it appealing enough to pique their interest.

    c. Stoke their competitive fires: Some executives prefer to play it safe and not be the first ones out the gate, but all definitely don't like feeling left behind. Check out some testing agencies' websites such as Maxymiser or Autonomy (formerly known as Optimost) and scour their 'Clients' section for your competitors. If any of them do show up, show them to your management team and this could provide the final push you needed to get them over the edge.

    d. Mitigate any risks: Finally, alleviate any fears they may have by not just guaranteeing results, but also by convincing them that trusting you won't cost them an arm and a leg. Assure them you'll be performing your initial testing on a small, manageable area, to a limited audience using minimal resources, and even then that you won't hesitate to shift gears or pull the plug if things go awry. 

 

2. Get Engineering to Love You

There's a chance your web development team won't be happy with your initiative because a) they believe the site is already optimized and thoroughly tested, and b) they think they will be carrying the bulk of the work to be done. So, the first thing to do would be to take them out for lunch or coffee and address these or any other concerns they might have. Open communication channels and hammer out a good process to get your testing up and running that involves making their life easier and educating them on the joys and intricacies of A/B or MVT (multivariate) testing if necessary. 

 

3. Uphold Branding Standards

I'd like to preface this by saying that if there is one thing I am (borderline) OCD about, it is branding. Nothing bugs me more than poor or inconsistent branding, since brand awareness and perception are probably the most difficult elements to establish and build over time for a company. So make sure that whatever version(s) you plan on testing is in accordance with your company's brand guidelines and greenlit by your brand management team. As with Engineering, don't hesitate to sit down with them to discuss any potential conflicts between your conversion goals and the current brand rules, as well as possible new directions. 

 

4. Never, Ever Go Covert

In case my headline wasn't clear enough, running a test without prior approval is a big no-no. If, say, your test goes wrong and crashes the company's website (worst case scenario here) because you failed to inform IT or the web developers, the fact that you ran your project without their prior knowledge or approval, will only make things worse. In this case, it is much better to ask for permission rather than forgiveness.

 

5. Make Yourself Look Good

After putting in all this time and effort, you do want to come out of it looking better than when you started, right? Once your testing phase is complete and you have data that you deem truly conclusive, collect these results and present them to all parties that had a hand in or gave you their blessing for this project. Keep an eye on your basic reporting metrics, but most of all, see if there was any lift (i.e., positive variation) in these numbers due to your testing, along with increased efficiency, thus higher profitability and savings.

Remember, there are no "failed" tests per se. If you don't see any lift or even a negative one, maybe it just means you were testing the wrong element, demographic, time period, or that your original solution was already the most optimized possible. Indeed, there doesn't necessarily have to be a serious problem with your email or website to start testing. Tests can slightly or drastically improve your conversions even if these were already good, but can also confirm that your email/website is performing at its best. There is always something to learn, that's why they're called tests!

Following these steps should go a long way towards getting your testing plans off the ground. Have you been seeking support to develop a viable testing strategy? Which hoops have you had to jump through and how have you pulled it off?

 

Posted by My Truong

My Truong is the Marketing Programs Manager at VerticalResponse. Connect with him on Twitter @PtitMy.

 

 

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