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CATALOGUES BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT By James L. Clarke, Brand, DM & Copy Consultant, TA Design


Testing Times


I’ll never forget the day I became hooked on testing.


My client called me and said: “We’ve got the results of the mailing, and letter A got double the response of letter B.” What added spice to this conversation was that my client had written one letter and I had written the other. My client was intelligent, capable, a good communicator, so


both letters were of good quality. But for the price of the copy for an additional letter, and the additional cost of printing and lasering two letters (to the same print total) – we had discovered a way to double the response to the mailing. Now that’s a powerful testament to testing.


Testing makes sense


In our quieter moments, we all know it makes sense to test. A testing programme gives you a scientific method of improving the sales performance of your catalogues, websites and emails. I’m not going to go into the various methodologies of testing


here – the types of split tests, the how to test, the what to test, and achieving statistical robustness. Rather I want to make a plea to non-testers to open their


minds to the possibilities of testing. Tat it can be your friend and protector, not a complicating annoyance. For example, just because your catalogue is performing well,


it doesn’t mean your competitors aren’t questing to find a better approach through testing. And when they succeed, this will impact on your sales.


A constantly moving target


Your market, your customers, are constantly changing. What’s in vogue, the things that customers respond to, the way they like to be spoken to – all change over time. So just because something was successful two or three years ago, that’s no guarantee it will always remain so. Tat’s why your


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testing should be ongoing – so as to spot these changes and allow you to adjust your marketing accordingly.


Test or refresh?


Of course, many of us decide to refresh our catalogue after two or three years, but if this isn’t informed by the results of testing or market research – it’s basically ‘gut’ feel (however experienced and expert the ‘gut’ in question may be). We all understand the concept of catalogue ‘fade’ and the


necessity of regular refreshing. But how much more powerful would our refreshing be if it was informed by the results of a solid and ongoing testing programme?


e-Testing enthusiasm


With some honourable exceptions, it seems to me that digital marketers are embracing testing more whole-heartedly than their print colleagues. I think this is because testing costs are perceived as low, and also because everything’s digitised and coded from the start, so the results can be processed automatically.


Brand testing?


I have a theory that it’s possible to pre-test minor changes in brand positioning and Tone of Voice. For example, testing much longer, or shorter, copy – or a more friendly and enthusiastic Tone of Voice – in a couple of catalogue spreads. I know of some instances where a company has tested some


new products at a significantly higher price point than their highest previous prices. At least one of these companies found, rather to their surprise, that these products were snapped up. Tis led to a discussion about their current internal and


external brand perception, and whether a move upmarket in brand positioning was in order. And how many direct shopping businesses (particularly but not


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