MarketingExperiments Blog: Research-driven optimization, testing, and marketing ideas

It has been a while since we have published Pay Per Click (PPC) ad testing. Lately, it can seem like PPC has taken the back seat to topics like social media and mobile. However, PPC remains an integral part of the online marketing campaigns for many of our own Research Partners, so we are still testing to discover the most effective ways to craft PPC ads.

So enough introductions and segues, let’s get down to the test.

Background

This experiment involves a business-to-business (B2B) software provider. They were trying to optimize one of their best lead generation conversion paths. They started by focusing their test efforts on the channel driving traffic through this process, the PPC ad.

At the end of the day, they would end up testing and optimizing the complete conversion path (from PPC ad to form page). And the overall gains this company achieved are going to turn some heads on today’s web clinic, but for the sake of this blog post, let’s just look at how they optimized their paid search marketing campaign. Read more…

Over the past couple of weeks, our content and production team has been mulling through research from multiple companies, trying to find the best experiments for today’s web clinic. It’s always exciting trying to find the right illustrative research that will serve our audience. In the midst of this, a very interesting case study came across my desk that I just had to share with our blog community.

The experiment came from the research library of ThinData 1:1 and was with a large airline that had a strong online presence. They had the goal of improving the level of user engagement (through higher click-through rates and lower unsubscribes) for their customer newsletters. They wanted to test a 1:1 marketing approach and see how much impact a personalized conversation with customers would have. Read more…

Today on our Web clinic – Technology Blind Spots: How human insight revealed a hidden (and almost missed) 31% gain – we will be releasing never before published research from our laboratory. And you know what we like to do with our audience when we have fresh research that they have never seen before…

That’s right; we like to turn them into guinea pigs.

We like to see if our blog readers, knowing the basic circumstance surrounding a recent test, can predict the outcome. How good is their online marketing radar? Can they spot a good webpage when they see one? How is marketing intuition performing these days?

But honestly, what really matters is the cheese they will be racing for today – one good-ole slice of free online certification course cheese with a little Twitter-love wine to wash it down.

Leave a comment below to enter and let the games begin. Read more…

One of my favorite aspects of working in a family of research companies is getting to see new theories tested. It is a core essence of our “Discover what works” tagline, and when a recent “discovery” experiment came across my desk the other day, I couldn’t help but want to share its implications with our audience. Let me explain the background and give you a little preview of the discovery that will be fully revealed in today’s web clinic.

What’s the story?

We are currently running tests with a large subscription-based news service that has a large direct mail (DM) aspect to their marketing campaigns. We saw this as an opportunity to test some of the hypotheses we have been formulating related to the connection between offline and online efforts.

Now, as with most DM efforts, their campaigns had a call-to-action that included an online option. For those interested in signing up for the offer online, they could go to a specific URL. The URL was unique, the path was clear, and the impact of the direct mail campaign would be easy to track. Right? Well… Read more…

My struggle is not only being able to tell the good ideas from the bad, but…once identified…letting go of the bad ones. Perhaps it’s the amount of time I put into coming up with the bad idea. Or just the fact that it’s my idea.

Maybe you’ve experienced this as well? Even worse, maybe your boss is the one that can’t let go of a bad idea. Around the labs, we call that bad idea a “squirrel”… Read more…

This weekend I was paying for the 10 gallons I had just put into my old 1997 Honda Civic, when I decided that I’d purchase a nice cold soda for the road. I pointed out the pump where my fueled-up car was located and then slid the cold beverage to the convenience store clerk. He informed me that my total came to $25.89 and then he stopped.

Looking me dead in the eyes, he asked me what my name was. “Austin,” I replied a little hesitantly. “Austin, are you sure you want to spend $25.89 for 10 gallons of gas and a cold soda?” he asked. I nodded and attempted to hand him my Visa credit card.

He denied my overture and informed me that he could only help me if I were a member of his store. So not wanting to cause a scene with the five people who were now behind me, I conceded. Read more…