Suggest You - Notes for Newbies - Part Fourteen - Testing

When you test you simply, for example, produce the same sales letter with two different headlines. You run one for perhaps one week and the other for the same length of time, then compare results. Which one produced the greater number of sales or the greater profits (it’s a bit more complicated, as we shall see below, but we have to start somewhere)?

Here are some things the gurus test:

• Headlines
  • wording and phrasing
  • fonts – type faces
  • font colours
  • quotation marks
  • alignment – left-centre-right
  • justification

• Images
  • number of images
  • choices of subjects
  • captions
  • locations vis-?-vis text

• Body of text
  • wording and phrasing
  • fonts
  • font colours
  • alignment
  • justification
  • paragraph structures
  • paragraph sizes - numbers of lines
  • breaks between paragraphs
  • punctuation
  • questions

• Sub-headlines
  • number and location
  • wording and phrasing
  • fonts - type faces
  • font colours
  • quotation marks
  • alignment
  • justification

• Background and borders
  • colours
  • images
  • thicknesses and styles of borders
  • with or without borders

• Testimonials
  • numbers of testimonials
  • locations
  • backgrounds and borders

• Signature and signature colour

• Postscripts
  • numbers of postscripts
  • subjects

• Bonus offers
  • numbers of bonus offers<
    Business Signs
    Signs are very important for a business institution as they form an identity for the organization. Business signboards normally confer details relating to the firm's name, address, and phone number.When people are looking out for a sign relating to business purpose they need to consider some important points. In order to get a unique and appropriate business signboard it is important to highlight the nature of the business. Along with the nature, it is also wise to consider the location, which pertains to the location of the main office and its branches, if any. If the business is located in commercial area, it is advised to have a small business board outside the office. Incase the office is located on the streets then larger sign
    • font colours
    • quotation marks
    • alignment – left-centre-right
    • justification
  • Images
    • number of images
    • choices of subjects
    • captions
    • locations vis-?-vis text
  • Body of text
    • wording and phrasing
    • fonts
    • font colours
    • alignment
    • justification
    • paragraph structures
    • paragraph sizes - numbers of lines
    • breaks between paragraphs
    • punctuation
    • questions
  • Sub-headlines
    • number and location
    • wording and phrasing
    • fonts - type faces
    • font colours
    • quotation marks
    • alignment
    • justification
  • Background and borders
    • colours
    • images
    • thicknesses and styles of borders
    • with or without borders
  • Testimonials
    • numbers of testimonials
    • locations
    • backgrounds and borders
  • Signature and signature colour
  • Postscripts
    • numbers of postscripts
    • subjects
  • Bonus offers
    • numbers of bonus offers<
      Buy A Business That Already Exists - And You'll Avoid Hitting Up Mom And Dad For The Money
      Here's a controversial statement that gets people either loving me or hating me when I say it: If you want to make a lot of money very quickly in business, regardless of whether or not you have a lot of experience, money or credit, then you need to know -- despite the hype and mainstream misinformation out there -- that it's way more difficult to start a business from scratch than to simply buy an existing one. Why? The main reason is the money. What happens is you go out and start a business from scratch, and you really can’t borrow any money because nobody wants to lend it to you, except maybe Mom and Dad. And even if they want to lend it to you, the chances are slim you'll be able to pa
      • paragraph structures
      • paragraph sizes - numbers of lines
      • breaks between paragraphs
      • punctuation
      • questions
    • Sub-headlines
      • number and location
      • wording and phrasing
      • fonts - type faces
      • font colours
      • quotation marks
      • alignment
      • justification
    • Background and borders
      • colours
      • images
      • thicknesses and styles of borders
      • with or without borders
    • Testimonials
      • numbers of testimonials
      • locations
      • backgrounds and borders
    • Signature and signature colour
    • Postscripts
      • numbers of postscripts
      • subjects
    • Bonus offers
      • numbers of bonus offers<
        When Politics Prevent Innovation - Or... Still Fighting Battles and Losing Wars
        The objective is to beat the competition and make money. Everything a business organization does should be focused on that simple objective, with interpretation through various Vision and Mission Statements. However if we take a survey of how our organizations spend our energy, often that objective is lost in a web of internal politics and positioning. Of course competition is normally good – regardless of whether it is internal or external – to the point we do not lose focus on company objectives as the ultimate outcome of our competition.We often use the phrase “winning battles and losing wars.” That phrase really hits home when we record all the things we do, every day of our business lives, that result in a situation where
        ers
        • colours
        • images
        • thicknesses and styles of borders
        • with or without borders
      • Testimonials
        • numbers of testimonials
        • locations
        • backgrounds and borders
      • Signature and signature colour
      • Postscripts
        • numbers of postscripts
        • subjects
      • Bonus offers
        • numbers of bonus offers
        • pricing
        • time limits for extra bonuses
      • Product price
        • price
        • locations of price within body of letter
        • time limits for discounts
        • number of times price is stated
      • Opportunities to order
        • location of order buttons or links
        • wording – ‘Reserve yours NOW!’ or ‘To book your DVD set click here NOW!’ for example
        • numbers of order buttons
      • Cover letters – style and content
      • ‘Lift letters’ – style and content
      • Order envelopes - Freepost or stamped
      • Colour and texture of sales letter paper
      
      

      We could probably add at least this number to our list, but this will do for now. My point is that every bit of the appearance, tone and content of sales letters and web pages is tested continually by the pros in direct marketing.

      And probably the most fascinating aspect of testing is that much of it is not obvious. Why is it that a blue signature results in more sales than a black signature? Why is it that a headline with quotation marks around it pulls better than one without? Why is it that a sales letter with a PS, PPS and PPPS tests better than one with only a PS and PPS?

      Here is a big and very important problem with testing. If testing is going to give you any useful information at all, you can only test one thing at a time. If you change the font and the colour of your headline, and your sales increase by 5%, which change was responsible? You don’t know. You must be careful to change only one thing at a time.

      Even then, you still have questions to ask. Suppose you run the same classified ad for several weeks with no changes. Some people in the business will tell you sales will increase over time simply because more readers will respond to your ad having seen it several times. So, you decide to change your headline after it has been ru

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