Test to Grow Rich - Part 2

Last week we introduced the idea of testing your sales letters. We'll pick up that conversation with the 3 ways you can and should test your sales letters for maximum profits.

First, there’s non-testing testing - huh? Well, in Dan Kennedy’s book ‘The Ultimate Sales Letter,’ he talks about the steps to take with a finished sales letter before you actually mail it. (Get Dan's book here)

Second, there’s split testing, which is the fastest way to test and get to a reasonable conclusion. Let’s assume you have a postcard and you want to leave everything the same but test four different headlines, and you have 4,000 similar addresses to mail to. You do “nth name testing”; that means Headline #A goes to every 4th name, Headline #B to every 5th name, Headline #C to every 5th name, etc. So you evenly divide the list without bias among the headlines being tested. Some media (like Val-Pak or MoneyMailer) will let you split test within a single buy.

Third, there’s testing against a control. A “control” is a marketing strategy that already works well and you’re using it on a continuing basis - maybe it’s a series of letters you mail every month. You have been using it long enough you know what it produces. You have a “known” to measure against. Now you can start trying to improve that control, ideally one step or variable at a time.

Next post I'll cover the 'hot buttons' you should investigate before you try and 'beat your control.' Until then.

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